Interfaith Thanksgiving dinner held at Logan Tabernacle
At least 200 people gathered in the beautifully decorated Logan Tabernacle for an interfaith Thanksgiving service, last Sunday evening. Hosted by Cache Community Connections, the service featured musical numbers, fellowshipping and the wise words of various religious leaders from around the valley.
Leaders and members of the Logan Islamic Center, St. John’s Episcopal, St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Parish, the Unitarian Universalists, The First Presbyterian Church, the Society of Friends (Quakers), the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, the Cache Valley Buddhist Sangha, the Baha’i Community, the USU Interfaith Association, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints were present.
Steve Sturgeon of St. John’s Episcopal led the group in reciting Psalms 136. Men, women and children of all faiths repeated the refrain “His mercy endures forever” on Sturgeon’s cue, filling the tabernacle’s glowing, festive interior with a sense of peace and friendship.
A representative of Cache Community Connections then led the group in a “Loving Kindness Meditation,” a Buddhist practice which focuses and channels love and well-wishing toward the self and others. Those gathered at the tabernacle Sunday first meditated love toward someone close to them (like, a sibling), then toward the people in the room they felt neutral about, then toward those they may have qualms with, including our president-elect. Finally, they placed their hands over their hearts and repeated in their heads the loving kindness meditation: “May I have peace, safety and good health. May I be free from illness or heartache. May I be happy.”
Mubarak Ukashat, a physics graduate student at USU representing the Logan Islamic center, sang over the pulpit section 59 from the Qu’ran. Afterward, he offered a few passionate words on gratitude.
Captivating his audience, Ukashat said, “too often we are blinded by the worldly and ephemeral things of the world that we forget to give thanks.”
Heads were nodding as people reflected on the importance of thankfulness.
To those who find it hard to be thankful, Ukushat spoke directly. Those individuals who are “depressed, sick, or whose children have been snatched up by the cold hands of death,” he encouraged to “be strong.”
May we each internalize that spirit of strength this holiday season and give thanks, no matter our circumstances.
@viviangates29
I don’t see any mention of “dinner” in this article except in the title. Perhaps it should have been “service”? It was, never-the-less a wonderful evening event.