Blog:FOREST LAKE TALKS

When I became the senior pastor of FLPC in August of 2006, I found a folder marked “Community Thanksgiving Service.” That folder documents that in 1987, Tree of Life Synagogue hosted the first Interfaith Thanksgiving Service, and Forest Lake Presbyterian Church provided the preacher. It doesn’t say who preached, but in 1987, Dr. Dave Reynolds was the pastor and Rev. Steve Rhodes was the associate pastor. There are only two years when the hosts and preachers were not recorded, but it appears to me that, through the years, FLPC has led in making sure that the only Interfaith Thanksgiving Service in Columbia has happened along North Trenholm since 1987. Some of the churches have come and gone, a few have closed, but FLPC and both Beth Shalom and Tree of Life appear always to have worked together.

Thanksgiving is a national holiday, and it is the perfect time for all who believe in the one, true, living God from whom all blessings flow, to gather and give thanks to God. In my time at FLPC, the clergy have always met and agreed to gather as guests in each other’s places of worship. So, nothing is changed, and no symbols of our faiths are moved. We come dressed in the robes in which we normally lead worship for the purpose of thanking God. We agree to read from the Scriptures we share (as our Old Testament and the Hebrew Bible are the same). And we have been able to figure out how to worship God in a way that allows for our differences, but highlights the beliefs we share. If that isn’t a good model for how to live in the world, I’d like to know of a better one.

This year, on Sunday, November 23rd at 4:00pm, we will gather at Forest Lake to worship God together again for the 39th year! And Rabbi Alicia Rothamel, from Beth Shalom Synagogue, will preach from our pulpit. In an age where the emphasis is so often on what divides us, I am grateful to be in a church and a community that allows us to dwell on and to celebrate the ways in which we are the same. All of us are dependent on the grace of God. All of us share a concern for the hungry and homeless (we always collect an offering to feed others). All of us recognize that God alone is Lord of the Universe and of our hearts. All of us share a desire to thank God for all of God’s gifts and blessings. All of us share in prayers for the healing and peace of our nation. Please come to worship if you are in town. Nursery is available by reservation (deadline is 11/19), and there will be a reception to follow the service in our Parlor.

We have begun discussions about how our congregations might also do something jointly to celebrate Memorial Day. I’ll keep you posted on the possibilities. Instead of dwelling on where we are divided and conflicted, choose to come to worship with our neighbors on Sunday, November 23rd, and let’s show “how good and pleasing it is when families live together as one!” (Psalm 133:1 CEB). Oh, give thanks to the Lord!