The annual Thanksgiving Interfaith celebration was held at Corpus Christi Church. Pacific Palisades religious leaders come together for this joint ceremony, held the Monday before Thanksgiving.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN
By LAUREL BUSBY
Contributing Writer
Each month, the religious leaders of Pacific Palisades join together to eat, commune, and connect. Once a year, their congregations have an opportunity to do the same at a Thanksgiving-week interfaith ceremony.
“We laugh and we joke and we are truly one” at our monthly meetings, said Monsignor Liam Kidney of Corpus Christi Catholic Church, the host of this year’s annual event. “We gather because it’s important for us to be together. You know why? Because we need each other. We need each other as religious leaders…. We need each other as people. We are people that need community, so tonight we wanted to try to recreate what we have in our meetings” with the larger Palisades community.
Members of the Pacific Palisades religious community meet monthly and enjoy each other’s company.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN
The event was already a treasured yearly event for many in the audience. Sylvia Boyd arrived early and said that this year, when her husband, Jon, of 73 years, was too ill to join her, she particularly valued the community. “I wanted to be around people.”
Corpus Christi member Sharon Stephens, who sat in front of her, said that she’d been coming practically every year since the event began more than two decades ago. “I love the feeling that all the churches and temples are coming together,” she said. “That unity. Our world needs that.”
Unity and oneness also happened to be the theme for the evening. Brother Satyananda of the Self-Realization Fellowship led a guided meditation that encouraged everyone to feel their beating hearts, which he described as the light inside them, and consider the similarly beating hearts of everyone around them.
“We may have different lives, but in our hearts, we are one,” he said.
Repeatedly, the various religious leaders also shared the importance of cultivating unity and oneness with each other. They also shared how their years of monthly meetings have forged deep and valuable friendships that flourish while still allowing space for their differing beliefs and practices.
Trevor Brazier of the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints said, “We genuinely like each other,” and to prove the point, Rabbi Steven Reuben ran over and kissed him, which earned a delighted laugh from the crowd of approximately 200 attendees.
Brazier went on to share how much focusing on the positive actions of others uplifts both them and those around them. He introduced a favorite word, pronoia, which is the opposite of paranoia and describes people “who believe the world is secretly conspiring for their benefit.”
He noted how easy it can be for people to criticize each other, but he encouraged the audience to do the opposite and notice the amazing experiences in their days.
“The world is filled with people ready to tear down, and we need more builders,” he said.
Rabbi Amy Bernstein from Kehillat Israel observed that the root of the Hebrew greeting and word for peace, “shalom,” was the concept of “wholeness.” She also recited a prayer regularly spoken by people who might be enemies and yet were longtime friends, Palestinian and Israeli parents who had each lost children during the conflict.
“I raise my hands to you,” she quoted. “Please God, have mercy on us. Hear our voice that we shall not despair, that we shall seek life in each other, that we shall have mercy for each other, that we shall have pity on each other, that we shall hope for each other.”
From Palisades Presbyterian Church, Rev. Grace Park introduced a time for attendees to greet one another and get to know their neighbors, while Rev. Matt Hardin encouraged people to give to a collection for Westside Food Bank, since up to three in 10 Los Angelenos suffer from food insecurity.
Over the course of the ceremony, cantor Athena Greco led the singing of the hymns Let There Be Peace on Earth, Prayer of St. Francis, and America the Beautiful in her strong, warm voice.
Rabbi Reuben also played guitar and led a rendition of “This Land Is Your Land, which he said was written by Woody Guthrie in 1940 during a time of political upheaval and polarization when a fear of immigrants was common.
Guthrie “wrote this song in a sense to remind us … that we are all one… that this land is your land regardless of language or culture or religion,” Reuben said. “So, we thought, on this night of thanksgiving and community, that it would be a perfect way to continue to celebrate who we are in our hearts.”
Episcopalian Rev. KC Robertson from the Parish of St. Matthew led a concluding call-and-response prayer for unity before Monsignor Kidney shared a final benediction and commended Jane Richardson, Corpus Christi’s liturgy directory, who is retiring after approximately 25 years of coordinating the interfaith service.
Dozens of the attendees stayed afterwards not only to enjoy cider and treats, but also to talk to people from differing belief systems. Some of them also shared how moving the ceremony had been.
Refreshments were served after the Interfaith service.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN
“It was really heartfelt, just beautiful,” said Stephanie Willis, who attends the Self-Realization Fellowship. “It was very special to have it at this time.”
Corpus Christi member Debbie Dahlen, who comes year after year, said, the evening “was particularly inspiring in a year when we need inspiration. There’s something special about coming together, putting aside our differences, and being people who care about each other.”
Corpus Christi Monsignor Liam Kidney gives resident Sue Marguleas a comforting hug at the annual Interfaith service.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN
It’s a wonderful tradition that our Pac Pal clergy have created. Many who cannot attend are there in spirit! Thank you for the article.