PORT TOWNSEND — The American tradition of Thanksgiving dates back to a communal dinner on a rocky coastline almost four centuries ago.
But the tradition of celebrating the harvest, of thanking the creator for the gifts of the earth, goes back thousands of years and has roots in every culture.
On Sunday at 4 p.m. a community Thanksgiving service will be held at the Northwest Maritime Center that brings together traditions from the four corners of the world.
Sponsored by Interfaith in Action, the service is not a blending of spiritual practices, but a weaving of cultural and religious threads.
“We are bringing from our individual traditions various components that relate to the Thanksgiving theme,” said the Rev. Bruce Bode of Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.
Bode is a member of Interfaith in Action, a group of local ministers and congregational leaders who came together to start an Earth Day service two years ago.
Held at the Northwest Maritime Center, the first Earth Day observance drew 250 people, he said.
The group planned a community interfaith Thanksgiving service last year, but it was snowed out.
The Thanksgiving service is appropriate for all ages, and consists mainly of music, plus poetry and readings.
Mason Stanculescu, a Chimacum student, will play the cello, accompanied by pianist Nan Toby Tyrrell and Teren MacLeod on violin.
Centrum director John MacElwee, who plays jazz bass, will accompany vocalist Robin Bessier.
Walter Vaux, a member of First Presbyterian Church, will play the ukulele and sing “It’s a Wonderful Life,” with Art Carpenter from Peninsula United Church of Christ.
“It’s a secular song, but it is one of the best examples of expressing gratitude for God’s creation,” said Barb Laski, a leader of Peninsula United Church of Christ, a recently-formed home-based church.
Laski will preface the song with a story about how an interfaith experience shaped her perception of gratitude.
Amy Mook of the Bet Shira congregation will lead “Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu, a chant assuring that peace will come, which uses both the Hebrew word for peace, “Shalom,” and Arabic term for peace, “Salaam.”
Bob Threlkeld of Grace Lutheran Church will read “Brigit’s Feast,” a prayer attributed to St. Brigid of Kildare that visualizes a banquet where the poor and sick are served food and drink made from the fruits of faith and forgiving love.
Carol Sery will give a prayer by Abdu’l-Baha’ asking for unity and knowledge.
Kevin Clark and Teren MacLeod will lead a Native American reading giving thanks to the creator for all living things — herbs and roots, bushes and trees, corn and salmon — and the streams and rivers that sustain them.
Rev. Pam Douglas-Smith of Unity will present the blessing of the five kernels of corn.
Laura Martin will sing “Simple Gifts,” an American Shaker tune.
Aimee Kelly and Aimee Ringle will sing “Coming Home,” which invokes images of autumn: flying geese, faling leaves, hearth and home.
Pianist Evan Millman will provide accompaniment for soloists and for the hymns: “We Gather Together” and “Come, Ye Faithful People, Come.”
Silent reflection
The service will conclude with silent reflection, followed by Stephanie Reith, rabbinical candidate, reflecting on community gratitude, and the symbolic passing of the yarn by a leader of the Mystic Moon Circle.
Providing a venue where members of the different faith communities can get to know each other is the purpose of Interfaith in Action and the events it sponsors, said Rev. Elizabeth Bloch of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
While the spectrum of spiritual expression from pre-Christian to Protestant is represented, the Thanksgiving service is meant to strengthen community ties while maintaining the integrity of personal beliefs.
“I think it is important for young persons to see everybody in the same room,” Bloch said.
“It’s a way of seeing how deep feelings, deep longings are expressed in different ways.”
Ed Heber, a Zen Buddhist, will sound the Han to open and close the service.
No collection will be taken, but jars and baskets will be placed at the doors for donations of nonperishable food and funds for the Jefferson County Food Bank.
The baskets of food will be blessed during the service, which organizers say will not go longer than an hour and 15 minutes.
The Northwest Maritime Center is at the end of Water Street, next to Point Hudson, in Port Townsend. An elevator is available to reach the main meeting room on the second floor.
For more information, contact Teren MacLeod, 360-344-3944.
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Jennifer Jackson is a freelance writer and photographer living in Port Townsend. To contact her, email jjackson@olypen.com.