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WHEELING -- Gratitude should know no boundary of religion, said Rabbi Joshua Lief of Wheeling's Temple Shalom. No matter a person's place of worship, the Thanksgiving season is one where all can show their appreciation for their blessings.
"I think that all too often amidst the food and family and celebrations, not to mention the anticipation of the shopping that follows the day after, Thanksgiving has lost for many Americans its literal intent," Lief said. "We should be more thankful. We should recognize how incredibly blessed our lives are and be grateful to God, to our community, to our friends, even to our neighbors and strangers.
"As leaders of faith-based institutions, my fellow clergy members and I have the opportunity to invite the wider Wheeling community to remember the real meaning of the season," he continued, "to express our gratitude for how blessed we are in our everyday lives."
The public will get that opportunity at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Temple Shalom, which plays host this year to Wheeling's annual Interfaith Service of Gratitude. Friends, neighbors and strangers from across the community are invited to join together in a service of thanksgiving in honor of the holiday.
Faith leaders from across the Ohio Valley will take part, including Lief; The Most Rev. Mark Brennan, Bishop of the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese; Bishop Darrell Cummings of the Bethlehem Apostolic Temple; Bishop Emeritus Ralph Dunkin of the West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church; the Rev. Erica Harley of Vance Memorial Presbyterian Church; the Rev. Ken Hardway of First Christian Church in Wheeling; and the Rev. Joshua Saxe of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church.
Lief remembered going to and enjoying an interfaith Thanksgiving service during his childhood in Wheeling. When he was the rabbi at Congregation Ahavath Chesed in Jacksonville, Florida, he enjoyed participating in an interfaith service there. When he returned to serve as rabbi at Temple Shalom, he asked who was hosting the interfaith service and learned it had fallen to the wayside. He immediately decided to bring it back.
Those who attend will be able not only to express their thanks, but help others less fortunate as well. Attendees are invited to bring canned goods and other non-perishable food items to feed the hungry in the community.
Lief said this service is a wonderful time for people across the community to reach out beyond their own families and friend groups and connect with a world larger than themselves. That, he said, takes intentionality.
"That does not happen by coincidence," he said. "That takes reaching out and being willing to go to a place that is not your own. Each fall, we go to a different house of worship and we are willing to step out of our comfort zones and to be part of something larger than ourselves. The reward is worth the risk. If we're willing to dare to be friends with our neighbors who may happen to be strangers at the beginning of the evening, they won't be strangers by the end of the evening."