Rabbi Joshua Lief

WHEELING — Now more than ever, it is time for people of all faiths and beliefs in the Ohio Valley to join together in gratitude, said Rabbi Joshua Lief of Wheeling’s Temple Shalom. He will host a service Wednesday to do just that.

The annual Community-Wide Interfaith Service of Gratitude will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Temple Shalom and will bring together residents and faith leaders from all corners to show their thankfulness on the eve of Thanksgiving.

“I think it’s critically important — especially considering the challenges in our lives and in our world and the division among us as a community and a society – to recognize that the things we have in common are more significant than the things that hold us apart,” Lief said, “and at Thanksgiving of all times, to remember that our shared faith traditions direct us to be grateful in our daily lives and ideally to express our gratitude by being a blessing unto others.”

Helping others is a significant component of Wednesday’s service. Those who attend are asked to bring canned goods or other non-perishable foods to donate and restock local pantries for those in need.

Among those faith leaders scheduled to participate in Wednesday’s service are the Most Rev. Mark Brennan, bishop of the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese, the Rev. Joshua Saxe of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, the Rev. Erica Hartley of Vance Memorial Presbyterian Church, Bishop Darrell Cummings of Bethlehem Memorial Apostolic Temple and the Rev. Kenny Hardway of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Lief said elected officials from across the Ohio Valley have also been invited.

“I think it’s living what we claim our values to be,” Lief said. “We claim to be ‘The Friendly City.’ How do we model that, if not by extending the hands of friendship to our neighbors, to cross what might otherwise be divisions like theological distinctions among various faith denominations?

“We can find what binds us together is actually quite substantial,” he added.