Clergy from various faith communities in the East Cobb area delivered reflections of “Finding Common Ground” during Temple Kol Emeth’s 18th Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service Thursday.
In the first in-person service since 2019, an audience that nearly filled the vast synagogue was told that hearing such messages and uplifting music (they all sang “This Land Is Your Land”) and sharing fellowship aren’t enough.
“This isn’t a show,” Kol Emeth Rabbi Larry Sernovitz said near the end of the two-hour service. “This is a call to action.”
In recalling the tale of Abraham smashing idols, he said that “we live in a world that still worships idols . . . and doesn’t value people like we need to.
“Our faith has to stand for something. If our faith doesn’t stand for humanity, it’s not faith, it’s politics.”
He urged the attendees to follow Abraham’s example, because “that’s how our faith has meaning. If we don’t use it, what good is it?”
Started by now-retired Kol Emeth Rabbi Steven Lebow following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the service included many familiar components, including the Muslim call to prayer, a Bhangra dance by Sikh youth, original music and the “Give A Gobble” offering, this year to benefit Special Needs GA and other local charities for Thanksgiving meals.
Members of the participating faith communities—22 in all—also formed a choir to perform, including “Common Ground” (see video below, and you can watch a full replay of the service by clicking here).
Father Ray Cadran of the Catholic Church of St. Ann said his understanding of finding common ground is “a work of the heart.”
Those duties include “being called to together to acting justly,” engaging in unifying dialogue and “loving tenderly all God’s people.”
Rev. Trey Phillips of St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church said “we all come from a common ground” and asked the audience to “let us cling to one another and seek God on this common ground we call Marietta.”
But Rev. Bronson Elliott Woods of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta—where Martin Luther King Jr. was pastor—injected some political references into his remarks, mentioning Black Lives Matter and women’s reproductive choice, and said that finding common ground includes “working against laws that oppress people,” especially those in what he called the “LGBTQIA” community.
“The common ground we share,” Woods said, “is through the breath of God.”
East Cobb resident Brenda Rhodes, the founder of Simple Needs GA and a long-time volunteer in the community, urged those in attendance to find ways to contribute to those less fortunate.
“It doesn’t matter how you help,” she said. “Just think about helping. . . . Go where God leads you to help others in your community.”
Among the organizations benefitting from Give-A-Gobble include the Center for Family Resources, Families First, Family Promise, Food2Kids, Genesis Shelter, Helping Hand Foundation, Inner-city Muslim Action Network (IMAN), Jewish Family & Career Services, Jubilee Partners, New American Pathways, Must Ministries, North Fulton Charities, Pianos for Peace, and United Military Care, Inc.
The faith communities represented at the service include the Catholic Church of St. Ann, Chestnut Ridge Christian Church, East Cobb Islamic Center, Emerson Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Congregation Etz Chaim, St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and Unity North Atlanta Church.
Related:
- Mt. Bethel Church closing day care center, selling properties
- Mt. Bethel Church dropping charter status with Boy Scouts
- Eastminster Presbyterian Church celebrates 50th anniversary
- Lutheran Church of the Incarnation closes after 42 years
- Mt. Bethel officially breaks from United Methodist Church
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