Faiths focus on gratitude

Gratitude for God's blessings and the need for solidarity with people of other beliefs and ethnic groups was the theme of a multifaith Thanksgiving service Sunday night.

Songs and readings in English, Hebrew, Tibetan and Arabic lifted the hearts of hundreds attending the service at the Congregation Kol Ami, 2425 E. Heritage Way (2760 South). The service was sponsored by the National Conference for Community and Justice, Utah Region.

"Who among us does not feel the urging to thank our creator for all his goodness?" asked Elder Scott Parker, director of the Utah Salt Lake City Area Public Affairs Council of The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Parker read from a sermon by Benjamin in the Book of Mormon and urged the group to be grateful. He noted, "We've all been warmed by fires we did not build." He listed five gifts from God for which he is especially thankful.

On this evening of gratitude, Parker added, quoting Shakespeare, he remembered what the Lord has done.

Rabbi Tracee Rosen of the Congregation Kol Ami said each should appreciate the "beauty of diversity." Those present had much different points of view, she said, and it's a blessing they could come together and celebrate that diversity.

In other parts of the world, she added, "you and I might be looking at each other from different ends of a rifle barrel." She called for compromise among people.

Lama Thupten of the Urgyen Samten Ling Gonpa Meditation Center, representing Tibetan Buddhists, said on his way to the gathering he heard a young soldier talking about the brutality of the war in Iraq. Leaders may say it is a just cause, he said, but all know better. He called for solidarity.

Forrest Cuch, director of the Utah Division of Indian Affairs, warned of a Mayan prophecy that the world may end in 2012.

"Time is running out," he said. "We won't be able to get away with it much longer." Cuch called for improvements in taking care of the Earth and each other, to make a difference and prevent disaster.

"We owe our existence to the benevolence of our creator," said Imam Shuaib-Ud Dim of the Khadeeja Mosque. Besides showing gratitude to God, he added, "He has instructed us to show gratitude towards each other."

A 17th-century prayer was the text of LeeAnne Williams, religious educator, First Unitarian Church. The austere Pilgrim prayer was, "Spare us, oh God, from a dead heart yet while we live."