The newly established Benton County Interfaith Alliance offered a service of thanksgiving just before that holiday of the same name, the holiday that opened this Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza seasons. Religious leaders from various cultures and faiths offered prayers of thanksgiving, sharing and peace. The Rev. Roger Joslin, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Bentonville shared a homily.
Offered here are some of their comments, translated chants and prayers on thanksgiving, diversity and peace:
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
Let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
In his hand, are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us bow down in worship,
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
For he is our God
And we are the people of his pasture,
The flock under his care.
-- Psalm 95: 1-7
As read by Georgia Senor, associate pastor
Bentonville Presbyterian Church
There is but one God, and religion is merely the language we use to describe God. Surrounded by a multiplicity of paths all leading toward the "One," our individual journey toward the Divine becomes far more interesting.
-- Joslin
Om, lead us from unreality (of transitory existence) to the reality (of the eternal self),
Lead us from the darkness (of ignorance) to the light (of spiritual knowledge),
Lead us from the fear of death to the knowledge of immortality.
Om, Peace, Peace, Peace.
This is a prayer each one of us can practice every day. It reminds us that our relationships with all beings and things should be mutually beneficial if we ourselves desire happiness and liberation from suffering. No true or lasting happiness can come from causing unhappiness to others. No true or lasting freedom can come from depriving others of their freedom. If we say we want every being to be happy and free, then we have to question everything that we do -- how we live, how we eat, what we buy, how we speak and even how we think.
May the divine supreme empower all of us to evolve and uplift ourselves in the divine path.
-- Sudhir Katke, president
Hindu Association of Northwest Arkansas
Oh God, the Protector, the basis of all life, who is self-existent, who is free from all pains and whose contact frees the soul from all troubles, who pervades the universe and sustains all, the creator and energizer of the whole universe, the giver of happiness, who is worthy of acceptance, the most excellent, who is pure and the purifier of all, let us embrace that very God, so that he may direct our mental faculties in the right direction.
-- Katke
I'm not sure how it is among the other religions assembled here, but among Christians in the United States -- even during the season of the year devoted to thanksgiving -- we spend a lot more time asking for gifts than we do expressing thankfulness for the gifts we have received. We do offer formal prayers of thanksgiving, but prayers of intercession and supplication -- prayers in which we ask God for what we think we need -- seem to dominate our prayerful conversations with the Divine. As I grow older, I'm more and more persuaded that we pray more effectively with our hands and with our feet than with the words that come out of our mouths. I believe that God listens to our verbal prayers, but I'm convinced that God is more influenced by our actions, by what we do, than by what we say.
-- Joslin
In Christianity we are taught in a multitude of ways, "Love your neighbor as yourself" or "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
In Islam it is taught, "No one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself."
Among Buddhists, "Hurt not others with that which pains yourself."
Hindus teach, "This is the sum of duty; do naught onto others what you would not have them do unto you."
In Judaism: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary."
No matter your faith, or culture, this simple rule of reciprocity, this golden rule, has been discovered.
-- Joslin
Our Lord! Let not our hearts deviate from the truth after you have guided us, and bestow upon us mercy from your grace. Verily you are the giver of bounties without measure.
-- Mohammad Kahn, imam
Bentonville Islamic Center
I know you've heard it said, "We should be careful for what we ask, because we just might get it." I do believe that God hears our prayers, but sometimes we get not just what we ask for, but what we need. I think we asked God for prosperity and what we got is diversity.
-- Joslin
"O, you who have attained faith! Partake of the good things which we have provided for you as sustenance, and render thanks unto God, if it is (truly) him that you worship."
-- Kahn
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I offer thanks for the insight, the perspective, the understanding taught by each of your religious traditions, and for the many and diverse manifestaions of the Divine. As we listen and learn from one another, may we all be transformed.
-- Joslin
Praise be to God, Lord of the heavens and Lord of the earth -- Lord and Cherisher of all the worlds. To him be glory throughout the heavens and the earth; and he is exalted in power, full of wisdom.
-- Khan
Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him! In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.
-- Matthew 7:7-12
As read by Monsignor Scott Marczuk, pastor
St. Stephen Catholic Church
NAN Religion on 12/27/2014