Keeping the Faiths

Before we moved to the US, I thought Thanksgiving was some sort of religious holiday. Turns out, that's not the case. Any family, no matter what their beliefs, can sit round the table arguing over who gets which piece of the turkey.

This evening we went along to the 19th Annual local Interfaith Service, which this year was held at St Procopius Abbey in nearby Lisle.

I admit I'd never heard of St Procopius before. Turns out his abbey was built in the early 70s, and is best described as a modern version of a monastery. The building was entirely brick, unusual for this area, with angular lines that gave it a very geometric feel.

The service comprised of a number of faiths demonstrating prayers and hymns. My favourite were the Baha'is, but only because they worn cool black gowns with super sparkly scarves around their necks.

There were Gregorian chants from the monks, recitations from the Qur'aan and even a song from the Zoroastrains. We Jews were represented by neighbouring synagogue Etz Chaim who sang a couple of songs I'd never heard before.

My own religion is so different in the US it's almost unrecognisable to me at times. Many of the traditional melodies have been replaced with modern American versions that wouldn't be out of place as a theme to a made for TV movie.

But looking at such a diverse range of religions at one event, they seem almost interchangeable. Most religions say their prayers in a sing-songy way. Many use such foreign tongues they are impossible to understand. But all of them manage to create an air of calm that exudes a meditative air that anyone attending a place of worship would enjoy.

Of course this being Thanksgiving, there was some good old American stuff thrown in too. Personally I hadn't heard This Land Is Your Land since I was about five years old. Grumpy has been banned from singing If I Had A Hammer in case someone was actually foolish enough to hand him one. Yet tonight we joined in, as we did with a rousing chorus of America the Beautiful at the end.

So why would we do this? We're not American, and on this most American of holidays, we can only ever really be observers. Not to be too syrupy about the whole thing, the reality is we really are truly thankful to be here. For that reason alone, Thanksgiving is perhaps the most pertinent holiday of them all.