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NEWS BRIEFS
Downtown congregations host community Thanksgiving
Rabbi David Wucher speaks during the annual Community Thanksgiving Service by the Huntington downtown congregations on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009, at Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church.
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HUNTINGTON -- Retired Presbyterian minister Arvie Maynard was once talking to a friend who was Hindu, and asked about his belief in God.
His response was something to the effect of, "Many rivers lead to the same sea."
That was a concept that stuck with Maynard, and brought him downtown Sunday evening for the Downtown Congregations' Community Service of Thanksgiving, hosted this year by Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church.
Maynard had attended an interfaith service last week in Atlanta, Ga., and wanted to go to one in his hometown, he said.
He joined a couple hundred others in the congregation, who came for a variety of reasons.
Baptist Paula Owen said she wanted to hear the music created when the choirs from the different religious organizations came together, and her neighbor, Mary K. Tucker, a Methodist, came to learn.
"I thought it would be interesting to see what the different churches do," Tucker said.
And all came to give thanks. Pastors from several local churches participated in the event, which featured readings from the Bible as well as the Quran.
"We worship the same God, who has many names," said Jack Lipphardt, senior pastor at Johnson Memorial. God touches us all in different ways, which provides everyone reason to give thanks, he said.
And many of God's blessings are similar for people of all faiths, said Rabbi David Wucher of B'Nai Sholom Congregation. Grandchildren are an example, said Wucher, whose first grandchild, Jacob Bernhardt, just celebrated his first birthday.
"You can't look at his face without seeing joy and thinking of God," he said as Jacob toddled by. "As soon as you walk in the door and see him, you say, 'Thank God.' That's all you can do."
