First Presbyterian Church of Allentown will host the 43rd annual Interfaith Community Thanksgiving Service, Wednesday evening, November 25, 2009.
The following churches and synagogues, with members of their clergy and choirs, will participate in this year’s Thanksgiving Eve service of worship:
Cathedral Church of Saint Catharine of Siena – Rev. Eric Arnout, Congregation Keneseth Israel – Rabbi Dr. Robert B. Lennick & Cantor Ellen Sussman, Episcopal Church of the Mediator – Rev. Maria Tjeltveit, First Presbyterian Church of Allentown – Rev. Cynthia L. Simmons, St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church – Rev. Msgr. John P. Murphy, and Temple Beth El – Cantor Kevin Wartell.
An interfaith choir with singers from St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church, Cathedral Church of Saint Catharine of Siena, and First Presbyterian Church of Allentown will perform during the service. The choir will also accompany Cantors Ellen Sussman from Keneseth Israel and Kevin Wartell from Temple Beth El as they offer musical reflections sung in Hebrew.
First Presbyterian Church’s Adult Bell Choir will perform a selection with the interfaith choir and during the service prelude. The choir will perform under the direction of Laura Rabenold, choir director at First Presbyterian Church; the Adult Bell Choir will perform under the direction of Gloria Snyder, Director of Music Ministry at First Presbyterian Church and the church’s principal organist.
The first Thanksgiving service, the “Union Thanksgiving Service for Allentown West End”, was held in 1967 and organized by then Associate Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Reverend John Stoner, who invited three Allentown congregations (The Cathedral Church of St. Catharine of Siena, Congregation Keneseth Israel, and Temple Beth El) to join together in celebration and worship.
Pastor Emeritus Stoner recently recounted how he felt a calling to invite Allentown congregations to celebrate Thanksgiving together after his own interaction with local clergy on the golf course and tennis courts, and in professional and social settings. He was compelled by the era of the 1960s ‐ the need to break down barriers and the fight against prejudices, and by his personal experiences of forming relationships with area pastors, priests and rabbis. He wanted to bring congregations together to build similar friendships and celebrate Thanksgiving without doctrine. That first service, which described by Mary Stoner, Pastor Stoner’s wife, as being “packed”, was hosted by First Presbyterian Church of Allentown.
The Community Thanksgiving Service has been hosted annually by one of the participating congregations and was held each year on Thanksgiving Day until 1996; since then, the service has been held on Thanksgiving Eve.
First Presbyterian Church of Allentown extends an invitation for the community to join us at this year’s 43rd Thanksgiving celebration. The service is open to the public, with doors opening at 7:00 p.m. for the 7:30 service. A free will offering will be taken to benefit the work of the Second Harvest Food Bank; canned and nonperishable food donations will be delivered to the Allentown Area Ecumenical Food Bank. For information regarding attending this service, please contact First Presbyterian Church of Allentown at 610/395‐3781. Contact: Laura Fleischer, Communications Coordinator 610/395‐3781 ext 17. laura.fleischer@fpcallentown.org