12IFTS

Thirtieth Interfaith Thanksgiving Service

Trinity United Methodist Church

Tuesday, November 20, 2012, 7-8:10 PM

120 West Park Avenue, Tallahassee, FL 32301

This evening VTS and I went to the Trinity United Methodist Church to be part of the Thirtieth Interfaith Thanksgiving Service. I have been part of this service for at least four years when one of local priests invited to come to the service, partake and speak about Hindu faith and meaning of Thanksgiving. This year's theme was “Walking in the Light”. Clergy from many Christian denominations, Jewish, Baha'i, Islamic faiths were invited in addition to me.

Around 6:30 PM we all gathered in the basement of the church. Then the organizer Rev C-Evans gave us program the instructions of today's events. We then walked upstairs and followed the Interfaith Children's Choir. The program began with Rev Curry's welcome message and children's song. Then one by one each one of us spoke about our faith and related to the theme "Walking in the Light"

I read some verses from Thiru Manthiram that spoke about God (Shiva’s) form as Light. I began by quoting Swami Vivekananda's address to the Parliament of World Religions and read three verses in Tamil and its meaning in English. Rev Hingis spoke about offering for ECHO, operation ID. We contributed some amount to the cause.

After the program we went downstairs and spoke to many who were in the audience. Took some cookies and coffee and returned home around 8:30 PM.

My speech at the 30 Interfaith Thanksgiving Service: Thiru Manthiram Verses