toledoblade.com --

Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday that stirs up images of turkey dinners with all the trimmings and tall-hatted Christian pilgrims who started the tradition.

But while food and Christian prayer are parts of the celebration for many local churches and parachurch groups, including many that are cooking free meals for the needy, the concept of giving thanks is found in virtually all religions.

The nearly universal tradition of giving thanks is the reason that the MultiFaith Council of Northwest Ohio is holding its fifth annual Thanksgiving Celebration tomorrow.

The gathering at Unity Church of Toledo will feature representatives from six faith traditions explaining their perspectives on gratitude - and no turkey, just finger foods, will be served.

"This will be our fifth year for the Thanksgiving Celebration and we've never had turkey, but some people still ask where the turkey is," said Woody Trautman, co-founder of the council.

He and his wife, Judy Lee Trautman, who also co-founded the MultiFaith Council, said the Thanksgiving event was created to bring people of different faiths together to learn more about things they have in common.

"Some people say they don't celebrate the holiday because their ties are to a different country and it's a pretty American holiday, but I think the concepts of gratefulness and thanksgiving are really universal," said Mrs. Trautman, a Sufi.

She will lead an International Dance of Universal Peace, a dance created by Sufi teacher Samuel L. Lewis of San Francisco, at the end of the event. The dance does not require any special training or a partner.

Earnestine Hamilton with a sign welcoming guests to the House of Prayer Holiness Church, which held its dinner last Tuesday.

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Scheduled to speak about their religious traditions' views on gratitude are Kim Kennedy, representing American Indians; John Krochmalny for Baha'is; Olivia Holden, the program moderator, for Baptists; Imam Ibrahim Abdul-rahim for Muslims, and Steve Elzinga for Mennonites.

"Each speaker spends between five and seven minutes talking about gratitude and thanksgiving from their own point of view," said Mr. Trautman, who is a Unitarian Universalist. "Sometimes they tell a story from their tradition, sometimes it's a song or a Scripture - whatever seems appropriate."

Each presentation is followed by short question-and-answer sessions.

The MultiFaith Council strives to present a variety of traditions each year, the Trautmans said, and two years ago featured a presentation on Wicca.

"We were a little nervous because some people are very, very anti-Wicca," Mrs. Trautman said. "But I think some people listened and learned that it's not such a frightening thing after all. And she received a lot of questions."

This year's Thanksgiving Celebration will be the first one with representatives from Mennonite, American Indian, and Baptist traditions, the Trautmans said.

The Fifth Annual MultiFaith Thanksgiving Celebration, part of the communitywide Erase the Hate program, will be from 4 to 6 p.m. at Unity of Toledo, 3535 Executive Parkway at Secor Road. The program is free; bringing canned goods for area needy is optional.

Tom Klein, a retired professor from Bowling Green, said he discovered "a tremendous hunger" for spirituality while traveling the world teaching religion classes in a Semester at Sea program.

"I think the essence of the great paradigm shift from religion to spirituality is to have a more direct and individualized contact with nature, with the great mystery of it all, which can be seen as God," Mr. Klein said.

Mr. Klein, who taught a six-part series on Current Issues in Religion and Spirituality for the MultiFaith Council, said the annual thanksgiving event gives people a chance to see that their religious group shares some things with other faith traditions.

"People want to find out what we have in common, and certainly there is an appreciation for the valuing of life … and the interconnectedness of it all," he said.

The Rev. Joseph Bracken, a Jesuit priest and professor emeritus at Xavier University in Cincinnati, said that although Thanksgiving is an American holiday with Christian roots, it is significant that the celebration comes at harvest time.

"Nearly every country has some sort of harvest day. Especially if the holiday is held only once a year, it would be normal for people to reflect and to celebrate," Father Bracken said. "Not every religion is theistic, or has a belief in God, but they all have some sense of gratitude for the source of life."

Serving baked turkey with side dishes to needy people has long been a big part of the holiday for many religious groups.

Among the churches that served free meals for the holiday was House of Prayer Holiness Church on Nebraska Avenue, which held an early Thanksgiving dinner this week.

"We've been doing it the last three or four years because we wanted to do something to help people out. We take great joy in doing it," said Meldon Bridges, one of the volunteers who cooked and served the turkey, dressing, gravy, green beans, and potato casserole on Tuesday.

She said House of Prayer Holiness Church averages about 40 people at its Sunday services, and the church serves Thanksgiving meals to between 75 and 100 people a year.

"We'll serve anybody that come in," Ms. Bridges said. "We don't specify. We try our best to help people in need but anybody that come in can eat."

Members of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral on North Superior Street cooks Thanksgiving meals for residents of Madonna Homes, a retirement complex next door operated by the Toledo Catholic Diocese.

"It's our way of giving back to the community, a token of our appreciation to God for the blessings he's given us," said the Rev. Aristotle Damaskos, Holy Trinity's dean.

The meals will be served tomorrow with turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and pumpkin pie on the menu for Madonna Homes residents.

"For those who can't come over for the meal, we go room to room and deliver. It's great for the little kids and the adults as well [to deliver meals]," Father Aristotle said.

Pilgrim Church on Sylvania Avenue will be serving free meals from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thanksgiving day.

"We had 150 last year and I'm planning on more like 250 this year," said Dawn Ullrich, director of Christian education at Pilgrim, who said the church is seeing more people in need this year than previous years.

"I could cry every day," she said. "Last week, we had a guy in here, 6-foot-5, a truck driver, out of work for three weeks. He said he would be out on the street if it weren't for his sister, and she's being foreclosed on. She's feeding a family of seven. When I asked if I can pray for you, here this big guy broke down crying."

The Cherry Street Mission is planning to serve 700 meals from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thanksgiving day, said the Rev. Dan Rogers, president and CEO. "It's good and bad. Good in the fact that preparations are going well. Sad in the fact that we're probably going to serve in surplus of 700 meals this year."

He said the downtown outreach to the homeless and needy served about 500 meals last Thanksgiving day and 225 in 2002.

Cherry Street has about 400 volunteers signed up to serve as wait staff for the holiday, Mr. Rogers said. "We serve it family style and one of the great things we do is make sure our guests have a very home-style, friendly meal."

At Pilgrim, in addition to serving meals the church members are also participating in a joint Thanksgiving eve service with Augsburg Lutheran Church, just across the street. The Rev. Christ Matthy of Augsburg will preach at Pilgrim at 7 p.m.

Other groups that will hold ecumenical Thanksgiving eve worship services include Maumee Churches United, meeting at Cass Road Baptist.

"The Thanksgiving eve service has been our tradition now for over 15 years and we feel it's just an important part of our community life," said the Rev. Roger Miller of St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church in Maumee. "Maybe that's one reason why Maumee is an all-American city. We've really fostered community fellowship through the churches."

A Community Thanksgiving Worship Service also will be held in Elmore, Ohio, at St. John's United Church of Christ, and in Oak Harbor at Oak Harbor United Methodist Church.

Contact David Yonke at:
dyonke@theblade.com
or 419-724-6154.

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