Bristol to celebrate its diversity with Annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service

Posted By: Jack Krampitz November 12, 2021

Members of the Bristol Interfaith Coalition have invited the greater Bristol community to join together virtually on Wednesday, November 24, 2021 for the annual interfaith Thanksgiving service. The service will be live streamed by First Congregational Church with Pastor Kristen Kleiman leading a blended live and pre-recorded event.

This year’s theme is Welcoming the Stranger. Please join in helping an Afghani family relocate to New Britain through the Simsbury United Methodist Church’s Welcoming Project. The church is a co-sponsor of IRIS (Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services) and has already raised $15,000 towards the process. More information about the program and how to donate is at the end of this article.

Working with IRIS, this group will walk with this family in getting an apartment and furnishing it, enrolling children in school and helping them adjust, and getting them planted in a new community. As people of faith and as citizens of the United States, we remember that we too have been strangers that needed welcoming and planting, and generously look to give back what we have first received.

The service itself will start with Nighthawk Flying, a medicine man with four tribal nations who will offer a Native American prayer of thanksgiving and will set the tone for the evening. Representatives from Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Sikh, Pagan, Jewish and Baha’i communities will contribute to the program and Mayor Caggiano will offer a Thanksgiving message. 

Music will be provided by two bell choirs and a combined adult choir from several congregations which will contribute a selection. Kristen Russo, as song leader, will be live and will lead everyone at home in several songs with words provided on the screen and in a printable program. There will be other opportunities for viewers to participate actively as well. 

The service begins at 7:30 p.m. Attendees are asked to try to log on five or ten minutes earlier to ensure good access. 

For more information, please contact BristolInterfaith@gmail.com. The service will be live on Facebook on the Bristol Interfaith Coalition’s Facebook page and on the Facebook page and YouTube channels for the First Congregational Church of Bristol. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOghSyO_p-KoLXoRZLzUCZg

To donate to this worthy cause, you may make a check out to SUM and put “Refugee” in the memo line and then mail it to SUM, 799 Hopmeadow St, Simsbury, CT 06070 or use Venmo and search for Simsbury-UMC and add “Refugee” to the comment. Their website is https://sumct.org/refugee.

If you prefer to donate directly to IRIS instead of the church, please use https://irisct.org/donate/ and you will be able to support refugees from many places resettling in Connecticut.