Friendsgiving Celebration on Sunday, November 24th 5:00 to 6:30 at Saint Joan of Arc Parish

Join us for this year’s annual Thanksgiving Celebration with an evening of Friendsgiving! We will be connecting with old and new friends, enjoying food and music while sharing gratitude and reflections. The Kurt Ribak Trio will offer soulful inspiration and a Kids’ Table will include an activity and pizza for little ones to enjoy.

All are invited to bring a favorite finger food, savory or sweet, to share. Also we will be collecting canned foods for local families served by Monument Crisis Center.

We will gather in the Multipurpose Room, next to the large canopy, at Saint Joan of Arc Parish in San Ramon. Address: 2601 San Ramon Valley.

Even if bringing food doesn’t work for you, please join us for an evening of tending to friendship, gratitude, and harmony in our community.

Bring family members who are visiting or a friend or two to gather with us!

I-SRV’s Longest Standing Tradition

Our Interfaith Thanksgiving Worship Celebration is an occasion of gratitude through the music, prayers, poetry, and dance of all of our traditions, which creates an evening of joy and thankfulness for life, the Sacred, each other, and the Land. This tradition has been going on for over 20 years and brings to life the deep appreciation and commitment I-SRV holds.

Appreciation for the Haudenosaunee People & One of Their Gifts to the World

The Thanksgiving Address shared during our 2023 Celebration is the publicized version of John Stokes and Kanawahientun, 1993. We were introduced to this version through Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. In the chapter “Allegiance to Gratitude”, Robin Wall Kimmerer writes about the desire of the Haudenosaunee to publish and share these words of thanksgiving and pledge of reciprocity with the living world. We are grateful for this gift and respectfully acknowledge and appreciate the Haudenosaunee sharing their wisdom. We are listening and learning.

Remembering Our 2023 Celebration

Our musician Rana, led us as our voices rose in hope and prayer. The Wisdom and Words of the Onondaga Nation’s Thanksgiving Invocation guided us in greeting and giving thanks to the Natural World, focusing our minds as one on the priority of gratitude, an ethic of fullness, and a bill of responsibilities to live in balance and harmony.

In song, we renewed our commitment to standing with each other, walking with those seen as outsiders, and welcoming people in need of refuge. We connected to our bodies, noticing Aloha, the Breath of God, moving through us and opening ourselves to the Energy of Aliveness.

Time paused, folding inwards, as we experienced the eternity of prayer through poetry and qigong.

Friends shared appreciations flowing in their hearts: for the people of our community, clean water, family, God, worshiping in freedom, love, trees, the light, and more…

We thank the people of St. Timothy’s for hosting us in their Sacred Space and all the presenters who shared during the Celebration.

Highlights of Our 2022 Celebration

Beth Chaim hosted a delightful celebration for us in 2022. The evening featured original music by Allan Ajaya Davidson and Michaelle Goerlitz and hymns shared by the Choi Family Trio. Mayor Arnerich spoke about the necessity of our working together. Muslim and Jewish chants engaged us in singing from the heart. Children’s Time bound us together in the unity we long for. Hope Solutions made clear there is hope for the unsheltered. We agreed we are all hungry for more, for more occasions of celebration together.