By Heidi Bay
Justice, a concept central to all Abrahamic faiths, will be the topic of the 12th Annual Celebration of Abraham. The free interfaith event will be held on Sunday January 25th from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at St. James Catholic Church of Davis (1275 B Street).
“Terms like righteous, equitable, and impartial are often used to describe just actions. Though we find justice hard to define, we are aware that our world is far from just,” said Helen Roland, a member of the organizing committee. “Some injustice is so wide-spread that no one person or group can relieve it. Because there is so much to do, we can feel we are helpless to make any real change, asking ourselves ‘What can I do that matters?”
The goal of the 2015 Celebration of Abraham event is to help participants understand what justice means to them and discover how they can reach out in their way to help where help is needed.
To that end, as part of the 2015 event there will be an Interfaith Fair for Justice. “Local organizations focusing on homelessness and immigration, as well as groups teaching restorative processes, will present their work and opportunities for the participants to fight injustice in Yolo County,” said Helen Roland, a member of the organizing committee. “We invite the public to come to the Celebration at 2:30 and spend the first half hour visiting their tables.”
From there, the program will include panel discussions and music, along with more intimate discussions among the participants at each table. The afternoon concludes with a ritual of washing each other’s hands at each individual table, and breaking a loaf of bread together as symbols of respect and connection.
Celebration of Abraham is sponsored by a number of spiritual organizations, including American Muslim Voice, The Christian Church, (Disciples of Christ) of Woodland, Muslim Mosque of Woodland, Woodland Presbyterian Church, Woodland United Methodist Church, Congregation Bet Haverim/Jewish Fellowship of Davis, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Council on Islamic Relations (CAIR), Davis Community Church, Davis Friends (Quaker) Meeting, Davis Lutheran Church, , Davis United Methodist Church, Lutheran Church of Incarnation, Saint James Catholic Church, St. John’s United Church of Christ, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church of Davis, St. Mary’s Orthodox Coptic Church, Salam Center of Sacramento, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and the Unitarian Universalist Church.
To read or comment on the Celebration of Abraham blog, go to http://celebrationofabraham.net/. For more information contact Helen Roland hroland2@gmail.com or visit the Celebration of Abraham’s webpage at http://groups.dcn.org/abraham.
I am curious when an organization that celebrates all faiths gets political. It usually destroys the original intent of the event, and introduces “organizers” instead of “celebrators”.
What sounded like a great event about religions just became something else. Too bad.