Religious congregations of Longboat share in fellowship with interfaith service

This year marks the 43rd year that the staple faith congregations of Longboat Key joined together in fellowship to celebrate the holiday season.

Christ Church of Longboat Key hosted the annual Interfaith Thanksgiving service on Nov. 21.

All Angels by the Sea Episcopal Church; Christ Church of Longboat Key; Longboat Island Chapel; St. Armands Key Lutheran Church; St. Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic Church; and Temple Beth Israel all participated in the service. It is always held near Thanksgiving to push forth the message of how grateful the congregations are to have a community with one another.

New pastor of Christ Church Rev. Julia Piermont said that interfaith community is one of her goals going into her new position. 

“It is part of being involved in the island and the rhythm of the Key,” said Piermont. “We should always strive to work together in an interfaith community. It would help everyone learn more about each other’s faiths and encourage support from each other when we need it.”

The service started with a prelude sung by recent New York University graduate, Alexa Lowrey. The head leaders of each congregation led different parts of the service with different prayers and scripture readings they curated together. These leaders are Piermont, Rev. David Marshall of All Angels, Rabbi Stephen Sniderman of Temple Beth Israel, Rev. Brock Patterson and Rev. Jeffrey Nunes of Longboat Island Chapel. Ernie Smith, president of the St. Armands Lutheran Church board, came as the representative of Rev. Kenneth Blyth. Father Robert Dziedziak from St. Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic Church was out of town and could not attend.

The choir was made up of members from All Angels, Christ Church, Longboat Island Chapel and Temple Beth Israel. The group has been practicing for a couple months now. David Stasney, music director at All Angels, said it was such a wonderful way to meet other people on the Key passionate about music and their faith.

Sniderman gave the sermon at the service. In his sermon, he shared how it is always important to give thanks, even when things are hard. He also said it is important to lean on communities like these during difficult times to help ground you back to what is important.

“We should offer thanksgiving for whatever we have, no matter how small it is,” said Sniderman in his sermon. “As we go through life and hopefully learn more every day, gaining wisdom and maturity, we see things differently. As we look at the world around us, it is so easy for our intentions to get caught up in things that we can’t control. But, what can we control? I can give a prayer of thanksgiving. That is something I have the power to do and that will help us to never give up.”

A reception was held after the service for everyone to mingle over food and beverages. Everyone was able to split off from their normal circle and meet new people from different congregations. This is the biggest turnout they have had since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kathleen Bizzarro from St. Mary said that it is amazing to have the opportunity to learn more about what other people believe and share it with each other. 

“It was such a beautiful service,” said Bizzarro. “I haven’t seen anything like this before. It just has a strong spirit of passionate intelligent people who want to share their faith with others. It's very joyous. Perfect for this time of year.”