For the past two decades, religious organizations around town have come together right before Thanksgiving to host a service focused on gratitude and being thankful for one another.

Although COVID-19 canceled last year’s interfaith service, it won’t cancel this year’s plan.

“I think that the idea here is that it's refreshing to see other viewpoints of what organizations bring in their expressions of gratitude, especially in the week of Thanksgiving,” Daniel Tenrod, the communications director of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

The congregation that hosts the interfaith service rotates every year. This year, it will be the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that will host the event. In 2019, Beth Israel Congregation hosted the service.

Tenrod says that at previous interfaith services, close to 100 people will show up from all different types of faiths from the Fayetteville community, and he says each year new people show up.

Each participating religious congregation will talk at the service and share a special message of gratitude.

They want to highlight mutual declarations of gratitude, peace and love.

Participants who will be represented at the Interfaith Thanksgiving Service include Beth Israel Congregation, Courtyard Church of Christ, Fayetteville Friends Monthly Meeting, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church and the St. James Lutheran Church.

In a newsletter to his congregants, Rabbi Dov Goldberg said that this time can be a place for giving thanks for the blessings everyone has received.

“Let us come together to lift each other up, not by denying the difficulties we have faced, but by remembering that there is still much good in our lives, and although frequently more socially distanced than we would like, we are not alone,” Goldberg wrote.

For Tenrod, seeing how people of other faiths express gratitude in their own ways is amazing to see.

For example, he loves hearing the Hebrew prayers that come from the rabbi of the Beth Israel Congregation and being part of the quiet that comes when the Quakers of the Fayetteville Friends Monthly Meeting pray.

“Everyone is truly grateful. It's not just something they are saying off their lips. You can feel their sincerity,” Tenrod said.

After the service, which is typically about an hour-long, there will be a meet and greet reception with light refreshments.

The event will take place on, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints off 3200 Scotty Hill Road.

There will be hand sanitation stations throughout the church and masks are encouraged. There will be security at the event as well, but reservations are not required.