9/11 Events
/Love Thy Neighbor: Letting Go Of Fear 2014
On September 11, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. the Arkansas House of Prayer and the Interfaith Center teamed up for the 3nd Annual Compassion in Action service. The theme for this year was “Love Thy Neighbor: Letting Go of Fear.” The service was held in the sanctuary of St. Margaret’s and featured special musical performances by John Willis, the Psalm 150 choir and chanters and musicians representing Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu and B’ahai faiths.
In addition, youth representatives offered a dialogue of a friendship that emerged despite one being an evangelical Christian and the other a Muslim.
The cornerstone piece of the event was a religious reconciliation of ways that respective Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths had perpetuated fear, hatred and violence against those of other faiths.
The Rev. Susan Sims Smith addressed the crowd and gave concrete ways people could reduce their own fears of people different from them. The event was an extraordinary gathering of participants from all the major religions.
The crowd outnumbered the chairs in the sanctuary and a live feed was offered to folks not able to get into the room. We hosted an interfaith potluck reception after the event, which was very well contributed to and almost entirely consumed.
Compassion in Action 2013
On September 11, 2013 at 6:00 p.m. the Arkansas House of Prayer and the Interfaith Center teamed up for the 2nd Annual Compassion in Action service.
The service was held in the sanctuary of St. Margaret’s (due to rain) and featured special musical performances by Cody Belew, John Willis, the Psalm 150 choir and a chanters and musicians representing Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu and Baha’i faiths.
The Rev. Susan Sims Smith addressed the crowd and gave the “why” to interfaith work in our community. The event was an extraordinary gathering of over 400 participants from the major world religions.
Compassion in Action 2012
On September 11, 2012 at 4:30 p.m. the Interfaith Center hosted Compassion in Action, an interfaith event held on the grounds of the Arkansas House of Prayer. Over 130 people from many different religious backgrounds gathered to pray for peace and to bless the people doing interfaith work in the community.
The Multi-Faith Youth Group processed into the event carrying a new interfaith prayer box to be permanently stationed at the House of Prayer, and later presented the following original prayer:
We are standing in your presence to pray for peace and harmony. We pray for a day when your love envelops the earth. A day when spirits that unite us are stronger than the forces that divide us. A day when all people are one no matter what color, race, or religion. Please grant us compassion to care for all creations; love to keep us strong; and acceptance to reduce hatred. Please guide our hearts through understanding, so we may coexist in harmony, and universal peace may prevail the earth. Amen!