Although the 17th annual Abraham Festival in Peterborough — originally scheduled for Friday, April 17th to Sunday, April 19th — has been postponed because of COVID-19, local religious leaders are hosting a special virtual interfaith service on Saturday afternoon (April 18).
It’s the first service of its kind in Ontario, according to organizers.
The Abraham Festival is a coalition of Muslims, Jews, and Christians in the Peterborough area who consider themselves all to be descendants of Abraham, the common patriarch of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The group has been hosting the annual festival since 2003.
The special online service called “Our Faiths Teach Us to Look After Each Other” will take place on the Zoom video conferencing platform at 2:15 p.m. on Saturday, April 18th. It will feature readings from The Quran, The Torah, and The New Testament.
“Each of the three faith leaders will share a reading from their own scripture, and will discuss how each other’s readings give them comfort and wisdom in looking after family, friends and those in need in our communities,” organizers state in a media release.
The service co-leaders will be Imam Habeeb Alli, Dr. Daniel Houpt from Beth Israel Synagogue, and United Church Ministers Julie Haaften and Jessica Beecham Stockton.
To register for the interfaith service, complete the form at docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScxbMSGjM7Ej4HmqDhIN85ch8GrsWV_zuHCiThjPQrIV9KOcQ/viewform.
After you register, organizers will email you instructions by Friday April 17th on how to join the virtual service. The service is limited to 100 people.
