All Religions Welcome at Harvest Event

By Louis Medina, The Bakersfield Californian

Nov. 2–In the spirit of its name, Unity Church of Bakersfield will host its first ever Interfaith Harvest Festival Saturday.

Part-mixer, part-fundraiser, the event will bring together people of such different faiths as Judaism, Islam, Eckankar (the religion of the light and sound of God), Religious Science, Buddhism and non-denominational Christianity.

Temple Beth El, the Islamic Center of San Joaquin Valley, Kern County Eckankar, the Center for Spiritual Living and Soka Gakkai International have been invited to participate, said Beverly Marino, church services coordinator for Unity Church.

Ada Davis, 86, also a church member and one of the event organizers, said the different groups will be free to display and distribute literature explaining their faith and to conduct fundraising activities such as selling homemade harvest festival-type foods and arts and crafts.

“The good thing about Unity is that they bless all faiths,” said Marino’s husband, Louis, a guitar player who will be one of several performers providing entertainment during the daylong event. “They use the Bible and Jesus as their teacher but they’re not exclusive,” he said.

Louis said he studied with a Zen teacher from 1970 to 1976 and at one time considered becoming a Zen priest. He continues practicing Zen to this day and has attended Unity Church, where he feels “very comfortable,” since around the mid-1990s.

“I think anybody with an open mind would feel comfortable there,” he said, “because everybody is embraced, everybody is blessed, nobody is cursed because you’re not one of them.”

The Rev. Chuck Cournyea, senior minister at Unity Church, said the women of his church spearheaded the interfaith effort.

“My church is a matriarchal church,” he said. “Matriarchal churches are run by women. They gave me the information, they passed it by me, but I was not involved in the direct decision-making. We’re about empowerment,” he said. “I don’t micromanage.”

Becky Eidenshink, a Unity Church member and president of SOUL, which stands for “Spirit of Unity’s Love,” an organization that works to raise money for church beautification projects, said the genesis of the interfaith event was simple: “We just kind of got together and thought, ‘Let’s invite more people. Let’s do something different and show people that we can all get along,’” she said. “And I’m glad it’s going. I love it.”

Jaye Naomi, who plays harp for the church and will be performing at the interfaith event, is looking forward to the experience as “the most profound, beautiful and healing thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

“The vibrations that come from the harp go right into the body and touch you in a way no other instrument touches the body or the mind or the soul,” she said.

“The harp is the most ancient instrument in the world other than the drum,” Naomi said, “and I think it is the perfect instrument for an interfaith gathering for its multicultural nature.”

Go & Do

What: Interfaith Harvest Festival

When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday

Where: Unity Church of Bakersfield, 2001 Truxtun Ave. at E Street.

Admission: Free. Luncheon priced at $6.95 for adults and $4 for children. Other items also available for purchase include homemade jams, jellies, baked goods and crafts.

Also, $1 donation tickets will be sold for a “50/50 opportunity drawing” and the winner will walk away with 50 percent of the money collected through ticket sales.

Information: 327-8614 or www.unityofbakersfield.org

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