Happy Thanksgiving!  All are welcome to join us for Church on Sunday, October 13 at 10 am.  Rev. Stuart Jackson will be leading the church service this Sunday. Sunday school will run during the service.  Feel free to join us for coffee and fellowship following the service.

Notes from Rev. Jackson for Sunday, October 13, 2024

 What is the nature of thankfulness? How do you express your thanks?

The Gospel of Matthew 6:25-33

The Gospel Lesson for Thanksgiving Sunday is part of the Sermon on the Mount, a collection of teachings of Jesus about discipleship. This passage invites us to reflect on what is most important in life.

Thanksgiving has always been connected to harvest festivals, to the “harvest home”. As long as humans have planted and harvested, there have been harvest thanksgivings. We decorate our churches and homes with signs of the harvest: garden produce, sheaves of wheat, and so on.

An important aspect of Thanksgiving is to reconnect us with who we are and where we have come from, and with what we are becoming. We need to remember our roots, even as we make our thanksgiving. We are called to live as thankful people: “Thanks-living.”

I’ve prepared a booklet for use at your Thanksgiving meal this weekend, using prayers written by Keri Wehlander. Feel free to adapt this to your circumstances. And if these prayers remind you of the Sacrament of Communion, that is intentional. I believe that’s what Jesus intended when he said at the Last Supper, “Whenever you do this, remember me.” You can download it or pick up a copy on Sunday.

May your thanks-living be a blessing!

Stuart