Dear all,
In youth group on Sunday, in between auditions for the play and our Friendsgiving dinner, members of RYG made a gratitude chain. We wrote down things we were grateful for and made a chain with the pieces of paper. When it was done, it was longer than the parish hall.
We have so much to be thankful for. As we sat together, I reflected on the gift of basic necessities: clean water, food, shelter, love, and community that so many in our city, country, and world lack. We live in a world where they are not guaranteed. They can disappear so quickly.
I also reflected on how thankful I was to be sitting in the parish hall together, in person: laughing and talking over the music, passing each other scissors and staplers, breathing the same air, singing and dancing for auditions. Three years ago, in 2020, members of RYG would have given so much to be able to try out for the play – but there were no vaccines, we could not safely sing together, inside. Instead, we gathered outside for our Friendsgiving meal, shivering in our carefully spaced chairs around a bonfire.
This year, rehearsals for the play are getting ready to begin, and we sat together, warm and cozy in the dining room, for a delicious and generous meal that even included a happy birthday roll! Our congregation is able to gather in full in the chapel and church, singing along with our incredible choir. These simple actions of gathering are so poignant and special to me now, when before I barely thought of them. They are not guaranteed. They can disappear so quickly. We have so much to be thankful for.
As you give thanks this week, here are three questions to consider:
For what are you grateful?
To whom are you grateful?
And how do you share that gratitude with the world?
Surely, saying thank you and being mindful of what we have been given are two ways. Writing thank you notes, taking a friend to coffee – I certainly use both of these to share my thanks!
And – and. And I think that we are called to do even more. God offers us the gift of grace, and calls on us to do the same. There is no “deserving” – grace is freely given. Out of our gratitude to God, we can offer grace to the world through our words and actions. We can share from our abundance, be it a banquet feast of five loaves and two fish; the size does not matter. We can seek to be Christ’s healing hands and journeying feet in our community, listening and welcoming and being present.
So ask yourself and anyone with whom you gather – and have a very happy Thanksgiving.
Love,
Rebecca+