I'm not sure why the retail market hasn't made more of the Thanksgiving holiday, but I'm really glad it hasn't.  This whole season of fall till Christmas is a "sacred time" for me and I would hate to see it marred by the commercialism of so many of our holidays.  While Thanksgiving isn't an official church holy day, I think the whole essence of it is about who we are as Christians. 

 

This past Sunday we celebrated "Harvest Sunday" at Metigoshe.  It's always a time we prepare a special worship service and do some special sort of decorating, but even more importantly, it is a time we focus on the incredible gifts we have received from our gracious and loving Lord.  Gifts not just of the land, which have been in incredible abundance this year, but also the gifts that we often take for granted, like our very life and breath, the beautiful place in which we live, the absolutely amazing gift of God's own self in the person of Jesus who came to free us and comes to feed us and guide us and will come again to take us home. 

 

Our worship contained a litany which I'd like to share:

 

Give us hearts of thanksgiving.

 

Give us eyes of faith.

 

Give us hands of action.

 

 

As you take time to "count your blessings" in this reflective season, may you respond in the words of Sunday's offertory:  "We lift our voices, we lift our hands, we lift our lives up to you:  we are an offering.  Lord, use our voices, Lord, use our hands, Lord, use our lives, they are yours: we are an offering.  All that we have, all that we are, all that we hope to be, we give to you, we give to you.  We lift our voices, we lift our hands, we lift our lives up to you: we are an offering, we are an offering."

 

Peace, 

 

 Pastor Carol