Yesterday, most of us celebrated the very American holiday of Thanksgiving. The lucky among us gathered with loved ones, broke bread, maybe watched football, and presumably gave thanks for all we have in our lives.
Gratitude is something innately beneficial to the human experience. Long before the mythical “First Thanksgiving,” humans have discovered, forgotten, and then rediscovered that giving thanks for all that God has done for us transforms our hearts and minds. Neuroscience agrees that gratitude is beneficial when our lives appear to be good, and even more so when our lives seem imperfect.
The 1979 Book of Common Prayer designates the Holy Eucharist as “The Great Thanksgiving” in order to elevate the consecration of the sacrament of the Lord's table above the others (for example, weddings and burial rites). In the Great Thanksgiving, we gather weekly as a community to give thanks for all God has done in our lives, in history, and in the gift of God’s son. We believe that this experience is much more than the sum of its parts. It forms us individually and collectively and empowers us to go back out into the world to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
At Church of Our Saviour, we are striving to cultivate a community where we might be formed, together, to give thanks for all God has done. We are not perfect people. Our lives are not perfect, and our country is not perfect. And yet, the power of us coming together in and through our differences to give thanks is so much more.
If you have already given toward the 2025 Annual Giving Campaign, I thank you. If you have not, I invite you to fill out a pledge card so that we can budget for the expenses that enable us to be a community that imperfectly gives thanks for all God has done in our lives and throughout history.
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