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Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Matthew: 6:25

Friends,

I wonder, what is Thanksgiving for you? For me, it's both memories and intentions . Thanksgiving is a memory of a big formal meal, with food we didn't normally eat, and prayers. All of which helped open to those who gathered at the table the intention of the day, which was to see God in all things and just how much God was in everything we enjoyed. An awareness which caused intense thankfulness.

In some ways, a lot has changed since my childhood. How do we give thanks while the world is at war? How do we give thanks while food and housing security is still hard for too many people? I think thanksgiving is about helping us recenter God in our lives and world.

To recenter God who calls us to stop seeing an enemy across the table from us, but a new friend. The God who calls us to stop seeing the world as a profit maker, but as a reflection of divine revelation. The God who calls us to see his presence in everything, so that we can build community with it and more. None of which is to suggest that we can simply ignore the poverty and humanitarian crisis of our time, rather, it asks us this thanksgiving how we might offer ourselves to the solution in God.

This Sunday, as you prepare for Thanksgiving, I invite you to consider bringing some non-perishable food items for our friends at the Harvest Project. Our open offering (the plate that's passed around) will help support the Backpack buddies and St. Francis as well. But it's more than just doing something with food and money, it's what it represents.

Our offering of food and money represents our commitment to ensuring there is room for all, by sharing a portion of what God has given us with our neighbors. Neighbors which the ministry of this parish exists because of. Neighbors who remind us that God is in all things, because of how all things show us God.

So join me, my friends, as we give thanks again this Sunday for the presence of God who invites us to use our gifts of time, talent, and money, to build community everyday, with everyone we meet.

Thankful Blessings,

Alex+