On this Thanksgiving weekend I am struck by the abundance for which we have to be grateful.

Today my thoughts are on you and how, together, we are moving through one of the most challenging periods in memory – and doing so with grace.
(It’s the title of this poem that initially drew me to it).

May this special weekend be one filled with grace…

the grace that precedes bountiful meals and good company;
the grace that connects us in times of distance;
the grace of belonging in our church and in our global family.

Know that I am deeply thankful for you, as a beloved congregation, and also for you as individuals and the myriad of ways you show love to me and to each other.

Blessings!
Lori

Thanks & blessings be
to the Sun & the Earth
for this bread & this wine,
this fruit, this meat, this salt,
this food;
thanks be & blessing to them
who prepare it, who serve it;
thanks & blessings to them
who share it
(& also the absent & the dead).
Thanks & Blessing to them who bring it
(may they not want),
to them who plant & tend it,
harvest & gather it
(may they not want);
thanks & blessing to them who work
& blessing to them who cannot;
may they not want – for their hunger
sours the wine & robs
the taste from the salt.
Thanks be for the sustenance & strength
for our dance & work of justice, of peace.

~ Rafael Jesus Gonzalez ~