Pastoral Letter: Thanksgiving Blessings

A Thanksgiving Prayer

For most of the 13 years I lived and worked in Sacramento, I took the train home for Thanksgiving with my family. I developed a tradition over the years: on the way to San Jose, I would draft my annual Christmas letter, and on the way back, I would edit it into its final form. Though I no longer take the train, I do still write the first version of the letter in the days prior to Thanksgiving, and the final version is done before the long weekend ends.

So far, this year’s letter contains the standard elements: the major event in the previous year (a four-month sabbatical with half of it spend cycling in Europe), an update on my ministry (the joys of seeing the church more full with each passing weekend and of having the end of the campaign in sight) and on my family (Mom and Dad moved out of their home of 58 years and after nearly five months are finally feeling settled in their new place), a report on whether or not I’m rowing (I am, kinda) and anything I may have discovered in my family tree (some distant cousins in Sweden), and a brief reflection on the world around me and my place in it (these days, 19th century Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins is grounding me: “The world is charged with the grandeur of God …”).
 
I think that this little tradition took hold because the letter is an Examen, of sorts, that brief spiritual practice of St. Ignatius we use to prayerfully look back over our experiences, attempting to see our life through God’s eyes. And it tees me up well for Thanksgiving, our national communal day to notice again God’s goodness to us and to be with others as we thank God for those blessings.
 
May God bless you and your loved ones in a special way this Thanksgiving. And let us hold up to God those in our city and around the world who need the blessings of peace and justice, freedom and safety, economic security and good health.
 
I’ll include here a Thanksgiving prayer by Rev. Steve Garnaas-Holmes, United Methodist pastor, spiritual writer, and poet. Perhaps it’s one you might consider using at your Thanksgiving table this year.
 
Oremus pro invicem,
 
Fr. Greg
 
Giving Thanks

You who are the Mystery at the heart of all things,
Source of all that is, to you we give thanks.
 
For the gift of Creation, and the wonder of this world, we thank you.
 
For every creature and the web of all living things to which we belong, we thank you.
 
For the gift of life, and the miracle that we are here today, we thank you.
 
For gifts of sight and hearing, the gift of movement and touch, and for all the wonders that we behold, we thank you.
 
For all the people who have blessed us, we thank you.
 
For all our loved ones, for any who have taught us, helped us, loved us, accompanied us or prayed for us, we thank you.
 
For the food we eat, and all those around the world who provide it, we thank you.
 
May our gratitude overflow to others, especially those who do not have what we do; may our thanks take form in giving and in working for the world you intend for us.
 
O God, fountain of our souls and earth of our lives, we thank you, and pray that we may always live in humility, gratitude and joy. Amen.