I am looking forward to my first Advent at McKnight! Jen and I have been working on getting some small gifts together from the church to the preschool, with crafts and a book and a little love from the church. And the Advent wreath has already been set up in the sanctuary. Join us if you can, for the Hanging of the Greens on December 4th at 8:00 a.m. It’s early, but we’ll have coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and breakfast rolls—and good company doing good work for the church!

But for a few more days, Thanksgiving: eat the feast, enjoy the football and the fellowship, and remember that giving thanks is a holy act. All of our blessings come from God—even the ones we work for. Because without our health (or even enough health!) or our bodies or the earth, none of which we have invented, where would our blessings come from?

I’ll see you in church—

Becky

Prayer

Loving God,

We give you thanks for all of our blessings:

For our kids, who are sometimes cranky or difficult,

For our families, difficult though they sometimes are,

For our friends, who laugh and cry with us through life’s burdens,

For our church, which loves us and forms us

and reminds us in all things to turn to you.

You created this earth, and allow us to use it and to care for it.

You gave us our senses and our emotions

so that we can experience our world fully and richly.

You even gave us time,

which reminds us to savor the gifts we have been given.

Teach us always to thank you for your gifts,

to notice them and to treasure them,

and to hold them loosely,

knowing that they all belong to you.

We are thankful, that in all of the abundance

and vast multiplicity of creation,

You care so deeply about each of us.

In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.