Yeah. Yeah Good morning. It’s good to see you all here this morning and we’re so happy that we can gather together this morning on this Sunday before Thanksgiving. So every time we gather and worship, let us remember that we come just as we are. We affirm God’s welcome this morning. The belonging,

the love that God bestows upon each one of us right where we find ourselves right here and right now. So to the queer and to the straight to the cis and the transgender, to the proud Christian, barely Christian or never Christian, to the spiritual and not religious, they’re religious but not spiritual, to those deconstructing everything, to

those reconstructing something, to those sure about everything. She does not sure about anything. To those who are struggling, scared, worrying, and longing, to those who are persistent, resolved and determined. To those lamenting, mourning and crying, to those celebrating, resting and healing. To those who desire to grow and flourish, to those

full of gratitude, blessing, and generosity, fellow travelers, searchers, and seekers, you are not alone. You are surrounded by a great love and a cloud of witnesses that came before us. So we pray that you will find a sense of belonging and connection with fellow wayfarers on this faithful journey of love, life, and enduring hope. Welcome.

We’ve got a little some things going on this week. Yes, we do turkey, turkey stuffing, stuffing. I think your favorite is the stuffing, right? It’s the stuffing, yes it is. Mine is my great grandmother’s sweet potato casserole with no marshmallows, no marshmallows, lots of lots of butter and lots

of sugar. There you go, two types of sugar. Where because one type of sugar is not enough. We also let you know that our Advent Bible study begins tomorrow night at 7 p.m. on Zoom. Uh, there there’s information in the newsletter about that, and, uh, you can let me know today if you’re

wanting to be a part of that and have not notified us. Uh, there’s there was also a link in the newsletter for joining that Advent Bible study. So, um, just to let you know about that, and then Judy’s event prayer group. I have a prayer group going on. We’re gonna draw from the devotional that

you’ll see put out there next week, um. Um, and it’s like my prayer groups in the past if you’ve been part of them, it runs about a half an hour. It’s an opportunity to have conversations, to have prayer time just to slice out a little piece of your week for time with God and time with one

another, and I gotta tell you the truth. I didn’t know how a Zoom prayer group would go, but it’s been very meaningful each time I’ve done it. So if you’re interested, there’s information I think in the insert you can tell me, you can always text me or call the office. And then there’s an

Advent devotional book. Yes, it’s coming next week. And I should say I’m not, I don’t start next week because it’s Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I’m busy, so we’ll start the next week. And which, which is to say advent is next Sunday, right busy, so the Advent, uh, we’ll start our advent celebration and observance, uh, this coming, this next

Sunday. So it’s just we’re, we’re right here, folks, and the excitement of the season. The uh the office will be closed, of course, on Thursday. On Friday, if you want, if you really like decorating, we will be decorating the sanctuary on Friday and uh that is in your bulletin as well at 9:30 on

Friday, so please come and join. if you like that, and there are people that really like to decorate and I want to tell the families that might be here. There’s no church school this morning, so we invite children to stay upstairs, and if you have little ones that need the nursery, that’s still open with

the live stream of the service, so you’re welcome to use that, but parents have to stay there. You can’t drop your kids off. And I believe that’s all for you and me, right? Yeah, uh, just to know if you’re if you’re a visitor with us, the bathrooms are just through these doors and uh following the worship

service we have a reception going down the hallway and there’ll be delicious food, good fellowship, and hot coffee, hot water, and usually some cold drinks, so nice spread, yes. So, I’m gonna, we have two announcements this morning. Carol, if you would come first and then Paula.

00:13:03,629	For those of you who are not present on Thursday, I wanna give you a little visual, that was the day of our luncheon. At 10 o’clock, it looked as though nothing was happening here. 45 minutes later. Poland Hall was decorated. It looked festive, welcoming. We had a, a table in the foyer to welcome

our guests with chances to make name tags. Um, it was just transformed and we were already smelling the ham from the kitchen. Um, this year, I guess this was unusual, arrived instead of pushing late 10 minutes before we expected them to arrive, so we gathered for a quick meeting and we never

had it because people were coming in the door. Um, the guests made name tags, came in here to wait for the concert over half an hour from then. And I thought, oh, but I walked in here and what a blessing in disguise that was because our, our hosts, their staff, their patients were all buzzing.

Yeah. Um, it was a wonderful scene of just talking, enjoying the space, and then the singers arrived from the high school, they did a concert. We walked into Holland Hall and the kitchen group was ready for us in spades, and there were 8 beautiful salads on the table actually making it feel like

the whole thing was a home cooked meal. I guess Picked what they wanted, which they don’t get to do usually sat down at tables, our hosts joined in and it was a fabulous hour before they had to leave to go back. I counted this morning just for the fun of it and there were 45 people here involved

to make that happen so thank you to the host to the kitchen crew, to the reception committee, to the salad makers, to the um donors of money and to the staff, we had Sean giving the blessing, Judy. Um, Janet accompanied the chorus from the high school. Kevin set up, so thank you to everyone on

the scene and behind the scenes. It was wonderful. So now I’m going to shift gears. We are providing Christmas gifts, wish list items for Tewksbury. Um, I want to explain if anyone’s not familiar with this on the sign up genius, there’s a letter and a number and a gift. Because of HIPAA laws, uh, Tewksbury

cannot send us people’s names. However, there is a name behind each of these numbers, so it’s very, very important to put a piece of paper on the outside of your wrapped gift when you bring it. That’s going to be the key. You’ll see a letter. And a number, no bow. Um, the number is the patient ID number,

so it’s critical to have it on the package. The letter is our addition because we want these gifts to be separated into the 6 units that they represent at Tewksbury. They will be grouped that way. So the R stands for red, and when we put a another tag on your gift before it goes up there,

it will be a red tag with the number also. Any questions on that, please come to me. I know it’s a little, it seems impersonal, but it is far from that. Uh, the other thing I wanna comment on is this gifts, this year’s gift list does look different. It morphs anyway. Typically we have one

year we had on the one end a trench coat. And the other end of piece of chocolate, so. We always get that kind of a range, um. For Pat and I do shopping for two of the units, and we’ve kind of used a guideline in the past. It even

used to be only $15. Uh, it was amazing because you could find a $50 sweatshirt for 1499, um, and give a really nice gift for that. But if we had expensive gifts, they usually got offset by some of the ones that were lesser. This year uh we’re seeing more of the technical things which gets

out of my expertise. um, Pat is much more of an expert than I am, so she can be a consultant on this if you see laptop, for example, um. You can check with Pat to see what she’s seeing out there whether we forget it because we have a backup

request for a gift card so don’t don’t be put off by those bigger gifts or if you wanna group up with someone else to get one that’s fine we don’t try to keep it all equal, but I don’t want you to be intimidated by the kinds of

requests that sometimes you see. Um, I come to, as I said, come to me if you have any questions, but this is a wonderful effort. And I have a brief note. I almost, I almost did the scripture reading there. Uh, this came a couple of years ago, from, uh, several years ago from Tewksbury, but it

reflects what we hear that you don’t get to hear, so I want to share it. This came from the CEO at Tewksbury Hospital. Tewksbury Hospital psychiatric units want to thank you for the endless support and caring that you have given the individuals served at Tewksbury Hospital. We are so appreciative

of the annual Thanksgiving dinner and the gifts that you have so generously donated each year. The annual Thanksgiving dinner is a truly exceptional experience for individuals serve and staff alike. We all look forward to the dinner with great anticipation and delight. In addition, the delicious meal, it is always very evident that everyone attending is accepted

and loved for who they are. Which creates a welcomed feeling in today’s busy and at times difficult world we cannot begin to adequately thank you for the gifts you donate to the individuals currently hospitalized in our units. The gifts are obviously selected with thoughtfulness and reflect the kindness of your parishioners. There are not

enough positive words in the dictionary to convey just how much we value and treasure our relationship with First Church in one of, so please accept our heartfelt thanks for all that you do and all that you are. Thank you.

00:21:39,930	Good morning. 2nd reading of the warrant in accordance with the Constitution of First Church Wenha Congregational Incorporated, there will be a special meeting of the congregation immediately following the service next Sunday, December 1st. The purpose of the meeting is to vote to vote to approve the proposed members of the search

committee for the associate pastor of Family Life. Thank you. Thank you. Mhm And now There’s no place you need to be or a place to go, just to be here right now and right here. Be present to yourself. I invite you to be present to God, to those around you and this congregation in this moment

in time as we enter into worship. As we hear the chapel chimes.

00:23:17,900	Mm Please join me in the call to worship. Stand as you are able. In deep gratitude we come to worship God. We recognize God as the source of all goodness. All good gifts come from the spirit of God. Love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, and gentleness are all of God. We come with grateful hearts, not

for things, but for who God is. We gather to show our gratitude in song and prayer.

00:27:21,369	Please join me in the prayer of invocation and the Lord’s prayer. Oh Lord, as we prepare to celebrate and give thanks this year, may we find it in our hearts to be grateful no matter what. May we praise you for what we can do and praise

you in spite of what we can’t. May we thank you for what is and what isn’t, for what is going well and for what is not. May we thank you for what brings us joy and even that for that which brings us grief, for if our grief testifies to anything,

it testifies to the depths of our love. Bless us and keep us, dear God, we pray. And turn our hearts ever and always toward your all-encompassing lights. You who are our creator and savior, our redeemer and friend, Amen and amen. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen. 00:30:00,630	Um I

00:31:24,900	Um Um

00:32:11,470	Yeah Yeah

00:32:37,000	Yeah Oh.

00:33:07,529	I don’t invite any of the children that want to come forward and any of the adults I’d like to be children, come on down. Like Sean, yeah.

Hello. 00:33:30,730	Oh. I was Is Eddie coming down? Eddie is a music lover. Watch out, he’s gonna jump into the choir and not come out. Hi Eddie. But Nice to see you all. So I want to ask you, you probably know the answer to this really easy. There’s a big holiday coming up this week. What is

it? Yeah, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving. So I’ve been, I’m a host of Thanksgiving dinners. I’m the one everybody in my family comes to my house and it’s been going on close to 30 years. So long before you guys were born, I was cooking turkeys at 6 in the

morning and But I love everything about it. I love that. I love the food. I love that my family and friends come over if anyone doesn’t have a place to go, we invite them over. I love having to find an extra table and chairs to figure out how everybody can sit around the table. I love

all the laughter. I love watching football all day. I watch it all day long. From 11 o’clock or something so I like the Macy’s parade that we call the Macy’s Day parade in my house. Everything about it I love. It’s a really fun day and we don’t talk politics. It’s the key to our success.

We talk about things that make us laugh, so that’s what we do. So I brought something today that Sean’s gonna unveil. Why don’t you drag maybe drag the table over a little bit. That’s my drum. I wonder what it is. Yeah, I’m ready.

Oh 00:35:18,670	Oh, turn it a little this way so we can see what’s in it. What’s in it? Someone just said food, there’s food in it. Did, does anyone know what that’s called? Oh You, you’re almost there, yeah, yeah. Cornucopia, that’s right. Johnny’s right. It’s a cornucopia and the cor the cornu I think is if I get

this right in Latin cornu is horn. See, it kind of looks like a horn and coopia means a lot, a ton. So this is a cornucopia normally has flowers and. Vegetables and fruit and all kinds of things. I have Bob’s Red Mill steel cut oats and Bob Bob’s Red Mill. It’s a kind bar for later.

And almonds and something else I can’t remember what oh pancake mix. Oh, and my favorite teddy peanut butter can’t can’t miss that, but the cornucopia is, is often associated with Thanksgiving because it’s, it’s plentiful and it’s we’re asked to think about what are the things that are plentiful in

our lives. And um that’s what Thanksgiving is about so my cornucopia reminds me of things I’m grateful for. I’m grateful for food and I’m grateful for the food that I have I can eat at my house and I’m grateful I can eat the food in my house

with my family and I can invite my friends to share it with me. Those are the things I’m grateful for and that’s what that reminds me of that’s why I put my favorite foods in there. So I’m wondering about you guys. There’s lots, lots of things that we can be thankful for that we can be

thankful for the air we breathe. I bet you didn’t even think about that at all today. I didn’t. We, we, have you thought about the fact we have air in this place that we just keep breathing and we’re alive? Do you think that’s something we should be grateful for? Yeah, let’s be grateful for air.

All right, how about the clothes you’re wearing? Did you think about when you put them on going, boy, I’m so glad I have something nice to wear. I especially like Emma’s color. It’s a pretty color. How about, how about the food you eat? You’re grateful for the food you eat? How about pets? Do

you have pets? No pets? Any favorite stuffed animals? Yeah. How about model magic? I know you guys love model magic because I, I have to keep buying it and putting it in those few boxes, and it’s really fun to what you guys are doing with

it. I love doing that myself. It’s a fun thing to do. So why do you all here who are sitting up front to take a moment and think of one thing you’re thankful for, whether it’s something you’ve done as a family or something new you learned or something else and just let us know what it is,

and Sean has a microphone. Raise your hand if you want to say. I One thing you thank her for. I’m thankful to you for saying that. I appreciate that. Who else wants to say something to thank him for heading us? Great, great. Reese, how about you? There you go. magic. How about, how about Cub Scouts?

Are you a Boy Scout or a Cub Scout? Are you grateful for that? You should tell them you’re grateful for that. It’s a mixed bag. What are you grateful for Sean? I didn’t even think to ask you. I am grateful for. Oh yeah, I love coffee. I love coffee. I’m grateful for trees. When you

did that prayer the other day, I kept yelling trees, and we have a tree over here. I don’t know if anyone’s noticed it. But this is the tree of gratitude. Is that what we decided to call it the tree of gratitude, and people have put different things like that. There’s life up there. I can

say they’re grateful for life, grateful for food, grateful for church family. Just look around. I’m grateful for all of you. I wish you could see what I can see. Isn’t it a beautiful sight? Yeah. Emma, can you put, can you bring that down there? No. How about the choir? No.

00:39:45,269	Not so much a fan of the microphone, but uh. We’re grateful for Eddie. Yeah, thanks for coming up. I’m, I’m gonna take a page out of Sean’s book and I’m gonna count on the count of 3. I want you all to shout out 11 thing you’re grateful

for just a word or a very, very short phrase, OK? On the count of 3, shout it out 123. God hears our prayers. Dear God, thank you for the air we breathe, for the friends we know, for the bed I sleep in, and for the love that surrounds

us. Amen. And so today you’re gonna stay in the pews so you can. Do what you do in the pews with your model magic. OK, OK, you can go back to this.

00:42:30,900	Well, you all mentioned your word all at once, but I would love to give you the opportunity to say something that you are grateful for, and I’ll come around with a microphone because I thought this is a really beautiful moment for us to share as a community things that we are grateful for and it could

just be a single word, it could be a sentence. We already have someone who wants to share. I’m grateful for you, Sean, because you are a wonderful colleague. Thank you. You’re fun and I.

00:43:10,829	We have a good time together. Others Put me to work people. Give me walking. Yes, perfect. Thanksgiving in Seattle, others, yes. I’m grateful for my wife who keeps us all together. Thank you. I’m grateful for my golden retriever honey, honey, yes, wonderful golden retriever honey. Others while I’m on this

side. OK. I’m thankful for all the people who do their jobs so that I could bring my family to see mom from Oregon. Public education. Thank you. Public education, yes. I am grateful for my friend Francis bringing me to the service today.

Others 00:44:20,369	I’m grateful for this community with a lot of us can come as who we really are. Others Right. I’m grateful for the holidays that seems to bring us to better kinship with others. Thank you Frank

00:44:48,570	Yeah, 4 laps is 0.25 miles. I’m grateful for the music.

00:45:01,630	I’m grateful for all of God’s creation. I’m grateful for my son sitting next to me and my health because it’s been a struggle. Thank you. I’m grateful for my mom. I’m grateful for teenagers. Yes, I understand. Linda is your row of teenagers, yes. Grateful for friends and family. I’m grateful for grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

I’m grateful for this very caring church family. I’m grateful for help. I’m grateful for all the parents that bring these beautiful children here to add some more light to the service. I’m grateful for this church, which sounds like a simple statement, but I do not take it for granted and I’ve seen

over the years how fortunate we are. Yeah. I’m grateful to have discovered this church. It’s a breath of fresh air. I’m grateful for my students and for the school community that keeps striving to serve them as well as we can. I’m grateful for singing in choir and hanging out with the greatest people

on earth. Yeah, I can see.

00:46:57,030	I’m grateful for all the love and support and kindness I’ve got from people as I mourn my daughter. Thank you, Chair.

00:47:17,099	Grateful for God. Thank you

00:47:32,670	Let’s join together.

00:47:45,369	Oh God, our Creator and friends, and we give you thanks for this remarkable experience of life in its entirety. For all of its highs and its lows, it’s sweet and it’s sour, it’s pleasure and pain. When the sun rises and shines on our days and rain refreshes the land overnight. When there is bounce

in our step and a song in our lips, we give you thanks. When clouds are low, and the chill wind blows, when the day’s tasks seem onerous, and it becomes an effort to smile. We thank you, oh God. We thank you for all that there is for this community. For the connections and bonds that tie us together.

And give you things. With gratitude, oh God, we offer our prayers to you.

00:49:36,469	Wabblewobblewobble. Good morning, Tom Smoger here and Still Tom, still here. This morning for a stewardship moment, I’d like to bring up Miss Mona and who’s going to share with us a little bit about her journey and coming here to First Church. Good morning. Good morning. So, uh, first of all, what were your first impressions when

you came to this church? Well, I came to this church because I was riding in my car with a young man. And he said That’s my church. Well. I said it well if that’s your church, do you want to go in? And he said yes. And I’m embarrassing.

That’s my job. Um, so here we are, we came in the back door and we bumped into Ken and Jean Jones. And who snuck in behind us was Reverend Mike Duda introducing himself. And by the way, Cannon, Wayne and JD can’t sit in the same queue because they get in trouble. And then we bumped into Rick

who said, you need to be on missions. So that’s where I came in. So that’s my part. I got to be on missions and we got to do this beautiful, very creative truth. And missions is looking for more creative people. So if you know of anybody, give them the elbow, and um we meet on Tuesday night

and you can contact me. That is great. And also my husband got to go to Centa and he got to have a very, very moving experience. So this church has moved my whole family up and on. To be better people, to have better people. To be part

of the Thank you Bona. We are grateful that you are part of this church and that you guys chose to come in those doors and be here. I think it’s been that way for so many of us. I mean, just hearing the gratitude that is here amongst us this morning and sharing and that is really important

and as we think about that in regards to our church and the livelihood of it, it’s really important. That we continue the mission in the organization of caring for it in our budget and our operations, not a fun thing to necessarily talk about, but it’s a really important thing so that we can continue

to do the work of Tewksbury. We can continue the work of missions that you’re involved with. I mean, it’s, it’s everything that we get to do in this community that we love. We are in our halfway point. We have two more weeks in our stewardship campaign for the 2025. Budget year and we are

looking for 150 units to pledge this year and our goal is a budget of $380,000. It’s a huge undertaking, but this church has been a gracious giving church. So if you are thinking about it and have been thinking about it, please take a look in your bulletin. There is a pledge card that you can

fill out in physical form and turn in the offering plate, or there’s also a little fun fancy QR code, right, which you can scan with your picture on your phone. And then that will send you to a link to hopefully make a pledge of what

you think you will be able to give and to help us plan better for 2025. We currently have 57 pledges that have come in totaling $168,000 so we are about a third of the way there and we have two more weeks to go. So it’s crucial that you give engagement is really important for us, and we hope

that you will continue to. Uh, think about that and how you are involved with our church. This time we will take the mornings out for. Thank you

00:54:13,300	He was

00:54:44,869	Um Oh

00:57:17,199	As we offer our gifts to you, we are reminded of your call to step out into the world and make a difference. Give us courage and wisdom as we engage with the world around us, sharing your love and truth with others.

Amen. 00:57:44,170	In this passage from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, Paul expresses his joy and gratitude for the Philippians’ concern for him. He assures them that he is not in need and has learned to be content in all circumstances. Our reading serves as a reminder of the importance of contentment, resilience, and reliance on God’s strength in the face of

life’s challenges. It is a powerful message that encourages us to find hope and strength in our faith regardless of our circumstances. If you care to follow along, it’s on page 955 in your Pew Bible. Philippians 4:10 to 13. I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern

for me. Indeed you were concerned for me but had no opportunity to show it, not that I am referring to being in need, for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty in any and all circumstances, I have

learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

00:59:32,199	Hi there, Sean good to go here. Yeah, still sorry.

00:59:45,469	So this Thanksgiving, the past Thanksgiving, there was a crack in my pavlova. This is true confession. There was a crack in my Pavlova. Yeah, there was. Now there’s not supposed to be a crack in your Pavlova. The Great British Bake Of judges take off points if there is a crack in your pavlova.

It was my first Pavlova, but there was not supposed to be a crack in the pavlova. Do you get the point? I think you do. I knew that that beautiful meringue nest that holds whipped cream and fruity mixture should be crispy on the outside and marshmallowy on the inside and there was not supposed to be

a crack. And I researched all these recipes, each one claiming that if you follow the recipe, you will not have a crack in your meringue, and I chose my recipe wisely and I was going to be the perfect Thanksgiving dessert. 2 hours low and slow cooking. No one go near the oven. The timer goes off and

I pull it out and there is the big honking crack right down the middle. I was so mad. I have no idea why I was mad, but there was a crack. There was not supposed to be one and thanks Thanksgiving dessert was ruined. Never mind the wonderful family that I had around me or the good wine or

the delicious turkey. Never mind that it was my first one. It didn’t matter. After stewing about it for a while, I put the whipped cream and fresh fruit on it, and we ate it in spite of it. It’s supposed to be perfect. And I’m not like that mostly in my life, but for some reason the Pavlova

kicks it off. October the 3rd, 9, 1789 was when the first proclamation was given by President George Washington. It was our first holiday and it was a proclamation of Thanksgiving for November 26, 1789, a national day of Thanksgiving. Those proclamations continued over the years, but somewhere in uh for about a 40 year span

they they did not happen and uh throughout the early 1800s Abraham Lincoln reestablished Thanksgiving as a national holiday. In 1863, uh, to be in the end of November, and it was right in the middle of the Civil War. 50,000 people died in Gettysburg alone in 1863, and Abraham Lincoln declared a proclamation. Of Thanksgiving. I want you to

kind of think about that 50,000 people in one battle. And President Lincoln declared later on a proclamation of Thanksgiving in the darkest moment. Of giving thanks, it seems a little weird. And then during the Depression, FDR moved the observation date from the last Thursday of November to

the 3rd Thursday in November. Did you know this? I did not. He moved to the 3rd Thursday in November. Do you know why? To allow for extra shopping time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. To help us get past the Great Depression. He is reasoning it was boost the economy and so then there became

in the year in 1939, some states celebrated the Democratic Thanksgiving on the 3rd Thursday and others celebrated the Republican Thanksgiving on. The 4th Thursday of November that happened for years until 1941 when Congress passed the law that it is the last Thursday in November. Can you imagine a Republican Thanksgiving and a Democrat Thanksgiving.

Yes, I think we can. So this whole notion of giving thanks and whatever it’s like this mixture of stuff, right? I remember the moment when I realized this spiritual understanding and that and it was a spiritual understanding that I held near and dear. I was grateful for

the good things in my life and only the good things in my life, which makes sense, right? What are you gonna be grateful for the good things, right? And the good things were the way life was supposed to be. That’s what I deemed the good things

as if it went according to my plan, those were the good things and, and that’s how I equated and thought that gratitude was and giving thanks was, uh give me thanks God for this brilliant day. Um, thank you God for this beautiful day which meant that everything went the way I had planned to go. Right, because

it was a good day and it went exactly according to my plan. It was kind of like the start of the EE Cummings poem. I thank you God for this amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and the blue true dream of sky and everything which

is natural, which is infinite, which is, yes, oh my gosh, we could sing Thanksgiving every day with that, right? Ah When things go perfect. That’s what I was thankful for. The perfectly imagined and the pleasantly surprised, that’s a good day. I can be grateful on those days. I can really be

grateful, but what happens when things go wrong when there is the dualistic bad day, which is when things don’t go my way. What happens with those bad days, that dualistic. Thinking The spiritual sages teach us that they, it’s a more there the thanksgiving and gratitude is more encompassing than my simple

spiritual thoughts. We heard today the apostle Paul and Paul’s writings that Paul learned to be content in whatever he had. He knew what it was to be to have a little bit. He knew what it was to have plenty. He knew what it was to to have plenty and knew what it was to be well fed and

knew what it was to go hungry. And he said that he was learned to be content in all things, in all things, be content in all things. And the basis of that for him, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And Paul was in prison. Paul was beaten. Paul was ridiculed. And yet

he found a way to be content and grateful. And I think this is one of the big spiritual lessons that we try to learn in life is to find a place of gratitude and live in that gratitude. That we learned that gratitude is not based on external circumstances, that there’s something greater than

ourselves, a bigger reality. For Paul, it was Christ who strengthens me, but there is strength beyond who I am. Maybe you would, you would use other words, uh, the, there, there’s a universe, a God, you’re part of something greater. And the humility comes in when we realized that we, that we didn’t

come this far on our own, that we have to give thanks, that we do give thanks with joy. That we had help, that we had assistance. And that there is an abundance that that we have received. And that we live in that abundance rather than living and lacking. That there is a greater hope, a bigger

picture, and that we’ve been given a gift of life. When we say thank you, we acknowledge we have received something that we did not have of our own doing. We are not the center of the universe. We have this sense of acceptance and mindfulness and gratefulness. Gratitude moves us beyond

dualistic thinking and we see that in Paul’s writing. When Paul was imprisoned, he learned how to be at peace and have gratitude. Because it was his peace and gratitude came from within, not from without. And so we can face gratitude we can give thanks and adversity and adversity can become an

opportunity. It is like what Technohan teaches that they’re always, there is always mud with the lotus. There is always both and we can be grateful and thankful. One of my favorite poets is Rumi, and he wrote a poem called The Guest House. And I think it really gets at this understanding of being

grateful just like Paul did. This being human is a guest house every morning a new arrival, a joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all, even if they are a crowd of sorrows who violently sweep your house empty of its

furniture. Still treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing and invite them in, be grateful for whoever comes because each has been