Sunday, 10 October 2021 – National Thanksgiving

Our 10 o’clock Eucharist will be live-streamed to YouTube. The stream will begin at about 9:45 with a welcome and musical preludes, and the service will begin at 10 am.

The order of service is available here.

This week we observe the Harvest Thanksgiving festival. Here’s what Sundays and Seasons offers as a reflection on the readings assigned to the day:

Today’s readings reflect two of the strains that go into the celebration of a national day of thanksgiving: gratitude for abundant harvest (Joel) and civic prayer for a peaceable common life (1 Timothy). The core meaning of Thanksgiving for many of us—a home feast for extended family and friends—is not reflected in the readings; but it is reflected weekly in the church’s meal of thanksgiving (eucharist). What we wish for both these thanksgiving meals is that they will go deeper than celebration of one another and our own blessings, to recognize in our true Host one who wants everyone brought to the table.

Meister Eckhart was an Augustinian monk, theologian, philosopher, and mystic who lived from about 1260 to about 1328, in what’s now central Germany. A quotation attributed to him captures a deep truth about our faith in God in Christ, that’s especially apt this weekend:

If the only prayer you ever say in your life is thank you,
it will be enough.