O Give Thanks

 The link for this week's live streamed service is here

One of the activities at the Thanksgiving lunch on Oct. 10 was to complete a thankfulness card. Those cards are now posted on the rolling divider in the hall. I had a look at the answers and found both the expected and the unexpected listed.

Among the expected replies were "friends and family." Healthy relationships must rate high for all of us all the time. Among the less usual replies was someone who was grateful for "the scientists who worked on the vaccines."

Here is a note from someone grateful for the freedom to worship and the wonderful meal.

Along the same lines, another post included a thank you to the people who prepared the meal and allowing the guests to just "sit and enjoy."

Here's a lovely list, thankful for Jesus, my garden, my wife, friends, SPPC. Interesting that garden came before wife. You'll note the card is not signed, perhaps to protect the (innocent) writer. Nice to know that SPPC made the list. Since COVID turned us all into stay-at-home gardeners it's no surprise that the beauty, comfort and challenge of a garden should make the gratitude file.

"God, family, friends, music, career, health, living in paradise and my freedom!"  Such big concepts to sum up on a little card. Thank you to the author of this one for noticing so many of the gifts we take for granted.

I would like to add books, to all the gratitude listed here. While living in pandemic restrictions, there is nothing like a good book to take the reader away from the constraints of lockdown and into another world. 

My book club just read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Talk about lockdown! The protagonist of the story is a Russian count under house arrest in The Metropol Hotel in Moscow following the Bolshevik revolution. The book is packed with story, historical fact, witty dialogue, interesting characters and philosophy. I could read it several times and still find something new, but the one thing that stood out to me on the first reading was the way our hero behaved. He is a "gentleman" and follows that code of conduct regardless of his circumstances. Even his enemies recognize this "former person" as a gentleman of character and principle. 

As I read about the many tiny acts that marked our Russian Count as a gentleman, I was reminded of John 13:35 "By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples: if ye have love one for another.” 

Those thankfulness cards, a small thing, point to us as followers of Jesus. This week, keep an eye out for behaviours, large or small, in yourself or others, that distinguish us a Christian people.

Hymn: We are One in the Spirit