Happy Thanksgiving

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

Thanksgiving and gratitude are a daily part of our Christian practice, but on the second weekend of October, we celebrate the harvest and the abundance bestowed by our bountiful God.
We decorate the communion table with the fruits of harvest. We sing thanksgiving hymns, we know all the words, and we rejoice in the providence of our God. It is a joyful time of worship.

Getting it just right

As usual, this year, the table was decorated with gifts from the garden and the orchard -- a bushel of apples, a dozen quince, corn stalks, dried grasses, zucchini (!), squash and pumpkins -- as well as fall flowers and preserved food. It's enough to make a body hungry just looking at it. 

Flowers in memory

Clean up finishes the decor

But, there was no excuse for being hungry this year because we had a full turkey dinner on offer on Saturday afternoon. Soup, turkey, duchesse potatoes, turnip casserole, corn, carrots -- plus all the trimmings and dessert. What a feast! 

There were places for forty guests and we had 36 turn out. 

Testing the soup

Many hands make light work

Setting a beautiful table

Welcome to the table

Joy of fellowship

Pumpking mousse for dessert

Many thanks to Pam for her organizing, cooking, planning and delegating, at this first of what may become a tradition. Thanks to her crew for following orders and seeing to it that dinner was served hot and plentiful.

And thanks also to the folk who came to the table, sharing time, sharing food, sharing stories, sharing the love of God with each other. Full stomachs are only the beginning of Thanksgiving. Full hearts, comforted spirits, hands around the table, these things fill the soul.

One more reason to give thanks this year. Our clerk of session, Janet, is now a great grandmother. Congratulations to Felicity and Ian on the birth of a baby girl, Amelia. Thanks be to God.