As I said my prayers in the historic church yesterday, I caught myself humming that great old Thanksgiving hymn and savoring the times I sang it surrounded by family and friends in the little country church we attended. No doubt my fondness for the seasonal hymn is rooted in part in the two decades Becky and I farmed her family’s land…with the equipment parked under sheds and the cattle home from the hills, an easy sort of peace settled over our lives, a peace that called us deep within ourselves for a time of reflection in advance of gathering with loved ones to celebrate Thanksgiving.
The scents and sights of farm life in South Carolina’s Pee Dee Region are decades past; but the grateful feelings that accompanied the changing leaves and nip in the air remain. True, the harvest takes a different form in the Lowcountry; but our barns (yours and mine) are no less full and for the same reason…God has blessed us…again!
This coming weekend we’ll be gathering as a parish family around our Father’s Table to give thanks for His “peace that passes all understanding” and for His loving provision, not just in the late fall but throughout the year. I invite you to join Becky and me in placing on the altar your pledge of financial support for the parish’s ministry endeavors in 2020. “Come, ye thankful people, come!”
With an attitude of gratitude,
