Gratitude

As we prepare for Thanksgiving Day, I cannot help but think about all which we have to be grateful for in the life of Broadneck in the past year. You all have recently learned of my love of picture collages, and so this morning I made one with some of my favorite moments from the past year--things in our church's life for which I am grateful. What else would you include?

As you reflect on what you are thankful for today, a Psalm and a poem to spark your thinking and your prayers. I am grateful for each one of you, beyond description.

Psalm 136

Give thanks to the Lord because God is good.

God’s faithful love lasts forever!

Give thanks to the God of all gods—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

Give thanks to the Lord of all lords—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

Give thanks to the only one

who makes great wonders—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

Give thanks to the one who made the skies with skill—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

Give thanks to the one who shaped the earth on the water—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

 Give thanks to the one who made the great lights—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

 The sun to rule the day—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

 The moon and the stars to rule the night—

God’s faithful love lasts forever!

 Give thanks to the one who struck down the Egyptians’ oldest offspring—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

 Give thanks to the one who brought Israel out of there—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

 With a strong hand and outstretched arm—

God’s faithful love lasts forever!

 Give thanks to the one who split the Reed Sea[a] in two—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

 Give thanks to the one who brought Israel through—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

 And tossed Pharaoh and his army into the Reed Sea—

God’s faithful love lasts forever!

 Give thanks to the one who led his people through the desert—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

 Give thanks to the one who struck down great kings—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

 And killed powerful kings—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

 Sihon, the Amorite king—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

 Og, king of Bashan—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

  Handing their land over as an inheritance—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

 As an inheritance to Israel, his servant—

God’s faithful love lasts forever!

God remembered us when we were humiliated—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

God rescued us from our enemies—

God’s faithful love lasts forever.

God is the one who provides food for all living things—

God’s faithful love lasts forever!

Give thanks to the God of heaven—

God’s faithful love lasts forever!

Gratitude
by Mary Oliver

What did you notice?
The dew snail;
the low-flying sparrow;
the bat, on the wind, in the dark;
big-chested geese, in the V of sleekest performance;
the soft toad, patient in the hot sand;
the sweet-hungry ants;
the uproar of mice in the empty house;
the tin music of the cricket’s body;
the blouse of the goldenrod.
What did you hear?
The thrush greeting the morning;
the little bluebirds in their hot box;
the salty talk of the wren,
then the deep cup of the hour of silence.
What did you admire?
The oaks, letting down their dark and hairy fruit;
the carrot, rising in its elongated waist;
the onion, sheet after sheet, curved inward to the
pale green wand;
at the end of summer the brassy dust, the almost liquid
beauty of the flowers;
then the ferns, scrawned black by the frost.
What astonished you?
The swallows making their dip and turn over the water.
What would you like to see again?
My dog: her energy and exuberance, her willingness,
her language beyond all nimbleness of tongue, her
recklessness, her loyalty, her sweetness, her
sturdy legs, her curled black lip, her snap.
What was most tender?
Queen Anne’s lace, with its parsnip root;
the everlasting in its bonnets of wool;
the kinks and turns of the tupelo’s body;
the tall, blank banks of sand;
the clam, clamped down.
What was most wonderful?
The sea, and its wide shoulders;
the sea and its triangles;
the sea lying back on its long athlete’s spine.
What did you think was happening?
The green breast of the hummingbird;
the eye of the pond;
the wet face of the lily;
the bright, puckered knee of the broken oak;
the red tulip of the fox’s mouth;
the up-swing, the down-pour, the frayed sleeve
of the first snow—
so the gods shake us from our sleep.

Two Quotes for Sunday

"Last Day of Moses" by Phillip Ratner

Our texts for this coming Sunday are Deuteronomy 34:1-12, Psalm 90 (which will be our Call to Worship),
and Matthew 25:1-13. Give them a read here.

Two quotes for your reflection before Sunday. The first has to do with our Old Testament reading, which most famously was cited by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a sermon delivered in Memphis the night before he died. Read the Deuteronomy passage, then read the words from Dr. King below.

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people will get to the promised land.

How do these words challenge you to consider the way you use your time? Have your feelings and attitudes towards time changed over the course of your life?

***

Our second quote is less focused on the readings for this week and more on the overall theme of our October and November worship: the question of what it means to be a community living in covenant with one another and with God. A colleague passed on to me the description of covenant that I share below, from Lisa Nichols Hickman, which I think is one of the best I've ever read. Just let these words work on you as we continue on this journey of considering covenant together!

Connected change is really what a covenant is. We will change. Circumstances will change. We might even argue that God appears to change, at least as we grow in our understanding over the course of our lives. All that change is hard and scary. That change could appear haphazard and uprooted. But, by the grace of covenant, we are always connected by that thin tendril. This is what allows the wind to blow and the leaves to dance. This is what allows our lives to change and yet our deep connection to God, self, and others to create a space for airy beauty.

Celia Brewer Marshall says we are "led through time and space in a dynamic relationship knows as the covenant." In other words, a covenant is connected change. I'm so grateful for her insight because covenantcan be a slippery term. It's not a contract. It's not conditional. Yet it binds us together, with one another and with God, in a monumental way. That binding, Marshall reminds us, is never static. This covenant is dynamic and changing. Its fluidity transcends time and space.