Janet greeted me with a hug as we entered the sanctuary and said :"I have been looking forward to this service all day and I can't exactly explain why.I knew what she meant and I couldn't explain either. It might have been what the service was all about - giving gratitude to God but that wasn't the main reason for me.
Pastor Ray preached about the holy moments we tend to process as coincidences but know they are something more than that. The person next to me offered condolences on the death of my mother. I opened up that Thanksgiving was the first major holiday I would experience without her being here.
The conversation went to those who had shared it is hard for them to go to worship on All Saints Day which led to a response from her that Thanksgiving Days are hard to bear since the death of her mother. Thanksgiving was the last time holiday and her mother spent together. There was an instant connection made because of what we had shared.
Pastor Ray preached in his Homily that gratitude and thankfulness were invitations, not commands, that could counteract the worries and fears of our lives. He connected with many I ideas that I had read in Diana Butler Bass' latest book, Grateful, and I appreciated the reminders.
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