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"There is a calmness to a life lived in Gratitude, a quiet joy." -- Ralph H. Blum
Welcoming:
This is a day which was created for us; Let us be thankful for it.
Prelude: Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
Opening Responsive Reading
* Hymn:
We gather together in joyful thanksgiving,
# 349 (STLT)
We Gather Together
Acclaiming creation, whose bounty we share;
Both sorrow and gladness we find now in our living,
We sing a hymn of praise to the life that we bear.
We gather together to join in the journey,
confirming, committing our passage to be
a true affirmation, In joy and tribulation,
when bound to human care and hope. Then we are free.
Joys and Concerns: (We throw a small stone into this bowl filled with water, to symbolize our thoughts, which move in circular rings eternally, like concentric waves.)
Prayer: (This morning we will have a responsive prayer followed by a moment of silent meditation)
If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is 'thank you,' it will be enough."--Meister Eckhart
Hymn:
-- W. S. Merwin
Discussion: (copyright: First Unitarian Church San José)
In today's Thanksgiving
Service we will explore various aspects of gratitude. Think about gratitude as a spiritual practice. Gratitude is a way of being in the world that goes beyond thank-you notes, and lists of things to be thankful for. "Gratitude is when we become aware of the beauty of and in our lives, and our hearts say 'thank you' in response to that awareness." (From Rev. Suzelle Lynch's sermon "Grateful Even for the Hard Stuff.") .
Donner Lohnes, Lay Minister
* Hymn:
Final Words:
* Closing circle of hands:
(Holding hands or link arms as you read the
closing words together)
We extinguish this flame but not the light of truth,
* Hymn: Go Now in Peace
*Stand as you are willing or able
# 32 (SLT) Now Thank We All Our God
1.Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in whom this world rejoices;
Who from our parents' arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
2. O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us
, With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us;
The one eternal God,whom earth and heaven adore
For thus it was, is now and shall be ever more.
First Reading
Listen,with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridge to bow from the railings
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water looking out in different directions
back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you
in a culture up to its chin in shame
living in the stench it has chosen we are saying thank you
over the telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the back door
and the beatings on the stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks that use us we are saying thank you
with the crooks in office with the rich and fashionable
unchanged we go on saying thank you thank you
with the animals dying around us
our lost feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us like the earth
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is
As you go about a day with a grateful attitude, what small things do you notice that you might have missed?
Gratitude is about keeping an open mind. It is about not having your mind so set on an apple, that you can't be grateful when given a luscious pear. How have you found ways to be grateful for the ways that life turned out, rather than the ways you expected it to be?
A Hymn of Thanks (SLT) #128
For all that is our life
we sing our thanks and praise;
for all life is a gift
which we are called to use
to build the common good
and make our own days glad.
For needs which others serve,
for services we give,
for work and its rewards,
for hours of rest and love,
we come with praise and thanks
for all that is our life.
For sorrow we must bear,
for failures pain and loss,
for each new thing we learn,
for fearful hours that pass:
we come with praise and thanks
for all that is our life.
Gratitude is also about thanking those around us. During this week, thank someone who deserves but rarely
gets your thanks.
the warmth of community,
the fire of commitment,
or the spirit of gratitude.
These we carry in hearts until we are together again.
Go now in Peace, Go now in Peace,
May the Love of God surround you ,
everywhere, everywhere,
You may go.