Thoughts for Thanksgiving Week 11/20-11/27

I want to tell you all how proud of you I was at our Thanksgiving Prayer Service. You filled in where necessary, covered for each other, and were just wonderful. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I offer the following prayer for each of you. It is taken from Seasons of the Heart, by Macrina Wiederkeher. It is based on the first reading of our prayer service.

A Song of Thanksgiving

"I thank my God whenever I think of you, and every time I pray for you all, I always pray with joy for you partnership in the gospel from the very first day up to the present. I am quite confident that the One who began a good work in you will go on completing it untul the Day of Jesus Christ comes. It is only right that I should feel like this toward you all, because you have a place in my heart. " Philippians 1: 3-7

"It is important to celebrate with our friends the good things we see in our lives. Sometimes we forget to affirm the ones we love the most. We take them for granted. This prayer-song is dedicated to you, my students with hope that you will sing it to your friends also. Affirmation is a wonderful way of giving others hope."

"My heart procliams a feast
I have come to sing you songs.

I sing of your warmth
The steady glow of you friendship
keeps melting the ice in my heart
bringing light to the core of my being.
All too often I forget to tell you,
I won't forget anymore.

I sing of your conviction
you passion for the truth
Your daring spirit and your boldness
to give courage to my fear.
Your thirst for justice
calls forth my hidden prophet.
So often I forget to support you
I won't forget anymore.

I sing of your gentleness
a strength sometimes hidden behing firm conviction.
A strength I once couldn't see because of my own walls of fear.
Your gift is now out in the light.
The veils from my own eyes have been lifted.
I celebrate you gift of gentleness and encourage you to hold it dear.
I once forgot about its home in you.
I won't forget anymore.

I sing of your conversion
I celebrate God's love for you
And your constant coming home to that love.
I honor you ability to repent your willingness to examine your heart.
I celebrate your readiness to be transfomed.

I sing of your hope
You willingness to go on
when all seems to be crumbling not with eyes seeing all but with expectation of the promise.
I celebrate your hope
Your waiting for our God to fill up what is lacking in your life.
I promise to be part of your hope
and to stand on tiptoe beside you.
Sometimes I forget you need my there,
I won't forget anymore.

I sing of your love!
your life spilled out
that jar of perfume that is you
poured out over Jesus poured out over me and over all who pass your way.
Poured out joyfully at times reluctantly at times.
But poured out all the same.
I celebrate your love your emptying of self
Your life poured out I celebrate.
Sometimes I forget about your love.
I won't forget anymore!

And finally, I sing of your forgiveness! your loving me anyway.
I celebrate your patience
your patience with my forgetfulness my restlessness my walls of fear my noise my empty chatter my defences.

My promise not to forget again
is daring in this moment of recommitment
But my feet are clay.
My heart is broken and scarred in places
In the same heart I make promises
I break them.
And so, of course, we both know
I'll probably forget again
But I'm not afraid of forgetting
And that's because
I celebrate your forgiveness, your compassion, your love, your understanding.

My heart proclaims a feast.
I have come to sing you songs."

I hope you share Macrina's words with your family, friends, and those you love.

Ms. Egan