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In Thanksgiving
I’ve returned to my office from the Day School’s Thanksgiving Chapel where the children sang verses of “Thank you Lord for this fine day,” “Thank you Lord for loving me,” “Thank you Lord for food to eat,” and “Thank you Lord for family.” The tune is going over and over in my head, as is their unbounded enthusiasm in singing before their parents and grandparents for this holiday chapel. And I’m smiling.
I smile because those simple lyrics out of the mouths of our youngest are the best sermon anyone can preach. So often, our compulsion for want supplants our satisfaction of need. We convince ourselves that there’s always something more we should have, some thing—tangible or intangible—that we lack that, once achieved or possessed, would make our lives that much better, richer, or fuller. But you and I also know that we’ve convinced ourselves of this delusion and that, in truth, we have what we need, and we have it in abundance. Our lives are lives of a most gracious abundance.
Our annual giving campaign is entitled Rooted in Abundance because we believe that God has, indeed, showered us with countless blessings. This Ingathering Sunday, it is my prayer that each member of The Falls Church community has prayerfully considered how to respond to God’s limitless abundance and to share those fruits with this community, not out of obligation, but out of abundant gratitude. It is my prayer that each member of The Falls Church will pledge to give back a meaningful portion of that abundance to build the Kingdom that is equity and justice, love, and grace.
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