Giving Thanks to God

By Rev. Caitlin Childers Brown

Pastor and Minister of Service & Community

Beloved of Highland Hills,
 
November is a month marked by gratitude (and starting Christmas too early, but that’s a rant for another day) as we celebrate Thanksgiving.
 
Did you know that one of the names for the Lord’s Supper, “Eucharist,” translates in Greek to “thanksgiving”?  Once a month, together in worship, we practice giving thanks with the Lord’s Supper. In the Lord’s Supper, we give thanks to God for Jesus Christ and the relationship that we can have with him. We also give thanks for the community of believers that we get to walk alongside—its an important practice and one I am glad we regularly celebrate.

This month, though, our second Sunday practice will be different, as we will be giving thanks through our business meeting and deacon election. We give thanks to God for the resources and people we have been given by laying plans for our future in our budget and nominating reports. We give thanks for the ways God has been active in the lives of each of our deacon nominees—so much so that it’s hard to just pick five! And we give thanks for the hard work of our deacons, of our committees, and of our finance team to lay the foundation for what will be our ministry in 2024. I hope you will join us this Sunday, and that the Holy Spirit will share a spirit of thanksgiving among us.
 
This week, may we be marked by gratitude to God! We have so much to be thankful for.
 
Grace and Peace, Caitlin
 
And don’t worry, we will be observing communion during our special Thanksgiving Meal and Service on Tuesday, November 21. Call the office to sign up!