Dear blessed St. Lukers,
In September, I spent the day at home cleaning and putting out fall decorations while my all-time favorite show, The West Wing, was on in the background. By coincidence, it happened to be a Thanksgiving episode. In the episode, CJ gets stuck with two live turkeys in her office having to decide which turkey will receive the official “Presidential pardon.” She also has to learn and lead the official song for the day, “We Gather Together”. She claims she knows the words, but another character asks "but do you know what they mean?” Needless to say, I’ve been singing the song since then and thinking about this sermon series. We can’t really LEAD that which we have not LEARN, not only in memorization but in our hearts with understanding.
This year the words “we gather together” bring tears to my eyes. After 2020, when so many spent last year around tables with fewer people or finding ways to have meals over facetime and zoom, we do not take for granted the hopes we have to gather together this Thanksgiving and in the coming holiday season. Last week our sanctuary held the most people it has seen in its pews since 2020 and I believe the walls joined me with a sigh of gratitude and praise to God. We Gather Together will probably be the tune in our hearts for the rest of the year...
