Thanksgiving Pastoral Letter, 2024

"We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; But above all for thine inestimable love In the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; For the means of grace, And for the hope of glory. And we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy mercies, That our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful. . .. " BCP, p. 14-15.

October 12, 2024

Dear Friends in Christ,

As I write this letter, the glories of the Maritime autumn are on full display all around us: God is wonderfully at work in his creation, as an artist playing with a splendid array of colours on his canvas. We give thanks for the beautiful things we can enjoy, and for every other gift we’ve received. Especially at the time of the Harvest Thanksgiving, we acknowledge that the bounty of the land is a blessing of the Lord, and we return thanks to God who of his goodness has given to us the fruits of the earth in their season.

But, of course, our seasonal thanksgivings recall us to that sense of thankfulness which is to characterize our whole lives. Such an attitude of thanksgiving may be found in many places throughout the Scriptures: from Abel’s acceptable offering unto the Lord (Genesis 4:4), to the Psalmist’s confession “I will alway give thanks unto the Lord” (34:1); from Jesus’ act of thanks at the feeding of the five thousand, to his thanksgiving at the institution of the Lord’s Supper on the eve of his crucifixion (Matthew 15:36, 26:27); from the Apostle’s exhortation to give thanks “in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18), to the exclamations of “Amen” and “Alleluia!” in the Book of Revelation. Indeed, thankfulness is at the beginning, middle, and end of the Christian life, it is the essence of our prayer and worship. It is a disposition divinely given to us and commanded of us, because it is the very heart of Christ’s ministry and mission, revealed ultimately in his loving sacrifice on the Cross.

Perhaps one of the most well-beloved prayers in our Book of Common Prayer is “A General Thanksgiving.” Composed by the seventeenth century Puritan divine and Bishop of Norwich, Edward Reynolds, and included in the 1662 restored Prayerbook, it may be found in our 1962 Canadian book near the end of the service of Morning Prayer, on p. 14:

ALMIGHTY God, Father of all mercies, We thine unworthy servants do give thee most humble and hearty thanks For all thy goodness and loving-kindness To us and to all men; [* particularly to those who desire now to offer up their praises and thanksgivings.] We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; But above all for thine inestimable love In the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; For the means of grace, And for the hope of glory. And we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy mercies, That our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful, And that we show forth praise, Not only with our lips, but in our lives; By giving up ourselves to thy service, And by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days; Through Jesus Christ our Lord, To whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.

There’s much here to teach us about the meaning of our thanksgiving. It’s a prayer that is capable of guiding and instructing us, by ordering the thoughts and desires of our hearts, and by putting all things in the perspective of God’s infinite mercy and eternal love. In praying this prayer, season by season, we learn to be “unfeignedly thankful,” we discover and learn what it means to be in Christ, to pray in his prayer, to offer and give up ourselves as a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving all our days. I encourage you to make this prayer your own: use it repeatedly in the silent hours of your private devotion, use it regularly at home with your families, use it to bring your specific praises and thanksgivings to articulation, use it to pray with the universal Church, use it with humility that God’s grace may transform every aspect of your life into a continuous act of gratitude.

It is my hope that the Parish of Trinity would enter ever more deeply into that thanksgiving to God through which self-sacrificing love and joyous bliss are made one, and all things return into unity through him by whom all things were made.

Please find enclosed a financial update from our Treasurer, Evelyn Lewis, and an envelope for your Thanksgiving offering. Thank you for your prayers, support and loving service.

Under the Mercy,

Fr Benjamin+