I had the privilege of officiating at Jonathan and Taliah’s wedding yesterday evening. For those of you that don’t know, Jonathan and his brother Jeremy are the owners of Independent Jewelers, and are, together with their Dad, the folks that so graciously provide us with a place to gather. They got married at their family cottage in the Whiteshell, surrounded by the beauty of the fall colors and the bracing air of this time of year. It was lovely. It was easy to be thankful – for family, for friends, for love, for “more than enough”.

As we head into this Thanksgiving weekend, most of us can think of things we’re grateful for. We have reasons to be thankful. But we’re also aware that there are challenges to being thankful; that it doesn’t always come easy. In fact, sometimes it feels impossible. What then?

This Sunday morning I would like to consider the problematic belief that God expects us to always be thankful; to probe the roots of that belief a little and ponder some alternatives. Just a “heads up”…one of the things we’ll be talking about is mental health, so if that’s going to be categorically negative for you it might be better to just take a walk outside and enjoy the fall foliage. I mean that…

I look forward to gathering with all of you on Sunday.

By the way…Jonathan and Taliah will have hosted a celebration of their marriage at The Table on Saturday evening, and it’s going to be our occasion as a community to put some aspects of the place back into order on Sunday morning. You won’t need work gloves, but you might need to help arrange some chairs. It feels like the least we can offer.

Peace,