I pray your Thanksgiving holidays have been full of special moments with family and friends and quiet moments before God reflecting on your many blessings. God is good.

The community Thanksgiving worship serivce was a gift and a treasure. St. Gabriel Catholic Church was full with people across faiths and races giving thanks together. As one woman said to me, "I came to the service feeling down and depressed. I have been so uplifted and leave with great hope and joy!"

Highlights included:

-the joy on the faces as the Children's Choir sang "All races, all ages, lending a hand, catching a dream for the land;"

-the grace of the interfaith and interracial sacred dance troupe as they danced to the words, "Let us build the city of God. May our tears be turned into dancing!"

-the passion of the Adult Choir as they powerfully proclaimed, "Ring out the bells, let all people know: brothers and sisters are we. Learning together so we can show respect for our community and for our families"

-the challenge of Dr. Greg Moss' sermon, "The Soul of the City," as he called us not simply to be a "world class city" but a "world class community."

As your Thanksgiving weekend draws to a close, I hope you find a few minutes to read Rev. Melissa's Thanksgiving Children's Sermon and Rev. Amy Jacks Dean's Thanksgiving Prayer which follow below.

A Thanksgiving Prayer by Rev. Amy Jacks Dean

Gracious God, whose image lies in the hearts of all people, we have gathered this night among your people - claiming faith - something beyond anything that we can explain yet we feel it in the depths of souls. Some of the language has been foreign to some of our ears, some of the words have not been a part of our individual regular practice of faith, and yet we are united in one cause - celebrating that which we claim in faith and giving thanks for the abundance of life which is ours.

Help us to remember that you love all people with your great love and htat all religion is an attempt to respond to you, that the yearnings of other hearts are much like our own and are known to you.

Find us this night, giving thanks:

For children who sing your song

For common bonds of love in which we find strength

For families who worship together

For individuals who carve out time to be centered in prayer

For Habitat for Humanity and for houses that become homes when your people work together for a common good

For Family Promise who offers hope to families where chaos and cirsis abound

For clergy who have dedicated their life's work to pointing people toward you

For people who have committed themselves to bring your Peace

Our gathering together tonight is a small step in that direction, O God. May you and we find strength in that. Surely this gathering here tonight must bring you joy.

So let us pray that you would find us this night, O God, simply giving thanks.

Help us to recognize you in the words of truth and in things of beauty and in all the actions of love of which we are a part.

Gracious God, hear our prayer.

Amen.

Stubborn Ella - A Children's Story by Rev. Melissa Mummert

Today I'm going to tell you a story about a stubborn little girl named Ella. Stubborn Ella lived in a beautiful city filled with tall, shiny buildings. Every night at dinner Ella and her parents said what they were grateful for. They were kind of a funny family because they said what they were grateful for every night, not just on Thanksgiving. Some days Ella said that she was grateful that her friend Tomeka lived next door. And some days Ella said that she was grateful that she got to take drum lessons. Every day her parents said that they were grateful for good food. Most days, especially when it was cold and rainy, they said that they were grateful for a warm home where they were safe and dry.

One day when it was so cold that even Ella's mittens didn't keep her hands warm, Ella's daddy took her to a place near the train tracks. Ella saw lots of people standing in a line. Some of the people looked at her and smiled, even the ones who didn't have coats. Ella's daddy told her that the people in the line were coming to eat lunch because they didn't have enough money to buy their own food. He told her that a lot of them didn't have a warm place to sleep at night.

Ella asked her daddy how much money he had.

"Why?" said her daddy?

"Well," said Ella, "if they don't have enough to eat or a place to sleep, we should give them our money." Then she thought very hard and said, "You can even take my allowance."

Ella's daddy looked at her and said. "Darlin," (he always called her darlin) "it's not that easy."

All the rest of that day, Ella asked her daddy why couldn't all of the people have food and to have a
warm place to sleep at night. And all day, her daddy told all the reasons why it wasn't that easy. When her mommy got home they sat down to dinner. Ella asked HER why everybody couldn't have a safe place to sleep and good food to eat.

"It's not that easy," said her mommy.

That night in the bath, as she was getting the soap out of her hair, Ella started singing to herself, quietly and stubbornly. "I believe we can feed all the hungry, we can give everybody a home."

The next day, Ella asked her teacher why all of the people couldn't have enough food to eat and a place to sleep. "It's not that easy," he said. As she walked out of the classroom, she sang,
"I believe we can feed all the hungry, we can give everybody a home."

Sometimes, after her parents took her to her favorite library or to a play, she would see some of the people from the place near the train tracks. She wondered where they would sleep that night. It made her sad but she knew better than to talk to her parents about it because they always told her the same thing. "It's not that easy." She would just sing to herself, "I believe we can feed all the hungry, we can give everybody a home."

Then one night, her parents took her to a Thanksgiving service. It wasn't just any Thanksgiving service. It was a HUGE Thanksgiving service. There were more people than she could count. Her daddy told her that there were people from lots of different religions. All the people prayed together and sang together. They said what they were grateful for together. And she could tell that they were good & kind people.

And then Ella's heart started to beat. Hard. And Fast. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. She
remembered what her grandmamma told her, "When your heart beats fast that means that God is trying to get you to say something, so you just gotta come out with it whether you're scared to or not."

And after the Thanksgiving prayer when it was so quiet a pin could drop, Ella sang, "I believe we can
feed all the hungry, we can give everybody a home."

People turned around. Her daddy looked at her with big eyes, but Ella's heart was still beating BOOM BOOM BOOM so she stood up and sang again louder this time: "I believe we can feed all the hungry,
we can give everybody a home."

Her friend Tomeka was sitting next to her. She stood up and took Ella's hand and sang with her:"I
believe we can feed all the hungry, we can give everybody a home." Then her friends in the children's choir joined in "I believe we can feed all the hungry, we can give everybody a home." Then all of the
children in the children's choir sang.

Nobody knew exactly what was going on. This wasn't in the plans for the service. But a funny thing
happened. Hearing the little children singing so sweetly and boldly made everybody in the big room
believe if only for a little bit of time just for a minute, that maybe we could do it. Maybe we could feed all those who were hungry and everybody without a home could have a home.

So more people joined hands and sang, "I believe we can feed all the hungry, we can give everybody a home."

Then all of the people in the big room, people of different races, and different colors, joined hands
"I believe we can feed all the hungry, we can give everybody a home."

Then Ella looked up at her daddy. He was singing too.