Gratitude

Order of Service - Script 

for Sunday  November 21, 2021 

Giving thanks brings peace, hope, and a feeling of well being to our hearts, minds, and souls. 

NIUU, Jeanie Donaldson, Pastor Fred 

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Prelude - Jeanie Donaldson

Welcome:  

Come into this circle of love and compassion,

Come into this community where we can dream and

Believe in those dreams—

Welcome to North Idaho Unitarian Universalists where we accept, we support, we transform:  Ourselves, Our Community. Our world.   

Lighting the Chalice: 

(from the UU Congregation of Asheville, NC) 

Territorial Acknowledgment

By Sean Neil-Barron

We gather together as a community of seekers,

to honour the interdependence of life,

to respect the dignity of all,

and to honour the land we walk humbly upon.

Friends, Let us acknowledge that we walk upon the traditional territories of the Coeur D'Alene, and all  the original nations of this land, who continue to cry out for justice and self determination.

We are blessed with a space and opportunity to strive to live out our common principles:

To bring justice, equity and compassion into our daily lives,

To resist all that threatens the earth and her people,

And to live out our dream of a world community of peace, liberty and justice for all.

Let these thoughts carry us forth as we journey and worship together.

Blessed Be.

Opening Words: 

Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. 

But water will wear away rock, 

which is rigid and cannot yield. 

As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding 

  will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. 

    This is another paradox: 

      what is soft is strong. 

- Lao-Tzu

Hymn #68: Come, ye thankful people, come 

UUSL Choir - Come Ye Thankful People Come:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcnzDsE4aUQ

Covenant: 

Love is the spirit of this church, and service its law

This is our great covenant:

To dwell together in peace,

To seek truth in love,

And to help one another. 

Meet and Greet / Check-in  / Joys and Concerns /  Sharing

Story: 

from Today Show, November 15, 2021

The sweetest Thanksgiving tradition this side of candied yams is back!

Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench will once again get together for the holiday, six years after she accidentally sent him a text inviting him to Thanksgiving dinner, believing she had texted her own grandson.

“We are all set for year 6!” Hinton posted recently on Twitter, acknowledging that it will be the sixth straight year they have spent Thanksgiving together.

He also posted a text message Dench shared inviting him, his girlfriend and his family to dinner.

“It would bring my great joy if you, Mikaela and your family would come to my house on Thanksgiving day to share good food and great conversation. Your friend always, Wanda.”

Hinton, who accepted the invitation, also posted a selfie featuring him and Dench.

Hinton and Dench went viral in 2016 after she texted him, saying she’s hosting Thanksgiving dinner and would love it if he could attend, thinking she was texting her grandson.

They then swapped photos.

“You not my grandma,” he wrote. “Can I still get a plate tho”

Dench didn’t miss a beat.

“Of course you can,” she replied. “That’s what grandma’s do ...feed every one.”

Last year, Dench and Hinton (along with Mikaela) met up prior to Thanksgiving, along with a small group of her family, including “the grandson that originally started all of this by changing his phone number and not telling me he changed it,” as she told TODAY in 2020. It was the first Thanksgiving since Dench’s husband, Lonnie, died in April 2020 from complications from COVID-19.

Hinton even posted a video on Twitter in April 2020 of him enjoying lunch with the couple.

“We miss you Lonnie,” he wrote.

Dench is especially grateful for her relationship with Hinton.

“Jamal taught me that age made absolutely no difference,” she told TODAY last year. I love all of my grandkids and kids, but we all are different generations and we all reminiscence about different things. But when Jamal came along, my husband and I and him and his girlfriend, we would go out to dinner throughout the year together and we would just lose all track of time.”

“That’s when it dawned on me that there doesn’t have to be a generation gap to have friendships,” she added. “So now I look at a lot of young people in a different light than I used to and I make it a point to talk and get to know them.”

“He’s changed my life a lot, I know that."

 

Meditation Hymn #226: People, Look East 

Mike Menefee: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGAw_qhH9NE 

We begin in the East, toward the rising sun. The element of the east is air, represented on altars by a feather. Air and breath give us life. It is the direction of inspiration – the word that literally means to take in air. The east is associated with the mind, with knowledge and learning and intellectual curiosity. Imagine the birds, turning and wheeling in the air, imagine the breeze blowing through your hair. Turning toward the east, we look for a fresh start, an invigorating breath, a new idea. When you are feeling stuck in a rut, beholden to a routine, or if the wind has gone out of your sails, look eastward. 

Sermon: 

Gratitude 

Giving thanks brings peace, hope, and a feeling of well being to our hearts, minds, and souls. 

With this week, 

  we begin the holiday / holy day season in earnest. 

At the end of last month, 

  with the high holy day of Samhain, 

     we shared in the first of a number of holy days. 

With the start of this month, 

  our Hindu sisters and brothers marked the start 

    of Diwali, a holy celebration of the Goddess 

      and several of the principal Gods of their faith. 

The arrival of Thanksgiving Day in our country 

  marks the beginning 

    of important celebrations and customs 

      for the nation and many of its faiths and families. 

For example, many people feel 

  that the arrival of Thanksgiving Day 

    marks the start of the Christmas season. 

I hear repeatedly that Christmas decorations 

  must never be displayed 

    until after Thanksgiving. 

Personally, I feel that it is a matter of personal taste, 

  but I guess that simply means, 

    "To each his or her (or our) own." 

UU's are affected by the annual rituals 

  of the coming Seasons of Christmas, 

    Hanukkah, Festivus, and Kwanzaa. 

Hanukkah this year is 

  November 28 until December 6, 

    Festivus is December 23, 

      and Kwanzaa is December 26 until January 1. 

One of my UU friends in Moscow, Idaho, 

  has long said that almost all UU's are more Christian 

    at Christmas time 

      than at any other time. 

This whole list of holidays does not  include 

  the secular celebrations of 

    New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. 

Back to consideration of the holy day 

  arriving for us on Thursday of this week: 

Thanksgiving Day, as it is celebrated in the U.S., 

  is admired around the world 

    as a unique opportunity to set time aside 

      to remember everything and everyone 

        for which and for whom we are grateful. 

Our traditions surrounding the holidays 

  are important, but the most important reality 

    of every holiday 

      is a matter of the heart. 

Gratitude, or the lack thereof, 

  is the matter of the heart under consideration 

    for this week. 

There are many matters of the heart 

  which are part of our expresssion of gratitude, 

    and gratitude, as we will see, 

      carries great importance for us all. 

Gratitude enables us to enjoy our lives more 

  by helping us appreciate 

    many elements of our lives. 

Maybe even better, gratitude enables 

  our experience of oneness in the human family 

    and our care and concern for each other. 

As a letter from the president of our UUA 

  has reminded us, this year Thanksgiving calls on us 

    to give thanks for our common humanity. 

This year we can remember with gratitude 

  the indigenous inhabitants of our land 

    whose millenia of learning how to survive here 

      enabled them to teach our ancestors also 

        how to survive. 

At the same time, we grieve because of the loss 

  of so many tribal people, 

    whether by human cruelty 

      or by plagues and diseases 

        for which they were unprepared. 

We are grateful 

  that many First Nations, tribal people 

    are among us still, 

      teaching us values 

        we might otherwise have lost. 

Thanksgiving may be an ideal holy day for UU's 

  because it does not rely 

    on any religious traditions or doctrines 

      for full participation. 

There are many traditions surrounding it, 

  like festive meals 

    with some traditional Thanksgiving foods, 

      and fun events 

        like Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

In 2020 because of the pandemic, 

  the great parade was scaled down

    along with many other traditions of the holiday. 

This year the parade will be back in splendor, 

  complete with spectators 

    as it has been traditionally enjoyed 

      since the first one in 1924.  

The experience of Thanksgiving Day itself 

  also provides a paradigm 

    for the meaning and experience of gratitude. 

We are reminded to give thanks 

  for the people we love, 

    whether or not we are able 

      to spend time with them in person 

        in this or any given holiday season. 

When we are thankful, 

  we are flooded with good feelings. 

We can more easily care about other people 

  when we are grateful for them. 

Even if we don't feel the gratitude at first, 

  it can be a goal, 

    something we can work on. 

It's not so easy to work on feelings, 

  but gratitude is more than a feeling. 

It is a reality deep in the heart and mind, 

  an orientation if you will, 

    a way of seeing the world around us. 

Our gratitude for the natural world 

  is an important part of our experience 

    not only at holiday time 

      but every day. 

On a new day we can look to the sunrise, to the East, 

  and say, "Thank you!" to and for the new day. 

At the end of a day, we can hope 

  to look to the sunset, to the West, and say, 

    "Thank you!" once again. 

Of course, on some days it's easier 

  to say, "Thank you!" at day's end 

    than on other days. 

As I speak of looking to the East and to the West, 

  many things come to mind. 

What first comes to mind for me 

  is a verse from the Hebrew Bible  

    referring to a great, maybe infinite distance: 

      "As far as the East is from the West..." 

        (Psalm 103:12) 

From the Creation centered (pagan) tradition 

  we receive the Four Sacred Directions, 

    each one representing an aspect 

      of Creation which we experience 

        and for which we are grateful. 

The West represents water, 

  and our opening words highlighted 

    the important spiritual principle 

      represented by water: 

Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. 

But water will wear away rock, 

which is rigid and cannot yield. 

As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding 

  will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. 

    This is another paradox: 

      what is soft is strong. 

- Lao-Tzu 

The East represents air. 

North represents Earth, and South represents fire. 

So the Four Sacred Directions keep us in closer touch 

  with the Four Sacred Elements 

    that are part of our lives 

      and for which we are grateful. 

When we think of gratitude and Thanksgiving, 

  it is well that we think of 

    the varying spiritual traditions

      of which we are a part 

        and which call us to give thanks, 

          each tradition in its own way calling all of us 

            to receive and to fulfill 

              meaning in our own way. 

Earth based spirituality is especially appropriate 

  for our consideration of gratitude today. 

The meditation hymn, "People, Look East," 

  is often used at Christmas time. 

I chose it for today 

  as part of our preparation 

    for the ongoing and unfolding time 

      of holy days. 

The traditional Christian season 

  of preparation for Christmas is known as Advent. 

It is to Christmas as Lent is to Easter. 

I chose the hymn calling us to look East 

  as a pre-Advent hymn, 

    a preparation for the start 

      of our holiday celebrations. 

It may seem silly to say it this way, 

  but I'm suggesting that our time of gratitude 

    can help us prepare to prepare 

      for the rest of the holidays in a positive way. 

East is the sacred direction that represents air, 

  maybe the most important element 

    (in the traditional sense, 

      not the periodic table sense) 

        that we have to think about 

          in dealing with climate change. 

Our meditation on East and Air:

[We begin in the East, toward the rising sun. The element of the east is air, represented on altars by a feather. Air and breath give us life. It is the direction of inspiration – the word that literally means to take in air. The east is associated with the mind, with knowledge and learning and intellectual curiosity. Imagine the birds, turning and wheeling in the air, imagine the breeze blowing through your hair. Turning toward the east, we look for a fresh start, an invigorating breath, a new idea. When you are feeling stuck in a rut, beholden to a routine, or if the wind has gone out of your sails, look eastward.] 

As we move through our Season of Holidays, 

  both the secular ones 

    and the holy days that so many of us treasure, 

      we have an opportunity to contemplate meaning 

        in many aspects of our lives. 

By means of the wonders of technology, 

  we can share celebrations with people we love, 

    including our Beloved NIUU community, 

      both those we can be with physically 

        and those with whom 

          we will share these special times virtually. 

Amen. 

So let it be. 

Blessed be! 

Congregational Response 

Offering Information 

Our Charity of the Month:

 

Food Bank

 

Please choose which Food Bank that you prefer to receive your donation by specifying it on your check.

NIUU

P.O. Box 221

CDA ID 83816

Offertory - Jeanie Donaldson 

Extinguishing the Chalice : 

As we extinguish our Chalice Light, 

  we remember those who have gone before us: 

    indigenous inhabitants of the land where we live, 

      previous generations of people who have worked 

        for justice, peace, and the well being of all, 

          and for our own loved ones and ancestors 

            of many times and places. 

We take their light into our hearts 

  and unite it with our own inner light, 

    and our hearts are filled with light and gratitude.  

Welcoming Guests and Announcements 

Closing words: 

By Charles A Howe

May we go forth from this virtual place thankful for the life that sustains and renews us,

and open to the grace that surrounds and surprises us.

May we go forth from this virtual place with openness and with thanksgiving.