Pastoral Letter - “In This Season of Gratitude: Standing with Humility Before God and One Another”

Dear SUM family, 

Last Wednesday evening, I joined the Simsbury Clergy Meeting on Zoom as we prepared for the upcoming Interfaith Thanksgiving Service at St. Mary’s on November 23. Even through a screen, the gathering carried warmth and a gentle joy. Clergy from different Christian traditions—and leaders from the Jewish and interfaith communities—shared stories, small jokes from their traditions, and a sincere desire to honor God together.

Whenever people of different faith backgrounds gather, worship will naturally look and feel a little different. Yet listening to one another with respect reminded me once again that our differences do not have to divide us—sometimes they are the very places where grace appears.

At one point, I found myself thinking: “Perhaps gratitude begins with this kind of humility—the humility to listen, to learn, and to stand before God together.”

Thanksgiving is not only a time to count blessings; it is a moment to lower our hearts before God and confess again, “God has carried us this far.”

During the second half of the meeting, our conversation shifted from worship planning to our wider community. We began asking, “Who needs help the most in our town right now?”

As each clergy shared what they had been hearing in their congregations, a clearer picture emerged. Simsbury Food Pantry has been receiving a rising number of requests for assistance and is facing real strain. There was a brief silence—then gentle nods around the screen.

Together, we came to a shared decision: The offering from this year’s Interfaith Thanksgiving Service will support the ministry of the Simsbury Food Pantry.

This was not simply a charitable gesture. It was a confession of faith. God’s help does not come to us as something distant or abstract. God helps through God’s children—through our hands, through our compassion, through our willingness to act.

This is the heart of Romans 8 as well: the Spirit intercedes for a hurting world with groans too deep for words, and invites us to join that work.

So I found myself asking:

“If we trust God’s goodness, if we believe God cares for us, and if we know the Spirit is even now interceding for those in need—shouldn’t we become the hands and feet of Christ for our neighbors?”

Gratitude deepens when the grace that has reached our lives begins to flow outward through us. Thanksgiving invites us to rediscover this flow of grace.

As we come together for worship at SUM this Sunday, my hope is that we will stand within this same movement of the Spirit—honoring one another’s differences, carrying our community in love, and meeting God with humility and gratitude.

May the peace of Christ rest gently upon each of you. I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

And as many of us gather with family this Thanksgiving, our homes may fill with joy—yet family gatherings can also carry tension or unspoken heaviness. Different stories, personalities, and histories often meet in the same room.

In such moments, a simple Family Thanksgiving Worship can create a quiet space to breathe, to re-center, and to turn our hearts back toward God and toward one another.

For those who desire a moment of grace in the midst of family gatherings,
I am sharing a simple Thanksgiving Family Worship model below. It is not complicated—but sometimes the simplest moments become the deepest gifts of grace.

May God fill your home with gratitude, tenderness, and peace.

In Christ,
Pastor DH

Thanksgiving Family Worship

Gathering 

Leader:
As we gather this Thanksgiving, we come together with grateful hearts. God has brought us to this moment.
All: Amen.

Opening Prayer

Gracious God, thank you for bringing our family together. Soften our hearts, deepen our gratitude, and fill this time with your peace and love. Amen.

Hymn or Song

Choose one familiar to the family:

●      “Give Thanks”
●      “How Great Thou Art”
●      “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”

Scripture Reading – Psalm 100 (NRSV)

One family member reads.

Family Reflection 

Family gatherings are joyful, yet they can also reveal our differences—
moments of tension, misunderstanding, or old memories resurfacing.

Thanksgiving invites us to turn our attention back to God, who knows our needs, who embraces our differences, and who leads our lives with patient love.

May this moment of worship gently restore gratitude in us and renew our love for one another.

Sharing

Each person shares briefly:

●      One thing you are thankful for this year
●      One prayer request for the coming days
(Children may share just one simple sentence.)

Family Prayer

Holy God, bless our home with peace. Help us see one another with grace.
Fill our hearts with gratitude and tenderness. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Blessing

May God’s peace rest upon this home and upon each person gathered here. Amen.