Be a bright flame before me, O God
a guiding star above me.
Be a smooth path below me,
a kindly shepherd behind me
today, tonight, and for ever.
Alone with none but you, my God
I journey on my way;
what need I fear when you are near, O Lord of night and day?
More secure am I within your hand
than if a multitude did round me stand.
Amen
- St. Columba's Prayer

Dear Ones of St. Columba's,

On this Thanksgiving Day I am thinking about the prayer above, which is one of many prayers attributed to or named after our patron saint. My first Thanksgiving as Vicar of St. Columba's I gathered a group of people together to think about the holiday season and how we should mark, keep, practice, and celebrate our faith in the midst of it. One of the questions that came up was, should we have a Thanksgiving service? And the answer we discerned was no - we didn't feel a need at that time to have a special service on Thanksgiving Day. And yet - we did long for some way to pray together. This led to a discussion of what we as Episcopalians believe about prayer, and what it means to pray alone, and to pray together. 

In our tradition we hold the belief that communal prayer encompasses and shapes personal prayer. No one person can celebrate the Eucharist alone, for example. There need to be at least two or three, or it's not the communal worship experience that grounds the center of our spiritual life as community, and connects us to God and each other in ways that are mysterious and real. We also believe that we can pray together, even when we are not in the same physical space. This is one reason why many of our prayers are written down in our prayer book, and we have the settings of the Daily Office (Morning Prayer, Noonday Prayers, Evening Prayer, and Compline) that can be said together or alone. When we pray in these ways, we pray together with everyone who uses these prayers, these words, to lift their hearts to God. 

At St. C's we decided to pray together on Thanksgiving Day, even though we are not formally together. St. Columba's prayer is a prayer about being alone in nature with God, and God's companionship with us in landscapes and environments where we might have good reason to be afraid. We chose this prayer to open our simple Prayer's for Thanksgiving Day, which you can download here. You can pray them alone, or with others. You can pray them as a way to begin your Thanksgiving feast, or as a way to close out a day spent resting alone. They are designed to connect us to God and each other, from wherever we are, in landscapes friendly or frightening, on a day where some of us are full of thanksgiving, and others are just struggling through. 

I hope your Thanksgiving Day brings you the type of rest, connection, and renewal that you are hoping for. I send special prayers and blessings to those who work holidays, and those for whom these days bring sadness along with joy. I entreat you to remember, even if you are alone, that there are multitudes gathered with you when you pray, and that in God none of us are ever alone.

with gratitude and thanksgiving,

Alissa

that link one more time - right here.