A Word From The Vicar: Thanksgiving 2022

The disciples said to him, ‘Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?’ Matthew 15: 33

Friends,

Making provision is one of the most important parts of any thanksgiving meal. Making provision has a few textures to it, which can include making sure we have enough food and drink to serve, and it can also ask us to make sure there is enough room at our table for anyone to join and more. Making provision is a key attribute of the ministry of Jesus, in the ways in which he encountered, listened, fed, healed, and invited us to join him on the road of life. A life, which in Jesus, we are shown that there is always enough. An enough we are called to pay attention to this thanksgiving as well.

The feeding of the four thousand, from which our letter opens, is a reminder that thanksgiving is about there always being enough, despite the ways we often think otherwise. Life is harder today than it was last year, grocery bills are increasing alongside almost every other day to day cost as well. Housing feels more unstable for many today than ever before, and quality full time jobs are becoming harder to find. We would be forgiven if we identified with the disciples' concern about how to manage the throngs of people coming to eat at Jesus’ invitation, rather than the invitation itself, but I wonder if the invitation is worth paying attention to , again, this year.

Throughout our lives, God continues to do what God does best- invite us into new life through the ways he surprises and delights us with his presence. I say surprise and delight because rarely is it in the big grand statements of earth shattering events where God is made known to us, instead it's often in the quiet, seemingly unimportant ways, that God shows us his presence and his love every day. From the gift of time, to the joy of a coffee, to the smile of our spouse, friend or child, to the laughter of kids, the autumn breeze and more, God is all around us revealing his provisions for us in the ways he has clothed our lives with sumptuous abundance.

Abundance, in the life of Christ we share, runs counter cultural to the abundance of the world. Abundance here is not about money, it's about the quality of our relationships with ourselves, our neighbour and our God. A relationship which is grounded in the faithful love of “enoughness,” an enoughness that reminds us that for God, in all of God's providence, we are already enough. We were built enough, with the image of love placed on our heart as a call to deepen our relationships in this world for the sake of the kingdom of heaven made real today. A kingdom where all are welcome, where no barriers exist between us, where there is no more hunger and more.

 I invite you this Thanksgiving to consider making a special financial gift to the ministry of this parish we share, either via an envelope on Sunday, online here, or email money transfer to Office {at} stanselms.ca, to help us continue our ministry of building deep, faithful, and loving relationships with all of our neighbours in the UBC, UEL and Point Grey communities which we love so deeply. Together, we are not only feeding people, we are inviting them to join us in the life changing ministry of the kingdom of heaven. A kingdom where God continues to make provision for all of us, a provision which calls us by name, a name who’s origin is love, because in us is planted the deepest witness to love. Which is the divine image of God in whom we are made.

Come join me this Sunday, with our offerings of praise and supplies for our homeless ministry as we celebrate the loving provision of God being revealed all around us in the abundance of His inbreaking kingdom. A kingdom our friends on the street are the ambassadors for, and we are recipients of together.

Come my friends, there is enough for all.

Alex+