Counting Our Blessings
Register for in-person worship at our Thanksgiving Eve Eucharist,
6:30 p.m. November 25.
Counting Our Blessings
The Christian tradition has always held as essential the practice of giving thanks. Indeed, an alternative name for the Eucharist is “The Great Thanksgiving,” wherein we offer a “sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving,” giving glory to God for our redemption through Jesus, and the gift of our very lives.
In times of difficulty, gratitude can be hard to come by. We must dig a little deeper, look a little harder, and listen more closely for God’s grace and goodness toward us. As each one of us struggles to manage both the personal and communal impact of the pandemic, alongside the cultural and political disruption of our common lives, it can be hard to know where and how to give thanks.
But I have some suggestions for practicing gratitude. Try out that old fashioned notion of counting your blessings. First thing in the morning, and just before you fall asleep, call to mind three things for which you give thanks. Keeping a journal of these blessings can be a wonderful gift to yourself. When you are troubled, you can go back and re-read what you have written.
Or consider finding a gratitude partner — someone with whom you share your gratitude list, and who share theirs with you. Listening to the other person will remind you of even more things for which you are thankful — and amplify your sense of grace.
The practice of gratitude reorients us toward the One in whom we live and move, and have our being. In gratitude, we find ourselves held in God’s loving hands, connected to the Source of all life, and the Giver of every blessing. Through gratitude, we are transformed, enabling us to find peace amid anxiety, and hope in an uncertain future. And, by our gratitude we become a blessing to others, forgiving of heart, and generous in spirit.
On Wednesday, November 25, at 6:30 p.m. on the Eve of Thanksgiving, the Cathedral invites you to give thanks in a celebration of Holy Eucharist. Join your Cathedral family, as together we count our blessings.
Rev. Kathy Rock Pfister, Canon Vicar
Every Member Canvass
Thank you to everyone who has made an Every Member Canvass pledge for 2021. We have come a long way in our EMC campaign, but we still have some distance to go. In order to fund our mission and ministry fully in 2021, our goal is 615 pledges for a total of $3,400,000.
Your Cathedral vestry is in the process of preparing the budget for 2021 and hopes to finalize it at the vestry meeting in December. If you have not yet made a pledge for 2021, know that there is still time! We invite you to make a financial commitment to the work of the parish for the coming year.
The Every Member Canvass is our annual opportunity to pledge financial support to Christ Church Cathedral for the coming calendar year, a true investment in future mission and ministry. As we live in a time unlike any other, the need is great, and we hope that all will make their pledge through trust in God who casts out our fear, and out of the joy we know when we meet God in this place.
Ways to make your pledge:
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Return the pledge card you received by mail to 1117 Texas Ave, Houston, TX 77002.
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Make a pledge over the phone at 713-590-3338 or by email by contacting Karen Kraycirik, minister for stewardship.
Learn more about this year’s EMC at: christchurchcathedral.org/emc
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