Happy Thanksgiving Franciscans!

First a Thanksgiving prayer.

Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

This next Sunday, December 1st, marks the beginning of the Season of Advent and the beginning of the new church year. The Church Eucharistic Lectionary year will be A and the Daily Office lectionary Year will year 2.

I encourage you to come for study and fellowship to the joint Advent study with St. Peter-Claver (SPC) and St. Francis on Tuesdays, beginning at 5:30 pm with a potluck. Please bring a dish to share. The first study on December 3rd will be at SPC and I am scheduled to guide us in the lectionary readings for Advent 1. The folks at SPC are kind and gentle people and, as does St. Francis, care for the poor and the marginalized. I hope you can make it.

I leave you with the Epistle of Paul to the Romans that is assigned on Advent 1. Ben+

(Romans 13:11-14)

You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.