Gratitude for What Unites Us

Dear Beloved,

Happy Thanksgiving!

To those of you who are lonely, God bless you. To those who are hungry, God bless you. To those who found a way to celebrate in spite of COVID or loss, God bless you. 

I am so grateful for you. We are so blessed to have the family of Christ called Wesley here in Concord. 

This past Sunday I was asked to deliver the message at the Greater Concord Interfaith Council's annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service. We've recorded it here at this link. I hope you watch it to hear the many voices of our faith communities that include: American Baptist, Baha’i Faith, Buddhist, Catholic, Christian Science, Episcopal, Islamic, Jewish, Latter-day Saints, Lutheran, Quaker, Unitarian Universalist, United Church of Christ, and United Methodist Church offering prayers and song. Dennis Broussard and I are your representatives on the Council. Gail Page served previously. Our offering that evening went to support the work of The Friendly Kitchen here in Concord and you can still give by visiting the link in the flyer shown in the description of that YouTube video or by going to our website at this link.

Gratitude for What Unites Us was the theme of our service. We had heard prayers discussing unity across faiths and political parties and I shared the story I heard from 6-26-2020 on The TED Radio Hour. Suzanne Simard is a professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia. She discussed her work that demonstrated that the complex, symbiotic networks in our forests mimic our own neural and social networks.

In her TED talk Simard shared how trees are interconnected, not by their own roots nor among only trees of their own species, but Beech with Fir and Pine with Maple through mycelium and fungi beneath the surface. I shared that WE are connected with each other by something beyond ourselves, something below the surface at our very roots that supports us and enables us to stand together: our faith! Simard indicated that this connection enabled a tree responding to the threat of a predatory beetle by releasing protective enzymes and that the fungi transmitted that message to other trees so that they could also protect themselves. Similarly, we share protective and helping messages through our faith to one another. 

I am so grateful for you. We are so blessed to have the family of Christ called Wesley here in Concord. 

Rev. Cheryl L. Meachen, Pastor
Wesley United Methodist Church
Concord NH

Join us for worship Sundays at 10:30 
on YouTube at this link