Give thanks for all things, for God is always doing a new thing

If you’re reading this, you’ve by now noticed that we’ve done a bit of sprucing up. With the help and guidance of many of you, we’ve created a new logo and built a new website to be more dynamic and easier to navigate. This newsletter too has been streamlined to help all of us with overflowing inboxes; here we will get straight to the point. On the website you’ll find every Zoom link, every upcoming event, every worship service; you’ll also find archives of sermons and music playlists. Soon, we’ll be launching a new app so you can quickly access events and your membership information easily from your device. 

With all this change, it’s important to remember that we are still a historic church. Worship Services of the Collegiate Church began in 1624, long before President Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation that the nation would celebrate a day of Thanksgiving each November. While I’m sure our forebearers regularly offered thanks and shared meals with those they loved most, the American Thanksgiving holiday as we now know it is much younger than our church, to say nothing of our faith.

This year, Thanksgiving will be new in many ways for many of us—smaller tables, fewer dishes to clean, Zoom calls as place holders for ever-longer overdue hugs. The thing about tradition, though, is that it adapts to meet us where we are. When it comes to making old things new, there’s always room for a refresh, always time for trying something new to get to what really matters. As you look about your church’s new website and stay with us as we continue launching even more new ways to engage, take a moment to give thanks for the West End forebearers who have brought us to this day. Do something similar as you prepare for Thanksgiving this week, giving thanks for the people and love that have brought you to this day. Give thanks for all things, for God is always doing a new thing.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Pastor Will