Thanksgiving Pastoral Letter, 2026

October 3, 2026

Dearly Beloved of Trinity,

My Pastoral Letters in the last number of years have usually taken the form of a meditation on a passage of Scripture, or a theological teaching, in relation to our secular times and whatever liturgical season we happen to be in. And then only towards the end, and often rather too briefly, do I mention anything by way of practical application. But this time round, I’m going to reverse this presentation. I wish to focus on how we can live in such a way that thanksgiving can be incarnated—embodied and made manifest—in our ordinary and everyday lives. To that end, I will provide four very concrete suggestions for you to consider your stewardship of God’s good creation, and to give practical expression of your gratitude this Harvest Thanksgiving.

First, I encourage you to take pleasure in eating. This may sound like the simple advice of a hedonist. But I must qualify what I mean. This includes, but certainly is not limited to, gustatory pleasure. The pleasures of eating of which I speak are multifaceted, and in order to appreciate this, one must become conscious of the fact that eating is an agricultural act: the food on our tables depends on farmers and agrarian labour and the land where it is produced. To take pleasure in eating involves enacting our connection with the source of our food, and developing our capacity to wonder and give thanks for the miracle of food, the fruits of the earth in their season, which God bestows upon us always as a gift to use and enjoy appropriately. As the late farmer, poet, essayist, and Christian, Wendell Berry, argues, grateful acknowledgement of how our food comes to us is what makes our eating human, and what makes the distinctively human pleasures of eating possible:

"People who know the garden in which their vegetables have grown and know that the garden is healthy will remember the beauty of the growing plants, perhaps in the dewy first light of morning when gardens are at their best. Such a memory involves itself with the food and is one of the pleasures of eating. . . . The same goes for eating meat. The thought of the good pasture and of the calf contentedly grazing flavors the steak. . . . I think it means that you eat with understanding and with gratitude. A significant part of the pleasure of eating is in one’s accurate consciousness of the lives and the world from which food comes."

There are copies of Berry’s essay, “The Pleasures of Eating,” on the counter in the Narthex, available to anyone interested in delving deeper into the politics and ethics of food and how we can cultivate grateful habits of eating. 

Second, I exhort you to share what you have with those in need. As one of our prayers for the Harvest puts it, we give with thankful hearts to God what is already his, and we do so “ministering gladly to the maintenance of thy Church, and the relief of the poor and the afflicted, the widow and the orphan” (BCP, p. 618). One of the early Church Fathers, St Basil the Great, put it bluntly: “The bread in your pantry that you do not use belongs to the poor.” In the Narthex at Trinity there is a box labeled “The Parish Community Food Pantry.” Please consider bringing non-perishable food items and putting them in the pantry, so that we can distribute food to those who are in need and poverty in our parish; we also occasionally contribute surplus items to the Halifax West Ecumenical Food Bank. This is one small way to reaffirm and renew the radical vision of Trinity Church, which, at least since 1866, has been to be a Christian mission to and among the poor. 

Third, I ask you to come and celebrate with us the Harvest Thanksgiving on Sunday, October 11th. There will be 10:30 am Holy Communion, followed by a festive potluck. Come to the feast, and receive God’s lavish and generous hospitality in Word and Sacrament; come, and discover the reason we have to rejoice and to affirm the fundamental goodness of all that is. All that we are and have and hold is pure gift, and in our worship we return it to God – there can be no more basic act of thanksgiving.

Fourth, I ask you to give a special Thanksgiving offering. We who are members of Trinity Church are called to be the Body of Christ in this place, in a world and city and neighbourhood that so desperately needs the Gospel. Our lives are to be an act of worship, lived entirely out of thanksgiving to God, “by giving up ourselves” to his service (BCP, Prayer of General Thanksgiving, p. 15). This offering of ourselves to God includes the offering, the giving up, of our money according to our means for the support of the Church’s work. Our monetary offering is not merely about keeping the lights on (which actually we do need to do!); but more than that, it is part of the offering of ourselves to be a holy, reasonable, and living sacrifice to God. In doing so, we give ourselves to God in giving ourselves to one another, for one another; we bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. This is what allows our Church to continue to be a faithful steward of the mysteries, ministry and mission which has been entrusted to us. Consider this prayerfully, and give as you are able with a cheerful heart.

I commend to your reading the financial update from our Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer. Please find the envelope for your Thanksgiving offering enclosed.

The last word is a song of praise and thanksgiving, based on Psalm 148, but penned in the 13th century by a poet and itinerant preacher, who dedicated himself to serving Christ among the poor, St Francis of Assisi:

Let all things their Creator bless,

And worship him in humbleness,

O praise him, Alleluia!

Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving, under the Almighty Mercy,

Father Benjamin Lee, Rector

On the eve of the Commemoration of St Francis of Assisi