On Tuesday, November 22, over 70 people gathered at the South Walpole United Methodist Church, to give thanks for their blessings. Members of the congregation of the host church were joined by members of Blessed Sacrament Parish, United Church in Walpole, Epiphany Episcopal Church in Walpole Center, St. Mary’s Parish, and Union Congregational Church of East Walpole were present. This annual event moves from one church to another and is sponsored and planned by the Walpole Ministerial Society.
Rev. Dr. Sarah Mount Elewononi welcomed the congregation to South Walpole UMC, then led the call to worship and the prayer of invocation. Rev. Christen Mills, the new priest-in-charge of Epiphany Episcopal Church, led prayers of confession. Mr. Alex Green and Dr. Erica Johnson, music directors of United and Blessed Sacrament, respectively, took turns playing the organ and piano throughout the service and Mr. Green directed the ecumenical choir who sang a moving rendition of “Hymn of Grateful Praise” by Pierpont, Kocher and DeFord. They were accompanied by Allison True on the clarinet. The Old Testament, Psalm, and Epistle lessons were read by the Rev. Esther Rendon-Thompson of Union. She also put together the order of worship, and Union provided the worship bulletins.
Father Joseph O’Keefe, SJ, Parochial Vicar of Blessed Sacrament and St. Mary’s parishes, chanted the Gospel Acclamation and read John 6:25-35, a passage that takes place after Jesus fed the 5,000 and told his followers: “I am the bread of life.” Rev. Anna Flowers, pastor of United Church, based her sermon on this text. She shared her hope that those gathered for the service were “hungry for God” and she gave testimony that she first experienced being hungry for God as a high school and college student after attending a philosophy course at an academic summer camp. The teacher, “exhausted from spending all summer trying to teach philosophy to middle school geeks,” was trying to explain an argument in Plato that had to do with Greek gods, and asked them to think of the Judeo-Christian God. When the young Anna protested that not everyone believed in God, the teacher “rolled his eyes…and said, ‘Just take it as a premise for the sake of this argument.’” Rev. Flowers remembered that when she did open her mind and heart to that idea, she “had a profound whole-body spiritual experience. I felt completely at peace, like nothing I had ever experienced.” Rev. Flowers ended her homily by assuring that to anyone who has felt hungry for God, Jesus says “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never by hungry, and whoever believes in me will never by thirsty.” However, coming and believing “are not static positions,” because when we arrive at where Christ has led us, he goes ahead of us along the “path of life – showing us the way – pulling us gently forward.”
The congregation joined in worship as they sang (“Come, Ye Thankful People Come”; “Let All Things Now Living”; and “For the Fruits of This Creation”) and prayed and responded to the invitation made by Rev. Christen Mills to contribute money and grocery items for the Walpole Food Pantry. The congregation responded by giving $420 at 40 packages of food. As the service of worship concluded people greeted one another and the clergy, expressing their enjoyment and gratitude for the evening.
