Aloha my dear siblings in Christ, 

This Thanksgiving is unlike Thanksgivings in the past. We have been asked by state and local government officials to avoid gathering with our friends and family members. We've been encouraged to only sit and eat with those in our household. My own family will have to be content to a gathering over FaceTime. I will have to be content making faces and laughing with my grandchildren long distance. Bea and I have even decided to roast a chicken rather than a turkey this year.  

This of course is taking place during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some in our own Diocese have lost family members and friends due to the virus. Others have had dear ones die during the period of “shelter at home” orders and with restrictions on funerals.  

We're all hopeful that 2021 will be very different than 2020. We look to next year and a more typical Thanksgiving feast. We all pray that we will truly have something to be thankful for then. 

In our churches, congregations are still asked to not sing hymns. God’s people are largely silent as we worship together, but we are still together – either in-person with masks or online. Now certainly in many places, musicians are singing solos and providing instrumental music behind plexiglass barriers and while wearing masks. So that even if we are gathering for a Thanksgiving service, we won't be singing the hymns of Thanksgiving. You remember them, “We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing” and my favorite, “Now thank we all our God.” It is in fact that hymn, “now thank we all our God” that came to mind over and over again this week.

In The Hymnal 1982, it is listed as hymn number 397. The words bring a smile to my face:

1 Now thank we all our God,

with heart, and hands, and voices,

who wondrous things hath done,

in whom his world rejoices;

who from our mother’s arms

hath blessed us on our way

with countless gifts of love,

and still is ours today.

2 O may this bounteous God

through all our life be near us!

With ever-joyful hearts

and blessed peace to cheer us;

and keep us in his grace,

and guide us when perplexed,

and free us from all ills

in this world and the next.

3 All praise and thanks to God

the Father now be given,

the Son, and him who reigns

with them in highest heaven,

eternal, Triune God,

whom earth and heaven adore;

for thus it was, is now,

and shall be, evermore.

The words to this hymn were originally written in German by Martin Rinkart. From 1617 to 1649, he was the “Archdeacon” of Eilenburg in Lutheran Saxony. His years of ministry coincide with those of the Thirty Years’ War. The conflict and resulting disease caused the death of up to 60% in some German areas. Pastor Rinkart and his walled Lutheran town were caught in the middle of the worst of it. There were floods of refugees into the town. There were occupations by various armies. The community suffered pestilence and famine. During one period of an epidemic in 1637, he was the last clergyperson in the town having himself buried several as others fled. Records show that he was left to read the burial office over 50 a day or 4,480 in total – including his own wife. Some 8,000 people died in the town by the time the epidemic subsided.  

The words of the hymn were penned during the war, but were only published after his death in 1649. Rinkart was inspired by a passage from the Apocrypha, Ecclesiasticus 50:22-24:

Now bless the God of all

  who everywhere does great things,

  who raises us up from our birth

  and deals mercifully with us.

May he give us gladness in our hearts,

  and may there be peace in our time,

 in Israel as in times past.

May he grant us his mercy,

 and may he rescue us in our lifetime.

We are reminded that even in the face of difficulties, we have much for which to be thankful. It is in the ordinary that grace resides. The love of others – living and dead – that have shaped us into who we are today. The words are appropriate over a simple meal that sustains our bodies as much as for a grand Thanksgiving feast. We can give thanks for the peace and joy of our lives.

On this day, I give thanks for…

The frontline health care workers and the staffs of care facilities

The teachers who continue to instruct our children under difficult circumstances

Those who diligently wear their masks in public and practice social distancing as witness to the love of neighbor

The beauty of islands and the bountiful ocean

The spirit of aloha and ohana that sustain us

The bounty of creation that nourishes us

Bea

My family

My clergy siblings

The people of the Diocese of Hawaiʻi and the Episcopal Church in Micronesia

And for God’s grace and love that pervades all of creation and life

I also pray that you have a safe and joy filled Thanksgiving.

Please know that God loves you.

As your Bishop, I love you.  

You are in my prayers. Please pray for me.

Let us pray.

Aloha.

+Bob

The Right Reverend Robert L. Fitzpatrick,

Bishop Diocesan of the Episcopal Diocese of Hawai'i

Although most of our churches continue to provide excellent outreach services and support to different agencies, the following are some of the special Thanksgiving outreach activities taking place. Please consider providing your support or sharing information to those in need.