Compiled by The Bedford Citizen
Vestry Member Joe Wright and Music Director Michael Monroe welcomed residents and guests to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church for Bedford’s 2015 Community Thanksgiving Service on Sunday afternoon, November 22.
“Today we gather, united in beloved community, representing many traditions, building understanding and harmony amidst our diversity, and sharing in a time of gratitude for each other and all creation.”
The service was coordinated by the Bedford Interfaith Clergy Association and incorporated the breadth of Bedford’s communities of faith. Sharing insight and wisdom from Bedford’s many traditions were Cantor Ben Silver of Temple Shalom Emeth; Dan Schoeni of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; Claudia Fox Tree, representing the Arawak Nation and the Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness; Rev. Tracy Cabot Claudio, High Priestess of the Cabot Kent Hermetic Temple; and Josh Leach, Ministerial Intern, Rev. Megan Lynes, and Rev. John Gibbons from First Parish on the Common. With a nod to Bedford’s colonial history, The Bedford Minutemen welcomed participants and presented the colors to open the service.
Voices from several congregations’ choirs presented a new song of gratitude, The Harmony of the Incredible Earth written by Adam Brooks Webber, a UCC minister and son of Helen and Howard Webber who are members of St. Paul’s. Click here to read The Harmony of the Incredible Earth.
The service concluded with The Complications of Gratitude, a sensitive and moving sermon delivered as a conversation between Rabbi Jill Perlman, a Bedford resident who serves Lexington’s Temple Isaiah, and Rev. Chris Wendell, Rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Click here to read The Complications of Gratitude.