2021 TCIC Thanksgiving Service Message – © by Joy T. Barnitz
We are one.
We are one.
After nearly two years of pandemic, is there any doubt? Signs in downtown Fremont read: the virus doesn’t see race, … gender, … color, … age, … income … ethnicity …. To Sars-CoV-2, we are all potential hosts, each one of us is a source of nourishment for its growth and reproduction. Each of us is vulnerable, … and none of us know how we will be affected. Many of us have lost loved ones and friends to COVID-19. Many more of us have been ill … and a significant number of us have never fully recovered our bodily health, our mental health, our spiritual health … our sense of wellbeing and wholeness. None of us remains untouched, unaffected in some way by nearly two years of masks, social distancing, quarantining, sanitizing … and fear.
We are One.
For many years, I lived in western New York, on the unceded land of the Haudenosaunee, better known to many of us as the Iroquois confederacy of six nations. Haudenosaunee means "the
people who are building the long house;” it’s not about the house so much as it’s about joining together to live in peace. They have gifted the world their Thanksgiving Address by placing it online for all to see, read and use. In this address, they greet the natural world and proclaim humanity’s place in it. They open and close every social and religious meeting with this address, which begins:
Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as people.
Now our minds are one.
They thank mother earth, the land, the waters, the fish, the plants which support all life, the medicine herbs, the trees, the animals, the birds, the four winds, the Thunderers – “our grandfathers”, the sun – our “eldest brother,” the moon – our “oldest grandmother,” the stars and the Creator, the Great Spirit, who has provided “everything we need to live a good life … here on this Mother Earth (and) for all the love that is still around us.”
Each verse ends with the words: “Now our minds are one.” They call this address, this prayer they use at all gatherings: “the Words That Come Before All Else.” I invite you to rest in those words; rest in the power of hearing “now our minds are one” repeated many times at the beginning and at the ending of each gathering. There is great power in repetition, power to express an intention, to bring everyone into this moment, in this place, to work toward the common purpose for which they have gathered. Through the pandemic, I have missed singing in a choir, in person. Virtual choirs did not fill my longing for the physical presence of other people, for the sense of being part of something much larger than me, one in which my voice would merge with that of others into a rich tapestry of powerful expression. Where each voice, all voices matter. For me, that’s what tonight’s gathering is: a gathering of people working together to create a community larger than the sum of its parts. Gathering to give thanks for the vitality that comes from our many faith traditions. It’s why the Tri-City Interfaith Council (TCIC) holds this annual Thanksgiving service in which we honor this rich diversity of traditions, that we all may appreciate the beauty of our different expressions of a shared intention: the establishment of a society where all may thrive and where all may flourish.
We are One.
The Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving address concludes by thanking
… our enlightened teachers … who have come to help throughout the ages. When we forget how to live in harmony, they remind us of the way we were instructed to live as people. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to these caring teachers. We have now arrived at the place where we end our words. Of all things we have named, it was not our intention to leave anything out. If something was forgotten, we leave it to each individual to send such greetings and thanks in their own way.
Now our minds are one.
We are one.
Let our hearts and minds be one community.
Thank you.
We are one.
We are one.
After nearly two years of pandemic, is there any doubt? Signs in downtown Fremont read: the virus doesn’t see race, … gender, … color, … age, … income … ethnicity …. To Sars-CoV-2, we are all potential hosts, each one of us is a source of nourishment for its growth and reproduction. Each of us is vulnerable, … and none of us know how we will be affected. Many of us have lost loved ones and friends to COVID-19. Many more of us have been ill … and a significant number of us have never fully recovered our bodily health, our mental health, our spiritual health … our sense of wellbeing and wholeness. None of us remains untouched, unaffected in some way by nearly two years of masks, social distancing, quarantining, sanitizing … and fear.
We are One.
For many years, I lived in western New York, on the unceded land of the Haudenosaunee, better known to many of us as the Iroquois confederacy of six nations. Haudenosaunee means "the
people who are building the long house;” it’s not about the house so much as it’s about joining together to live in peace. They have gifted the world their Thanksgiving Address by placing it online for all to see, read and use. In this address, they greet the natural world and proclaim humanity’s place in it. They open and close every social and religious meeting with this address, which begins:
Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as people.
Now our minds are one.
They thank mother earth, the land, the waters, the fish, the plants which support all life, the medicine herbs, the trees, the animals, the birds, the four winds, the Thunderers – “our grandfathers”, the sun – our “eldest brother,” the moon – our “oldest grandmother,” the stars and the Creator, the Great Spirit, who has provided “everything we need to live a good life … here on this Mother Earth (and) for all the love that is still around us.”
Each verse ends with the words: “Now our minds are one.” They call this address, this prayer they use at all gatherings: “the Words That Come Before All Else.” I invite you to rest in those words; rest in the power of hearing “now our minds are one” repeated many times at the beginning and at the ending of each gathering. There is great power in repetition, power to express an intention, to bring everyone into this moment, in this place, to work toward the common purpose for which they have gathered. Through the pandemic, I have missed singing in a choir, in person. Virtual choirs did not fill my longing for the physical presence of other people, for the sense of being part of something much larger than me, one in which my voice would merge with that of others into a rich tapestry of powerful expression. Where each voice, all voices matter. For me, that’s what tonight’s gathering is: a gathering of people working together to create a community larger than the sum of its parts. Gathering to give thanks for the vitality that comes from our many faith traditions. It’s why the Tri-City Interfaith Council (TCIC) holds this annual Thanksgiving service in which we honor this rich diversity of traditions, that we all may appreciate the beauty of our different expressions of a shared intention: the establishment of a society where all may thrive and where all may flourish.
We are One.
The Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving address concludes by thanking
… our enlightened teachers … who have come to help throughout the ages. When we forget how to live in harmony, they remind us of the way we were instructed to live as people. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to these caring teachers. We have now arrived at the place where we end our words. Of all things we have named, it was not our intention to leave anything out. If something was forgotten, we leave it to each individual to send such greetings and thanks in their own way.
Now our minds are one.
We are one.
Let our hearts and minds be one community.
Thank you.