Dear UBC,

Thanksgiving is coming so late this year that it will happen after you’ve received this email and only days before the first Sunday of the church’s new year, the first Sunday of Advent. What a wonderful in-between time… a holy day of gratitude as one year ends and another begins. So, allow us a moment to give thanks.

We give thanks for new life in our community: for babies born, for new members joining this body, for visitors filling our pews in worship.

We give thanks for the lives of those who went on to their heavenly home this year – for the ways they’ve shaped us and loved us and made us better.

We give thanks for all those who have given of their time, their talents, their love to feed our community, update organizational charts and FSRs, lead our many activities, and so much more to make this place run and run and run.

We give thanks for the love and hospitality evident in our sanctuary each Sunday morning before worship and every Wednesday night in the fellowship hall.

We give thanks for laughter in the hallways, music all over our building, beautiful art circulating throughout, and the ways you are the body of Christ with and for one another.

We give thanks for trips together, engaging conversations, and many coffee dates.

We give thanks for time to study and learn and grow together.

We give thanks for your trust, encouragement, and grace.

We give thanks for the chance to live and learn and lead at University Baptist Church.

We give thanks for every single one of you and all of you and for the work God is doing in, around, and through you.

There is so much to be thankful for, and there is so much to look forward to as we continue our journey in being church together. And we are full of gratitude for all of it.

With thanks and great anticipation,
Brett and Kat