To Whom We Are Thankful - Poem by Raymond A. Foss

In our prayers, in stopping to give thanks
certain to honor God,
to whom we are thankful
from whom all
of our abundance, our bounty
our good fortune flows
He is the beneficent author, father
we must render unto him
all that we are thankful for
The source of all that is
what was, from before the beginning of time
the who blessed us with this land
this place, this moment in time
As we gather together,
one people in each family
may we pause to thank the Lord
from whom our blessings flow

November 26, 2009
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/GW/gw004.html
President George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation
October 3, 1789
(included in the bulletin)
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/source/sb2/sb2w.htm
President Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation,
October 3, 1863
(read by Fred Kline, Pembroke Selectman and School Board member)
both part of
Pembroke – Allenstown Community Thanksgiving Service
http://www.pembrokechurch.org/templates/System/default.asp?id=40672
First Congregational Church of Pembroke
http://www.suncookumc.org
Suncook United Methodist Church,
Suncook, NH
http://www.gccnh.com/
Grace Capital Church,
Concord, NH
http://www.catholicnh.org/directory/index.cfm?intType=1&id=72
St. John the Baptist Catholic Church
Allenstown, NH
http://cs.newhampshire.com/blogs/hooksett_editor/archive/2009/11/25/There-are-many-ways-to-make-the-holiday-bright.aspx
Allenstown – Pembroke Interfaith Food Pantry
November 25, 2009
at First Congregational Church of Pembroke
http://www.pembrokechurch.org/templates/System/default.asp?id=40672
Pembroke Street
Pembroke, NH
&
Email received 11/25/09 from President Barack Obama

“Tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day, Americans across the country will sit down together, count our blessings, and give thanks for our families and our loved ones.

American families reflect the diversity of this great nation. No two are exactly alike, but there is a common thread they each share.

Our families are bound together through times of joy and times of grief. They shape us, support us, instill the values that guide us as individuals, and make possible all that we achieve.

So tomorrow, I'll be giving thanks for my family -- for all the wisdom, support, and love they have brought into my life.

But tomorrow is also a day to remember those who cannot sit down to break bread with those they love.

The soldier overseas holding down a lonely post and missing his kids. The sailor who left her home to serve a higher calling. The folks who must spend tomorrow apart from their families to work a second job, so they can keep food on the table or send a child to school.

We are grateful beyond words for the service and hard work of so many Americans who make our country great through their sacrifice. And this year, we know that far too many face a daily struggle that puts the comfort and security we all deserve painfully out of reach.

So when we gather tomorrow, let us also use the occasion to renew our commitment to building a more peaceful and prosperous future that every American family can enjoy.

It seems like a lifetime ago that a crowd met on a frigid February morning in Springfield, Illinois to set out on an improbable course to change our nation.

In the years since, Michelle and I have been blessed with the support and friendship of the millions of Americans who have come together to form this ongoing movement for change.

You have been there through victories and setbacks. You have given of yourselves beyond measure. You have enabled all that we have accomplished -- and you have had the courage to dream yet bigger dreams for what we can still achieve.

So in this season of thanks giving, I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to you, and my anticipation of the brighter future we are creating together.

With warmest wishes for a happy holiday season from my family to yours,

President Barack Obama”

Paid for by Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee -- 430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20003. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.