Resting in an Interdependent Web: A Sermon About Gratitude BY REV. JUSTIN MCCREARY NOVEMBER 12TH, 2023 - 11:00 AM 
      When I heard the phrase, “Let’s give thanks,” as a child I knew we were about to pray. Giving thanks was a holy practice, it was a sacrament, it was the moment when we communed with the almighty before something else happened. Thankfulness was a precursor to eating, asking for help, going into surgery, begging for intersession, and as the one who was often asked to give thanks, it became a box to be checked before I could do the thing I wanted to do. When I became a Unitarian Universalist, I wondered if I had any room left for prayer, especially since my faith in the almighty was and still is often in flux. I found a lot of excuses not to pray, because I realized I didn’t know how to anymore. It was easier to just simply, not check that box. But I also felt like I was missing something, so I began to listen when the UUs I looked up to would pray, and something bloomed inside me because prayer didn’t center on some deity, it centered on gratitude, it wasn’t a box to be checked, it was a reminder that we are all in this together. Not just the people but the entire interdependent web of creation. It is the acknowledgement of the connections, prayer is gratitude, thanksgiving, and connection. So this Sunday, I will focus on living in a state of gratitude.