A Message from Pastor Kaji
Happy Thanksgiving! This holiday carries a complicated history for many, and still it arrives each year with a quiet invitation. It gives us a pause to give thanks for the families we are born into and the families we create. It gives us a moment to breathe, to name what sustains us, and to honor the gifts that have carried us through another year.
Wherever you gather this week, I pray that you feel held, connected, and God’s steady kindness meeting you at the table.
A Thanksgiving Prayer for Your Table
Bless every table where your people gather.
Bless the hands that prepared the food and the hearts that made room for one another.
Bless the stories we carry, the memories that rise, and the mercies that got us here.
Heal the places where history still hurts.
Strengthen the ties of every chosen family and every restored relationship.
Let your Spirit settle over each home with peace, gratitude, and tender joy.
Make this meal a reminder that you are present in every good thing.
Amen.
This weekend we launched The Park Sets the Table, our renewed commitment to feeding and supporting our neighbors with dignity and care. Thanks to Chef Jasmin Renee, Stephanie Wilson and David Sookai, dozens of volunteers and donors and all of your generosity, we delivered 50 complete Thanksgiving meals to families at the Community Health Academy of the Heights, where our member Rebecca Stanton teaches and leads with love. We will return before Christmas with another round of meals to ensure that more households can experience warmth, nourishment, and joy during the season.
This is the work God has given us. This is who we are at The Park Avenue Christian Church.
This Sunday at The Park
This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, so…Happy Church New Year! This is a Sunday I have taken off for the past 9 years, so this year isn’t an exception. Gratefully, we will welcome Vanessa A. Lindley to the pulpit. Vanessa is a devoted minister, a financial educator, the CEO of Lindley Consulting Group, and Wealth Advisor at Bernstein Wealth Management. She has spent more than twenty years helping individuals, families, and mission-driven institutions understand money with clarity and purpose. Her calling brings together spiritual wisdom, financial health, and leadership development so people can build lives of stability and legacy. With an M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary, Vanessa’s ministry is rooted in transformation, empowerment, and deep care for community. I know that you will be blessed by her word this Sunday! Meanwhile, my family and I will enjoy a much-needed day of rest before we pick up for the Advent season,
Sunday Study Guide
Jesus invites the disciples to learn from the fig tree and to stay awake with spiritual awareness. The passage centers on readiness, discernment, and the quiet approach of God’s future.
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
- Where in your life do you sense the early signs of something new beginning to grow, like leaves returning to a fig tree.
- Jesus says no one knows the hour. What does faithful readiness look like for you when the timing is hidden.
- How do you stay awake to God’s presence in a world that makes distraction so easy.
- What would it mean for our church to live with a shared posture of readiness rather than fear.
Can’t wait to see you again in church!
Pax Christi,
Pastor Kaji
SCRIPTURE
Matthew 24:32-44 (Year A, p. 42)
32 Jesus said, “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that the Son of Woman is near, at the very gates. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
36 “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Most High God. 37 For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Woman. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39 and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Woman. 40 Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 42 Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Redeemer is coming. 43 But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, the owner would have stayed awake and would not have let the house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Woman is coming at an unexpected hour.