Dan Antion

Thursday Doors–Come Ye Thankful People

St John's Episcopal Church
Everyone is welcome to enter these simple doors.

Somehow, I knew that with Thanksgiving always being celebrated on a Thursday, that my choice for Thursday Doors was going to be thankful. I knew it and yet, I couldn’t quite figure it out. Then, on Sunday morning, it hit me. Well, it was more of a she, and she didn’t hit me, she impressed me. I read Natalie’s beautiful post where she featured some of the final blooming flowers from her garden. She also talked about bringing flowers into her greenhouse so she would have flowers to view and tend to during the winter. That reminded me of the hymn mentioned in the title and that made me think of St. John’s Episcopal Church.

We were members of this church for a few years. The Anglican Church didn’t recognize Thanksgiving as a holy/holiday, but Father Peet liked to connect the dots between giving thanks, the things we had to be thankful for and He from whom those blessings flow. I need to be careful that I don’t get tangled up in another hymn. Anyway, Father Peet held a service in which we could bring the bread we were serving for Thanksgiving dinner and have it blessed.

We would place our bread in a large basket when we entered the church. The servers would bring the basket to the altar when they brought up the gifts of bread and wine, and Father Peet would bless the bread. The basket would contain everything from homemade loaves, to store-bought bread, to coffee cakes and desert breads and once included a tube of Poppin’ Fresh Crescent rolls – who doesn’t love those?

We were members of this church during a somewhat challenging period for the building. You may not be able to tell, but the siding on the buildings is vinyl. In the mid-1980s, both the church and the rectory had to be repaired and painted, and the congregation wanted to expand the community center. There wasn’t enough money to do all that work. As if often the case in small congregations, there wasn’t really enough money to do any of that work. The building committee recommended starting a fundraising campaign in order to raise money over a two-year period. To keep the contributions in an acceptable range, the decision was made to cover the buildings in vinyl siding, but to use period-specific siding and trim on the church and the rectory. The buildings look good, but the experience illustrates how hard it is to maintain these buildings.

The Rectory, with the shaped shingles and gingerbread trim was hard to see be covered in vinyl, but the crews did a wonderful job.
Come Ye Thankful People Come
I once had the privilege of climbing the tower and winding the clock.
Now I need a line and pole filter
It’s interesting to see the pump jacks on the building again. There’s always work to do.
A Little Free Library. So good to see this on the front lawn of the church.
I need a line filter.
The back half of the building was added when the church was renovated,
An old standard, this was sung at Thanksgiving as long as I can remember.

If you’re not familiar with Natalie’s Sacred Touches blog, you might want to check it out. She has a wonderful way of tying together beautiful photos, some thoughtful words and a bit of scripture to help start your day with a moment of reflection.

Thursday Doors is inspired by Norm Frampton. You can visit the other doors and you are welcome to share your favorite doors with us. You have until Saturday at noon to tag your photo.

Happy Thanksgiving to the door followers in the United States. If you folks in other countries want to share in the traditions of this day, I’d recommending going straight for a slice of pie, topped with a generous amount of whipped cream.

58 comments

  5. Happy Day of Thanks. Good commentary here. I’ve been to several Polish Catholic day-before blessings for Easter and Christmas, where all the food was brought (it LOOKED like all the food) by the Church and The Priest blessed it. Huge baskets, and I heard my mother’s voice in my head criticizing because many of the women came in house dresses and curlers, ready to cook, no make-up, including my boyfriend’s mom (my mom wouldn’t go to ER if her hair was on fire without makeup, and unless you are Lucille Ball or Barbie, no house dresses, even the glamorous kind, for you.) I thought I was in another country, and I was: New Jersey!

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  7. We missed our Thanksgiving service last night as we were on the road, but thanks for sharing all of this. Maintaining a church, or any building, is expensive, that’s for sure. The church you shared is beautiful.

    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, Dan.

    janet

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  9. I was raised by a Dad who chose the Episcopalian faith as a college student. Mom was Methodist, her German mom a Catholic and my Grandpa an ” agnostic.” My Dad’s side come from yhe Anglican church of England but he was “poor,” raised by a mother who could barely work.
    Church for me meant wearing a dress, white gloves and usually a hat of handkerchief on my head. Old style Episcopal church where we genuflected like Catholics, had real wine and bread. I belong to a Presbyterian Church which was warm snd fuzzy to me as a young mother of 3. The formal Episcopal church is nice, a red door and I have a friend, Roberta, there. My kids loved hands on learning so they chose our church. . . Pick your battles, Dan. Right? :)
    This is a beautiful church with generous hearts who go yhere. Baskets for needy are special and show children to Give rather than Receive. Thanksgiving means yo me love, hope and family. Church is a great place to find these qualities and embodies God’s plan. Hugs, Robin

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    • Thanks Jan. It’s such a challenge to keep these buildings going. Winding the clock was fun but it was also a transfer of knowledge exercise since the same guy had been winding and repairing it for decades.

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  18. Lovely post today Dan! I love red doors and these are pretty, as is the entire building. I love that they kept the theme of red doors going and put a red door on the free library too.

    Poles, trash cans, paper dispensers, and wires are the bane of photographers! More and more they’re right in front of lovely and historic buildings mucking up the images. On the other hand it is what it is. I see the beauty in the church and am ignoring the wires, and pole.

    Happy Thanksgiving to you and the family! I’m really looking forward to the cranberry sauce, and Dressing( bread not salad) above all else that we’ll be eating today. :)

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  21. Beautiful post, Dan! I wansn’t online yesterday and in fact, I have begun decreasing my time on here so that I can enjoy time out in Nature with hubby and also spending quality time with my cats, some who don’t have much longer in this world … IMO. There are some blogs that I make sure I do come to, and yours is one of them. Yes we do have SO much to be grateful for, even if we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving as an official holiday. I LOVE red doors for some reason. Why I have no idea. But the pull is there as is my eye. Again enjoyed myself here. Wishing you and your family a truly Blessed weekend away from the stores. :) <3

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  23. There is something that attracts me to churches and I guess it probably has to do with all the songs and music that goes on. There is St. Roque Church right behind my apartment building. I can hear the church bells every morning at 5:30 a.m. and then few times during the day. I reckon its an indicator for the prayer meeting. I will someday cover this church in one of my blogs.

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