A Prayer of Thanks
Thanks to Blogs4God I just discovered The Akathist for Thanksgiving- a prayer in the Orthodox tradition. Here is what Jim at Paradosis had to say about it:

It is a jaw dropping song of praise to God for all His goodness bestowed upon us...made even more astounding by the person who wrote it and under what conditions he did so. In 1942, while incarcerated in a Soviet prison camp, Father Gregory Petroff penned this wonderful hymn of thanksgiving. He would die a martyrs death there in 1942.

It is jaw-dropping and beautiful. Go here to Life's Cocktails for the prayer -or- here for a Word document of it.

I'm Impressed
I am impressed by the surprise visit of President Bush to Iraq. Was it political? Of course it was. Absolutely anything a President does is political by its very nature. Was it a crazy act of bravado? Possibly. Anytime a President goes into a war zone like Baghdad it can be dangerous. But, as Jeff Jarvis says in reaction to a Ryan Pitts post:

: Ryan Pitts says he doesn't much care how much Bush's team calculated the political benefits of the trip.
Right. This is above politics. This is presidential. This shows the support for the troops that they need and deserve.

I agree. Yes, war is awful and needs to be avoided. But when it is waged, we must not forget the men and women who are involved. When the war itself becomes more politically controversial as this one is becoming, those in the Armed Forces need to know that it is not about them and that they are not forgotten, especially on a special holiday.

Interesting
From Atrios, this interesting article:

Number of `Nones,' Those Who Claim No Religion, Swells in U.S. BY MARK O'KEEFE c.2003 Newhouse News Service
Their numbers have more than doubled in a decade, to nearly 30 million. Organized as a religious denomination, they would trail only Catholics and Baptists in members.

They are the "nones," named for their response to a question in public opinion polls: "What is your religion, if any?"

Some nones are atheists, others agnostics, still others self-styled dabblers in a variety of faiths and philosophies. Despite their discomfort with organized religion, many consider themselves quite spiritual.

Young people are more likely to profess no religion. One in three nones is less than 30 years old compared with one in five of all survey respondents. More are single (29 percent) than the adult population as a whole (20 percent). Fifty-nine percent are male. Their education level (23 percent college graduates) is virtually the same as the national average for adults. Seventeen percent are Republicans, 30 percent are Democrats, and 43 percent are independents.

Many nones believe in God. Nearly half "agreed strongly" that God exists. "It is more accurate to describe them as unaffiliated than as non-believers," said Ariela Keysar, study director of the American Religious Identification Survey.

If we are to be witnesses and disciples, that means that we need to be more aware of reaching out in different ways, not expecting the "old-time religion" approach to be the way to reach people who have decided that they are "none of the above." It is not an issue of religion, it is an issue of institutionalized organizations, spirituality, and a post-modern culture that has rejected what used to be.

Still Sorting It Through
The free Thanksgiving meal at our church went well. It was not what any of us expected. In other words, God was at work in ways we never looked for or thought about. I guess that means we were doing God's will. Suffice it to say, as one of our workers commented at the end of the day: "God is smiling!" More tomorrow.