Five Sundays of Gratitude and Hope
November 2026 — a month with five Sundays
Dear Friends,
Before I tell you about the month ahead, I need to say thank you. October was Pastor Appreciation Month, and you made me feel truly cared for. The cards you sent, with their kind words and handwritten notes, now sit on my desk where I can see them on the busy days. Serving as your pastor is one of the great joys of my life, and your generosity reminded me how deeply we belong to one another. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
That spirit of gratitude carries us straight into November, which this year gives us five Sundays. Each one has its own character, and together they make one of the richest months of the church year. I hope you will make every one of them.
Nov 1All Saints Sunday
We begin by remembering. All Saints Day has deep roots. Christians in the early centuries honored the martyrs on the anniversaries of their deaths, and soon there were more faithful witnesses than days on the calendar. In the year 609, Pope Boniface IV dedicated the ancient Roman Pantheon as a church in honor of Mary and all the martyrs. In the 700s, Pope Gregory III dedicated a chapel to all the saints on November 1, and about a century later the observance spread throughout the Western church. The evening before became known as “All Hallows' Eve,” which is where we get the word Halloween.
You might think a day for saints would be foreign to Methodists. Not so. John Wesley loved this day. In his journal on November 1, 1789, near the end of his long life, he called it “a day that I peculiarly love” (UMC.org). In 1756 he wrote, “How superstitious are they who scruple giving God solemn thanks for the lives and deaths of his saints!” (Discipleship Ministries). For Wesley, and for us, the saints are not a select few on stained glass. They are all the people whose faithful lives showed us the love of God: parents and grandparents, Sunday School teachers, neighbors, and friends in these very pews. On this Sunday we will remember by name all those who have died since last All Saints Day: members of our church, and also the family members and friends you have loved and lost. Come ready to give thanks for the saints who shaped each of us.
Nov 8Veterans Day Sunday
On our second Sunday we honor those who have served in our nation's armed forces. Veterans Day began as Armistice Day. At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, the guns of the First World War fell silent (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs). President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first Armistice Day the following year, and in 1938 Congress made November 11 a legal holiday “dedicated to the cause of world peace.” After World War II and the Korean War, the name was changed to Veterans Day in 1954 so that the day would honor veterans of all wars (VA). For a few years in the 1970s the holiday moved to a Monday in October, but so many Americans held the original date dear that it returned to November 11 in 1978 (U.S. Army).
Many of you have served, and many more of you have loved someone who did. We will give thanks for their courage and sacrifice, remember the costs that service so often carries, and join our prayers to the hope at the heart of the original holiday: a world where swords are beaten into plowshares (Isaiah 2:4). During the service, we will ask all veterans to introduce themselves.
Nov 15Stewardship Celebration and Potluck
Our third Sunday is a celebration. We will offer our estimate of giving cards for the coming year as an act of worship, giving thanks for all that God has entrusted to us and all that God is doing through Billings First United Methodist Church. Then, right after worship, we will gather in Brother Van Hall for a potluck. Bring your favorite dish, bring a friend, and bring your appetite. There may be no better picture of the church than a long table with everyone gathered around it.
Nov 22Thanksgiving Sunday with Jeri Anton
As we approach Thanksgiving, I am delighted that Jeri Anton will bring the message. Jeri has been part of this congregation for many years, and few people know its life as well as she does. She serves as our treasurer and on the Finance, Stewardship, Children's, and Trustees committees. Jeri has seen up close how faithfully this church gives and serves, and I can think of no one better to lead us in giving thanks. This is a wonderful Sunday to pause and count our blessings together before the busy holiday week begins.
Nov 29The First Sunday of Advent
We close the month by opening a new year. The first Sunday of Advent is the beginning of the Christian calendar, and this year we begin reading through the Gospel of Mark. The word Advent comes from the Latin adventus, meaning “coming.” The season took shape in France in the fifth century, when Bishop Perpetuus of Tours asked the faithful to fast three days a week from St. Martin's Day on November 11 until Christmas. By the late sixth century, under Pope Gregory the Great, Advent had become the four-week season we know (Wikipedia).
The Advent wreath is much younger. In 1839, Johann Hinrich Wichern, a Lutheran pastor who ran a home for poor children in Hamburg, Germany, grew tired of the children asking when Christmas would come. He placed candles on an old cart wheel, small ones for each weekday and large ones for each Sunday, and lit one more each day (Wikipedia). Over time the wreath kept only its four Sunday candles. Every time we light ours, we join that pastor and those children in a simple act of hopeful waiting: the light grows, and the Christ who came, and who comes again, draws near.
Comeand See
Remembering, honoring, giving, thanking, and hoping. That is our November. Whether you have been here every week for fifty years or have not been here in a while, there is a place for you at every one of these Sundays. I can't wait to worship with you!
