The annual Sanibel Thanksgiving Celebration will be held on Sunday, Nov. 22 at the Sanibel Community House, located at 2173 Periwinkle Way. Festivities will begin at 7 p.m.

As you arrive, the Pilgrims – including Governor Bradford of the 1623 Massachusetts Bay Colony – will greet you and the B.I.G. Arts Community Chorus will inspire you. Come and give thanks with music, prayers, food and fellowship.

Another tradition of the program will be when Rabbi Murray Saltzman delivers his annual Thanksgiving Prayer. His 2009 rendition is as follows:

“Creator of cosmic infinities,

Wondrous artist, decorating the vastness with twinkling lights,

With whisperings mysterious,

Intimations of purposes beyond understanding,

Lifting our imagination to heights of ingenuity.

The Divine – revealed in our yearnings, our hopes, our laughter and our tears.

But most tenderly and lovingly,

Your presence inspires our hearts with Thanksgiving.

A time of fading colors and emerging joy,

Of families joined in happy togetherness,

Of a nation blessed with plenty:

America – we praise our founder’s dreams.

Our forebears, informed by devotion to liberty,

Transforming abstractions into redemptive deeds,

To accomplish the ancient longing for human dignity.

At the sumptuous Thanksgiving feast,

We celebrate the diversity of our peoples,

We unite to renew our nation’s faith that all are equal,

The great, the humble, those joined to generations past,

Children of a new generation,

New to our shores,

New to our benevolent laws,

Welcome all to the heartfelt time: Thanksgiving.

Holy one, arouse our conscience!

Expand our soul with love and friendship.

Embrace the homeless, the impoverished, the hopeless.

Stir our hearts with a compassion

As full and invigorating as our joy,

When justice and peace command our vision.

Then shall our Thanksgiving shine

Bright with light divine,

To acclaim the human spirit,

Our humanity fulfilled, our ideals confirmed.”

Please share your blessings with those less fortunate and bring food or monetary offerings for Sanibel’s F.I.S.H. (Friends In Service Here)

Contact event coordinator Marj Nordstrom at 395-2944 for more details about the Sanibel Thanksgiving Celebration.