Ronald MacLennan          

Let us pause for a moment to give thanks for our own lives, for the lives of classmates and others who have been a part of our lives, for this food, and for all the blessings we have received in our lives.

            We give thanks not only for food but for all the many good things life has brought us.

We give thanks for the abilities we have developed and put to use, and for the part played by Southwest High School in shaping our lives.

We give thanks for the contributions we have been able to make to the human community.

We give thanks for family and friends who have shared the journey of life with us.

We give thanks for diverse experiences in life; especially this evening we are thankful for Southwest High School, our classmates, our faculty, and others who were and are part of that experience.

As tradition has it, the length of a full human life is three score years and ten, or 70 years. That estimate has changed a bit, but only a bit, since it was first made millennia ago. It's crunch time for us. We of theclass of 1962 stand on the threshold of this benchmark. The score for our lives is being added up. We give thanks for our successes. Where we have not done well, we confess our wrongs and seek to learn from our mistakes as we experience forgiveness, renewal, and redemption.

As we look back, we especially remember class members who are no longer with us. We give thanks for their many contributions to our lives. We ask comfort for those who mourn. Who they were when they lived among us lives on in us.

The tradition also promises that life may extend to 80 or more years. This evening, we look not only backwards but also forwards. The world has not heard the last of the Class of '62. We give thanks for the gift of days ahead, for tasks we choose as meaningful, for time we can call our own, and for sharing with family and friends.

Again the tradition also reminds us that the advancing years bring challenges; it says of extended years, "yet are they labor and sorrow." In the face of aging, we ask patience, perseverance, and lithe mutual consolation of the 'brethren.'"

Let us share a moment of silence for each of us to reflect on what it means to gather as the Southwest High School Class of 1962. …  

Bless this meal and us Amen.