Back during the dark days of 1929, a group of ministers in the Northeast, all graduates of the Boston School of Theology, gathered to discuss how they should conduct their Thanksgiving Sunday services. Things were about as bad as they could get, with no sign of relief. The bread lines were depressingly long, the stock market had plummeted, and the term Great Depression seemed like a proper description for the mood of the country. The ministers thought they should only lightly touch upon the subject of Thanksgiving because of all of the human misery all around them. After all, what was there to be thankful for? One of the pastors in that group rallied the rest of them. “This was not the time,” he suggested, “to give mere passing mention to Thanksgiving, just the opposite. This was the time for the nation to get matters in perspective and thank God for blessings always present, but perhaps suppressed due to intense hardship.”
That young Pastor was right on in this. The most intense moments of thankfulness are not found in times of plenty, but when difficulties seem to be piling up in our lives. Think of the Pilgrims that first Thanksgiving. Half their number dead, men without a country, but still there was thanksgiving to God. Their gratitude was not for something but in something.
Perhaps in your own life, right now, you are going through some tough stuff, financial, relational, physical, etc…. Maybe you are experiencing your own personal Great Depression. Why should you be thankful this day? Let me give you three reasons.
Now thank we all our God
With heart and hands and voices;
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom his world rejoices.
This coming week as we celebrate Thanksgiving, let’s be thankful for the life we have IN Christ and the relationships that we have with each other because of the common bond we have with one another because of who our Father is.
Pastor Dave
Sr. Pastor
That young Pastor was right on in this. The most intense moments of thankfulness are not found in times of plenty, but when difficulties seem to be piling up in our lives. Think of the Pilgrims that first Thanksgiving. Half their number dead, men without a country, but still there was thanksgiving to God. Their gratitude was not for something but in something.
Perhaps in your own life, right now, you are going through some tough stuff, financial, relational, physical, etc…. Maybe you are experiencing your own personal Great Depression. Why should you be thankful this day? Let me give you three reasons.
- We must learn to be thankful or we will become bitter.
- We must learn to be thankful or we will become discouraged.
- We must learn to become thankful or we will become arrogant and self-satisfied.
Now thank we all our God
With heart and hands and voices;
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom his world rejoices.
This coming week as we celebrate Thanksgiving, let’s be thankful for the life we have IN Christ and the relationships that we have with each other because of the common bond we have with one another because of who our Father is.
Pastor Dave
Sr. Pastor
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