Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, Acts 2:46
Dear Friends in Christ,
Happy Thanksgiving! As the first disciples did, so we also gather as a community (today at 10:30 AM) and in our own homes. With glad and generous hearts, we share meals together—the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and the sacred meal of family and friends eating together in our homes. Unlike Easter and Christmas that have somehow acquired commercial distractions, Thanksgiving in our culture still focuses on that meal together, giving thanks for God’s blessings, humbly honoring God for providing for us.
This balance of home and community (home and church) is a crucial part of growing as disciples of Jesus. If we only consider God quietly in our private lives but do not gather together (as we are able) to worship God together, then we miss the opportunity to learn and grow from each other, and the sense that God’s lordship in our lives sets the priorities of our time. Likewise, if we only pray and study scripture at church, but do not acknowledge God at home or in our daily lives, then God becomes another accessory to a modern and increasingly secular life. Faithfulness at home and at church sustains our relationship with God and opens us up to his blessings.
I hope that each of you will share with each other what you thank God for this Thanksgiving. Acknowledge the hard parts of the year and look for and find the ways God was with you through the challenges and joys, providing for you and sustaining you. I hope that you will listen for what God was doing in the lives of others too. And filled with that gratitude, come join together with your Christian family this Sunday as we begin the season of Advent, grateful for the blessings of God, and filled with expectation for what God will do next.
God bless you this Thanksgiving and always!
Yours in Christ,
-Tom