By avocation, by interest, by
passion, and by an almost-2nd-major in college, I am an historian. I love history! That wasn't always the case, but my U.S.
History teacher during my junior year in high school absolutely turned me
around in my appreciation for history.
It is in knowing our past that we can gain a clearer sense of who we are
in the present and an ability to discern where we might or should go in the
future.
The Governing Council of
Charlestown, Massachusetts, on June 20, 1676, issued the first, formal
Thanksgiving Proclamation - at least issued by immigrant settlers in this
land. President George Washington
proclaimed our first national day of public thanksgiving, calling the citizens
of our new nation to set aside a day "by acknowledging with grateful
hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God." In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, at the
height of the Civil War, established Thanksgiving Day as an annual observance
in our country. And so, this week, we
stand in that long tradition of setting aside time to give thanks to God.
Of course, the idea of thanksgiving
long pre-dates any observances of ours on this continent. One of the traditional names of our Sacrament
of Communion is Eucharist, which comes from the Greek New Testament word, eucharisteo, which means "be
thankful," "render thanks," "be grateful."
For what are you thankful? For which blessings from God are you
particularly and especially grateful right now?
Among other things, I'm grateful for the fact that our son and daughter-in-law
will be visiting us in our new home for Thanksgiving. I'm grateful for the opportunity to live in
such an incredibly beautiful part of the United States. I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve as
your Stated Clerk and Communicator. I'm
grateful for my health. I'm grateful for
my family, near and far. I'm grateful
that God has taken the initiative to reach out and accept me and love me and
bless me, despite my shortcomings, my sins, and the brokenness that is a part
of me. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer was so
accurate, wasn't he, in his assessment that the Church is both the communion of
saints and the communion of sinners? In
fact, he sounded almost like a Calvinist when he wrote that!). I'm grateful for friends, old and new. I'm grateful that I can take the trash out in
front of my house late tonight, and have a wonderful 5-minute conversation
about the holidays and children with a man I've never met, of a different race
than me, who just happened to be walking down the street at the same time I
wheeled out our trash cans.
I'm blessed indeed... and I am
profoundly thankful. How about you?
Blessings and peace, Steve
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