Thanksgiving Not Uniquely Christian

Thanksgiving… a chance to rest up before the big push to Christmas…or is it?  The thing is, Thanksgiving is not specifically a Christian Holiday.  Don’t get mad at me for saying that.  What I mean is that it isn’t a Holiday mandated or connected to anything that is uniquely Christian.  One can be of any religion or no religion at all, and still “give thanks”.  It really was started as a way to remember the courage of our American Pilgrim ancestors.  They courageously survived their first year, or so, by overcoming starvation, loss of crops, sickness, and fights with the Native population.  Tradition says that they overcame many of those obstacles through making peace with the Indians.  As an act of thanks they had a feast to celebrate their survival.  Who did they thank?  The easy answer is God… after all, they were a Christian colony.  It would have been entirely appropriate for them to take a break from all the hard work and hardships and thank God for their survival.  I suspect they were thanking each other for the support of their community.  Without their coming together they wouldn’t have survived.  They looked after each other, they shared meager supplies with each other, and they nursed each other through sickness.  I think they also thanked their Native neighbors.  The Indians shared of their food, taught the Colonist better planting practices and better crops to grow.  The Indians were very crucial to the survival of the small colony.  Without each other and without the Indians we possibly wouldn’t be here today!

That isn’t the whole story, though…they did thank God.  God who helped them survive the voyage to the New World.  God, who helped them survive that first year.  God, who used non-Christians (the Indians) to help them learn to survive in their new home, certainly was with them each step of the way…even to encouraging them to make peace with their new neighbors.   Their thankfulness wasn’t a frivolous thing.  It came from the painful experience of watching their friends and families die.  It was a thankfulness that came from the recognition that without each other, without their Indian neighbors, and without God they would not be alive!

So…this Thanksgiving…I hope that each of us can think deeply about how God has given us one more year.  One more year to thank Him, one more year to thank our neighbors (and hopefully to live in peace with them) and one more year to thank each other for the support, love and guidance we have received from each other.

“Thank You, God, and thank all of you”.

Grace and Peace in Jesus,

Pastor Bill

photo credit: Mike Licht

Christians need a KISS card

What exciting times we live in!  There is so much going on… I don’t know if more is going on or we just get more information about what is going on.  It has been said that we live in the “age of information”.  I think that may be true.  In a time when there is so much information available on every subject known to the human race, it can get sort of confusing about what information to share.  We don’t want to add to the information over-load, but we do need to keep people informed.  What is one to do?

It makes me think of the Apostle Paul who said, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (1 Cor 2:2-3) Wow!  Paul was so brilliant.  He was an extremely well educated man, with a very sophisticated understanding of Greek culture and language.  He was very well versed in many aspects of Greek philosophy, yet he while he is with the Greeks (Corinth was a Greek city) he didn’t make that claim.  He only talked about Jesus and what Jesus had done for those who believe in Him.

Years ago, when I was a salesman, I carried a card in my front shirt pocket.  The card simply had K.I.S.S. printed on it.  That simple card was an important reminder to Keep It Simple Stupid!  Yes, a reminder for me to not over complicate what I was doing.  The more simple things are the less that can go wrong in trying to explain them.  I think sometimes we Christians need a KISS card.  Something to remind us that this whole thing about being a follower of Jesus is not rocket science, so that only the smart or well learned can do it.  No, it is as simple as the age old song…”Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.  I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”  We receive all of this because God cared enough to give us His only Son.

As you go through the next few weeks, remember that when it comes to your relationship with God, there is really only one thing to know…no, not what does KISS stand for.  What we all have to remember is …”Jesus Christ and Him crucified”!