My daughter, Kara, sharing her thanks in the Irvine Presbyterian Church Thanksgiving Eve service.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nOne of the best-loved parts of this service was an \u201copen mike\u201d time when people in the congregation shared briefly that for which they were thankful. Children often thanked God for their parents and their pets. Teenagers offered thanks for their friends and their youth leaders. Adults lifted up gratitude for health, jobs, church, and family. Sometimes we laughed; sometimes we cried. On more than one occasion, we were deeply moved when someone would say something like, \u201cI thank God for being with me this year even through the death of my husband.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a wonderful and worthy thing to go into your \u201cprayer closet\u201d and thank God in private for all of his blessings. Yet, there is something grand about sharing your thanks to God in the presence of others. In Psalm 57, for example, David says, \u201cI will thank you, Lord, among all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations\u201d (57:9). When you consider how David\u2019s prayers of thanks in the Psalms have echoed throughout time and history, you\u2019d have to say David was right about this, though I\u2019m pretty sure this isn\u2019t what he had in mind. Rather, David was talking about offering thanks among the people of Israel, among those who had shared with him in God\u2019s grace.<\/p>\n
One of the rich rewards of gratitude comes in the community of the faithful. As we share thanks to God with each other, we are inspired to new expressions of gratitude. Moreover, we grow in relationship with each other as we open our hearts in thanking God. Our celebration of gratitude is richer when it is shared with others.<\/p>\n
So, on this Thanksgiving Day, may you share your gratitude, not only with the Lord, but also with others. And may you share richly in their thanks as well.<\/p>\n
Let me close with a beloved hymn of thanksgiving:
\n<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWe gather together to ask the Lord\u2019s blessing;
\nHe chastens and hastens His will to make known.
\nThe wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
\nSing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.<\/p>\n
Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
\nOrdaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
\nSo from the beginning the fight we were winning;
\nThou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!<\/p>\n
We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
\nAnd pray that Thou still our Defender will be.
\nLet Thy congregation escape tribulation;
\nThy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free! Amen<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u201cWe Gather Together,\u201d 16th<\/sup> century, English translation by Theodore Baker, public domain.<\/p>\nP.S. You can find more of my writings on Thanksgiving at this link: Thanksgiving: Not Just a Day But A Season<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Happy Thanksgiving! In today\u2019s post, I continue to reflect on some of the rewards of gratitude. During my sixteen years as pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church, one of my favorite events was our annual Thanksgiving Eve worship service. We gathered to sing songs of gratitude, to offer prayers of thanks, and to be reminded of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":4774,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16607],"tags":[17122,21655],"class_list":["post-4773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thanksgiving","tag-celebration","tag-thanksgiving"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>