Pastor's Desk November 2018
“…be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(Ephesians 5: 18-20 NIV).
The month of November has many significant events. The church celebrates Fall and Christmas although one is passing, and one is not yet here. There is Operation Christmas Child, Thornwell Home for Children, and Advent. Nationally we vote in November and recognize Veteran’s Day. But November for me is and has always been about Thanksgiving. And Thanksgiving is about gatherings.
As we give thanks we give thanks for blessings, for family, and for friends. While we can do these alone we really shouldn’t. We were created for community. God saw that Adam didn’t need to be alone and brought him a companion in Eve. Our destiny is to once again be with God and the faithful of all time in an eternal gathering of community. We are meant to be a community of the thankful.
While things may not be as we want them to be they are as they should be. Our God is in control so as we gather let us give thanks to him. Let us do so, as Paul writes in Ephesians above, with good thoughts and good things. We focus on food at thanksgiving and that is certainly a good thing. But let us also be positive and uplifting. Let us avoid conflict and dissension as we gather remembering all that we have to be thankful for.
In our community this year we will be observing an event that was in place when I first arrived here. On Sunday, November 18th at 7:00 PM we will gather at the Loris First United Methodist Church to give thanks together. We will sing and lift one another up as we begin the week of Thanksgiving together. I pray that you will attend this gathering and that your thanksgiving will be richer and fuller than ever before.
Remember why you are thankful this year. Abraham Lincoln wrote a Thanksgiving Proclamation for our country in the midst of a deeply divisive Civil War. While he could have used the proclamation for political purposes or to attack his enemies, Lincoln saw an opportunity to be thankful to almighty God. I leave you with the first sentence of Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation dated October 3, 1863:
The year that is drawing towards its close,
has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies.
To these bounties,
which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come,
others have been added,
which are of so extraordinary a nature,
that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible
to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.
Let us all be changed, reminded, revived, and energized by our thanksgiving gatherings this year.
Have a great November and Happy Thanksgiving,
Pastor Tim
From the Pastor's Desk 2018
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From the Pastor's 2017
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