In my time, it’s 9:50 Wednesday evening as I begin writing this. That is important to know, since the date stamp on here will probably read tomorrow.
I am very pleased that Thanksgiving is a Thursday holiday, because that puts it very conveniently after Wednesday … and thus my church’s Communion service. It works so well to have a worship service to begin Thanksgiving, and it helps to keep my head and heart where they belong. I spent today cleaning the refrigerator and kitchen, and did some baking. While some of it is preparatory for tomorrow (and some was that we had lasagna for dinner), it really wasn’t the kind of worship experience that I would like leading into Thanksgiving.
The fact that I live a life in which we can forget about food in the fridge should be a cause for thanks, and repentance that we take it for granted (and waste part of God’s provision). I have to admit, I wasn’t really there when I found the half of an onion that I’d left in a Tupperware container so long ago that it had turned into a semi-liquefied pink-brown bit of nastiness.
There are parts of the world in which people don’t forget about food that they have … And it’s wrong of me to take God’s provision so much for granted that I let food go to waste. But this is certainly not the point of this post.
I picked up my wife from work, and we went to the church. This is the beginning, and really the highlight, of Thanksgiving each year as I see it. Each year, we set up the worship center a bit differently for our Thanksgiving service. For tonight’s Wednesday night service, we have the chairs set facing the center of the room in a more or less circular fashion. We’re all facing each other. The worship team is smaller and acoustic, so that there is less to draw people to look in their direction. For the one evening, we actually point out that lyrics are projected on the back wall of the worship center, as well as the front. We want people together with each other, not all facing the front. (Of course, this means that a lot more people are noticing me than usual … I’m a projection tech who is usually safely invisible in the back of the worship center.)
My pastor has often said that Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday, and I’m inclined to agree with him. The meaning of Thanksgiving remains pretty clear through the years, and there are fewer commercial trappings. Thanksgiving hasn’t been corrupted by red-clad fat guys or bunnies. The references to “Turkey Day” and the emphasis on football are bothersome, I suppose, but generally most people get at least the basic concept of the holiday.
The Wednesday night worship service is always a wonderful experience, but it is especially so on the night before Thanksgiving. Tonight, we opened with the song “Offering” (written by Paul Baloche). We then read Hebrews 8:8-12 to help set up the reminder of the Covenant and the nature of the forgiveness that we’ve received.
We then sang “Lord Have Mercy” and “Draw Me Close,” two wonderful and inspiring songs that I find to be among the best worship songs.
After this, our pastor opened up the floor for the congregation to express thanks. This is a time when the church is supposed just to celebrate God’s love. There is much to celebrate, and here are a few examples:
- A team of short-term missions workers have returned from Uganda, where they’ve been working with Child Voice International. CVI is doing a lot of wonderful work for children there, trying to help them have normal lives now.
- One of our guys is finally about to wrap up college after seven years, which has been seven years of learning and exploring a great many things, beyond the basic academics.
- The father of the above has learned a lot about God’s provision over the last several years (partly related to paying for seven years worth of college, I suppose).
- A couple has set out to explore all 50 states and get to know the “real” America. They have so far gone out to 20 states, and have gotten to know the people and ministries in those states, seen the problems and struggles of real people living there, etc.. (They’re not going to the places suggested by the Tourist Bureau, obviously.) They’re seeing God at work in real lives, in real ways, and it’s very encouraging.
- One of our members is spending 8 years in prison for something he believes himself to be innocent of doing. He has already begun ministry work in prison, and his spirits are still high, six months in. (I know little of this story, so please don’t ask for details.)
- A woman whose leg was badly injured was shown tremendous love by the church, and especially her small group, as people kept providing meals for her family and helped do housework. (This is no small feat — they have 9 children.)
- A woman was thankful that her husband was baptized last weekend in a local pond … which, by the way, I have to commend. I know how cold it was last weekend. I really think that I would have gone with the baptismal pool inside.
… that’s only a sampling of the thanks people had for the outpouring of love we’ve seen this past year.
Our worship minister then led Communion itself. This, of course, is a wonderful time. And it’s particularly appropriate to be doing this at Thanksgiving, since there is nothing for which we should be more thankful than forgiveness and eternal life. Before inviting us up to receive the elements, he reminded us that Communion shouldn’t be somber, even though it’s intensely solemn. He followed that up with the reminder that we’re not isolated, even though it’s intensely personal.
After Communion, we closed the service with “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” the beautiful hymn by Isaac Watts.
Tomorrow will be my daughter’s first Thanksgiving. We will be with my parents for the traditional feasting … but that’s an afterthought, really, to my Thanksgiving. I was assembled with the family that’s closer than blood to celebrate that most important thing in the world — my salvation.
May your Thanksgiving be as wonderful and blessed as mine already is.
