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Thursday, November 25, 2010 Thanksgiving Day Our local community paper places a Thanksgiving proclamation on their front page each year. Listen to this message on your audio player. (Our responsive reading includes our guests for our Thanksgiving meal.) "A Thankful Heart"
"I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders" (Psalm 9:1). Today's message will be a bit different. It's
Thanksgiving Day here in the USA, a national holiday and a great day to
especially give thanks to the Lord and gather with family and friends.
Today we will be spending the day here at our home in Lancaster County enjoying a bountiful meal with family and friends. Ester's boyfriend, Tim, is with us and our friends, Ken and Nila Pierce and their two young sons David and Seth will join us for our meal. Later we have welcomed several more friends to join us for dessert. Our table is all set and ready to go. Around 3:00 PM it will be loaded with food and surrounded with people. Some of our international readers may wonder what a typical Thanksgiving meal looks like. Here's Brooksyne's menu for today's meal: Turkey, Stuffing (or dressing), Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potato Casserole, Corn, Croissants with butter and choice of homemade cherry or rhubarb jam. Our cold beverage is zesty rhubarb punch. For dessert: cherry pie with ice cream, pumpkin pie with whipped topping, and pecan pie along with a hot steaming cup of fresh ground coffee. We are genuinely blessed and give thanks for God's provisions. Brooksyne and I give thanks for all our readers (and podcast listeners) and hope our American readers will have a blessed Thanksgiving Day, especially focusing our thanks toward God, which was the original intent for the day when it was a solemn day for the Pilgrims along with Indians in the fall of 1621. Today we want to share a Scripture reading from Psalm 136 that is very suitable for responsive reading, even for those with very young children who can simply respond, "His love endures forever." Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good.
His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever. To Him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever. Who by His understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever. Who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever. Who made the great lights— His love endures forever. The sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. The moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever. To the One who remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever. And freed us from our enemies, His love endures forever. And who gives food to every creature. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever. Be encouraged today and give thanks to God with all your heart! Stephen & Brooksyne Weber A Thanksgiving Prayer: In thanksgiving we lift our voices of praise from grateful hearts, Father, as we sing songs of praise and adoration to You, our blessed King. Whether in seasons of prosperity or in seasons of want we find Your grace sufficient to meet each one of our needs. You guide us, protect us, and You provide for us as we journey here below. Every good and perfect gift comes from Your Hand. Thank You, faithful Father! Amen. Today's
Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources Click on the link to open and play. (In some cases you may also need to click again to start the song.) Special Thanksgiving Resources We want to offer these ideas to families and church leaders to enrich the spiritual impact of the Thanksgiving holiday. (We will post these resources through Thanksgiving.) "Thankful For The Thorns": A family reading and exercise that is a wonderful way to give a thoughtful focus around your Thanksgiving Table (printable webpage) The Thanksgiving celebration includes family coming together along with the turkey and trimmings. Often there's a lot of food with little meaningful conversation. Why not add some stimulating discussion about the ways God has worked in your life over the past year! Some of you are not in charge and are only visitors at your Thanksgiving gathering, but if it is possible share together around the table the theme of "Thankful for the Thorns" or the questionnaire we've provided in this link "A Thanksgiving family exercise" (pdf). We have used this questionnaire as a stimulus for discussion among family members in the past in our home. We encourage you to share results around the table at Thanksgiving before or after the meal. A Thanksgiving prayer: (written by Joe Sherer, a pastor friend of ours and shared as the benediction at our community Thanksgiving Eve service several years ago.) Webpage For those who enjoy written prayers this would be a beautiful prayer to read together at the Thanksgiving table. A Thanksgiving Scripture reading: A selection of Old and New Testament readings dealing with thankfulness appropriate for church, family and personal readings. (pdf) (Suitable for printing out and copying.) The Pilgrims Come to the New World: Webpage A Day of Rest in Plimouth Colony: This is a summary of a chapter in the lives of the pilgrims that Brooksyne uses to teach about their Sunday worship. (pdf) Note: Although we spell it Plymouth today the old spelling was Plimouth. "Hymns of Hope" Brooksyne has compiled eleven hymns that deal with the recurring theme of loss and ongoing trial and titled it "Hymns of Hope" based on Romans 12:12, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer." Amber Martin plays the hymns on the keyboard and Lauren Gingrich accompanies her on six of the hymns with the viola. Tracks 12-22 play each hymn softly in the background while Brooksyne shares a personal devotional thought, the biographical setting of the hymn text, and an intercessory prayer. We recorded this in the very modest and limited computerized recording studio of Daily Encouragement so that we could make this ministry project available to all who are in need of such encouragement. Thus we realize the audio quality is not what most are accustomed to. You can go to this site to listen to the songs. You can download one song at a time if you find this to be of special blessing or know someone whose spirit might be lifted by listening to these meditative hymns. "ThanksLiving" Bob Southard, a friend of ours shares a weekly online sermon. Here's a pdf version of his thanksgiving sermon. Resources used in Brooksyne's research on the Pilgrims: Saints & Strangers By Vision Video Three Young Pilgrims By Cheryl Harness / Simon & Schuster Permissions:
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references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version.
© 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD
BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation,
New King James
Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the
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Mission Statement:
"I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ
I have been redeemed and I make it my life's goal to please the Lord.
My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and
to prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."
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Stephen C. Weber - All Rights Reserved
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