It is November! That means that the baseball season is all but wrapped up for the year, that football is well under way, hockey is really just getting started. And auto racing…well, it seems perpetual. Our gardens and lawns are ready for a long winter sleep, and we get ready for the winter we know is coming. November is also when we, as Americans, begin to turn our thoughts and our hearts toward the upcoming holidays, with perhaps the most American of holidays, Thanksgiving Day, starting that season.
As Americans we have so much to be thankful for. As Christians we truly have so much to be thankful for. And as a church, as the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in our community, we have so very much to be thankful for: we have opportunity for service. Showing the community the love of Jesus Christ is a privilege that every local body of believers has. Identifying needs in the community and filling those needs is a way to show that love. We have identified two needs that we will address beginning in the month of November, and the timing to introduce them at the start of the holiday season is right. Many people that have endured the pain of divorce or have lost a loved one often feel loneliness or pain during the holiday season. We will be offering help to those folks in the form of Divorce Care (meeting Sunday evenings from 6-8 beginning 11/7) and Grief Share (meeting Thursdays from 6:45-8:15 beginning 11/11). Both of these programs are designed to help people work through the various difficulties involved in overcoming loss. Having had personal experience with the Divorce Care program I can attest to the benefits of attending. Please pray that the Lord will direct those to us that can benefit from the sessions.
In addition, we are looking at making some physical changes to the building, some updates to the décor. Stay tuned for those improvements.
We, as a nation, have so much to be thankful for: the things we have, for the people in our lives, for where we live, for Black Friday sales (and recently for the fact that more stores are staying closed on Thanksgiving Day). And there is certainly nothing wrong with being thankful for any of those things (well, maybe not Black Friday sales…), as Americans and as Christians it is only right that we give thanks. But I am encouraging you to remember that our thankfulness, as well as our praise, belongs to God. In a Christian life well lived, every day is Thanksgiving Day. And every day is Christmas Day. And every day is Easter. Enjoy the holidays, and Happy Thanksgiving.