Abounding in Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday, and this becomes quite apparent when you live in a foreign land. While I am thrilled to know that we as Americans hold fast to this tradition, I am not sure we fully understand it. It is definitely a time for families to come together, and that is a rarity in far too many homes. It is also a time for remembering all of the blessings that God has given us as a nation, as families and as individuals. But, was that the original idea behind a day of Thanksgiving? Or are we missing something?

Bear with me a moment while I meander to my point. During December 1777, approximately 12,000 soldiers of the Army of the United States were moving onto Valley Forge. While some early triumphs were achieved against the British a year earlier, the past year had seen little success. In fact, one would have to say that the revolutionary forces were clearly losing. The capital had been lost, and Congress was now operating from the outskirts of Pennsylvania. Some even wanted to replace General Washington. Any hope of victory would seem just that, a mere hope. Soldiers were not being paid due to a lack of funds from Congress, and inflation was so bad that soldiers wanted to be paid in British pounds. While most did not have usable clothes, possibly only a third had shoes and when on guard duty, they would stand in their hats in order to protect their feet from the frozen ground.

Wait, it gets worse. General Washington was having to apologize to the citizens of the fledgling nation for literally stealing clothing for his troops. He was unable to properly feed them (hunger had become the norm) and informed them that the plan for surviving the winter was for the soldiers themselves to build shelters of wood and clay. The wood they would have to chop themselves and the clay they would have to make from the frozen ground. This would take at least six weeks. For the soldiers, the prospect was to survive the winter only to be defeated by the waiting British Forces in the spring. I could go into more detail, but know this, things were bad.

On the 18th of December, Congress called for a day of Thanksgiving and Prayer. Think about that for a moment. Amid all of this suffering and failure and gloom ... amid the hunger, sickness and cold ... General Washington tells his troops to stop working and to march to the appropriate locations to give thanks to God.
Do you think they were thanking God for the special blessings they were enjoying? Were they thanking God for the bounty they were about to devour? That is hard to imagine, isn’t it?

But they did give thanks. They gave thanks for what they had to be thankful for. They gave thanks that God was God. That He is the Creator of all things. That He created us and allowed us to know Him. I am sure each of them had their own personal things to thank God for. I am also sure that few were thanking Him for the food and the weather.

I am not telling my children to not be thankful for how God has blessed us. We have a wonderful home, and we will enjoy a fabulous Thanksgiving meal. We have amazing friends and family, and we are blessed with good health and an amazing adventure of a life. We most certainly ought to give thanks for the blessings He has given us. All blessings come from Him. Our nation was right to declare an official day for Thanksgiving in order to acknowledge what we have been given. But our Thanksgiving needs to go beyond this. It needs to recognize that even if all of this were stripped away, we are still called to come to Him with Thanksgiving and praise. We need to remember that long before Abraham Lincoln declared this a national holiday and long before the Continental Congress declared a day of thanksgiving, God had declared everyday to be a day of thanksgiving. It is all over the Bible, but I love the way it is presented in Colossians

“…rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” (Col. 2:6-8)

“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.” (Col. 3:15)

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts….abounding in thanksgiving.

If that is the way we can truly approach Thanksgiving, then this will be a wonderful Holy-Day indeed.

Reformation Day/All Saints Day 2011

October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church at Wittenberg. The things he wrote were not all new ideas, but they would go a long way toward influencing the growth of the Church for the next 500 years. The Germans of Wittenberg will proudly tell you that the reformation began here on this very spot. The Germans of Catholic Bavaria would rather not talk about him at all. In Switzerland, one is reminded that the reformation began in earnest in Geneva at the hands of Jean Calvin and Ulrich Zwinglii. A case can be made that the reformation of the 16th century began in the thoughts and ideas of previous centuries, written and argued by such men as John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, and even Augustine. But it is difficult to deny the significance of what happened in Wittenberg.

This October 31 we found ourselves in Germany and figured there was no better day to make our long anticipated journey to Wittenberg – to visit the location where Luther taught, preached, presented the 95 Theses, ranted against the selling of indulgences, and generally confronted Rome in every way. This is where Luther happened. It is the place that I have longed to visit since I first heard the story of what he did here. That desire only increased when we found out we were moving to Germany.

Every year when I delivered this particular lecture to my students, I felt myself getting caught up in the emotion of what happened at Worms when Luther confesses, “Here I stand, I can do no other.” Of course, it wasn’t the proud, boastful words many would imagine. It was defeated words of a man enslaved to the truth. Knowing the consequence of his admission, he confessed (after asking for and being granted more time to consider his answer) that he believed the Bible to say these things, and that unless he could be persuaded by use of the Scriptures, he could not recant. Later in his life pride may have been an issue, but I don’t think so here. Here, in this moment, one sees a man who has succumbed to the conviction of the inerrancy of God’s Word. He believed what he read. As Abraham believed God. And Joseph. And Paul. And John. And Polycarp. Hudson Taylor. Jonathon Edwards. And so many others. We would be remiss to not set aside a time to remember them.

But, the reformation of the 16th century was not the reformation at all. It was a reformation. It was a further reformation of the one that began two thousand years ago when Christ began reforming the world to make it new again. That was and is the Reformation. And the Reformation Day that we celebrate, appropriately, on the Eve of All Saints Day is a reminder of all those who have gone before us to boldly and faithfully proclaim the truth of God before us. All of those who have labored in the service of God, both before and since the beginning of the great reformation. A reminder that the labor continues.

This is why Reformation Day and All Saints Day fit perfectly together. This is why we celebrate with a bigger Sabbath feast than normal. This is why our children write papers on past Saints that we share as part of our festivities. It is a reminder of the story that God is telling and the characters that He uses. Fittingly, this feast happens in the Fall … when summer is dying. The reminder that death comes in order that the world may be reformed. That soon all things will be made new, but for now we must die.

I love being able to discuss these stories with my children. I love that they were thrilled to make the long drive to Wittenberg. The annual festival in Wittenberg seems to have lost the focus on scripture over the past five centuries, but my children still enjoyed the medieval costumes and performers. Maybe some day my children will tell their children what it was like to visit Wittenberg on Reformation Day. Maybe my grandchildren will look to the end of October not as a time to dress up and ask for candy, but as that time when the holiday feasting begins. A celebration of God’s story. A reminder that Christ’s final victory is over death itself.

 

Eating, Drinking and Whatsoever

Happy Holy-Days to you! Not the usual spelling and for a reason.  I love the holiday season, and I know that the word “holidays” is usually relegated to the Christmas season (which seems to begin earlier and earlier for the retail market).  I say we take our word back in its original form. The Old Testament is very particular about the feasts that those who are of the family of God are to remember and teach to their children.  Historically, the Christian church has recognized the Advent-Christmas and Lent-Easter periods with other days receiving more and less attention during different periods.  New days have been added, and some are being recovered.  Always, this is to be done to remember, not just the celebration, but the reason we celebrate.

“And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make greatmirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.” ―Nehemiah 8:12

For our family, the holiday season begins the end of October with Reformation Day on October 31^st and All Saints Day November 1^st.  Then, of course, we celebrate Thanksgiving in late November followed by the four Sundays of Advent leading up to Christmas Day.  As our family has grown, literally and figuratively, I have tried to make these holidays and this holiday season an increasingly more meaningful part of our family traditions.

 

“There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor.  This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.” ―Ecclesiastes 2:24

Obviously, our culture already makes Christmas and Thanksgiving a big deal, and Halloween is becoming bigger and bigger each year.  Yet, I wanted our holidays to be special for reasons other than the popular commercial motivations that seem to surround the public celebrations.  I want to be sure that our holidays remain Holy in the hearts of our children.

Thankfully, we are beginning to see success even as each year seems to bring something different.  Establishing traditions can be a challenge when you find yourself in a different location every few years.  This year's season is our first in Germany. Last Christmas we spent sojourning through Kansas City; in 2009, I was in Iraq; and in 2008, we were together in Hawaii.  All the transition can make establishing traditions a challenge, but it also allows for the possibility to introduce new traditions and find new ways to focus on the real meaning of each holiday.  We are doing our best.

“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” –1 Corinthians 10:31

We will be eating, drinking and whatsoever with healthy abandon.  I pray that we do it all to the Glory of God!

Remember How Your Hair Always Looked Good the Day BEFORE School Pictures...

Or maybe you had a sibling who crashed his bike and came home with stitches and a big bandage on his chin?  Just a few more reasons to be thankful that we are a "homeschool family" ... snap-snap.  (Are you humming the Adams Family tune while thinking of the lyrics by Tim Hawkins?)  Moving on.

Although we have been somewhat tardy in setting a date on our school calendar for pictures, we have been quite diligent in all other areas of our schooling.  The elder two have thoroughly enjoyed the instructors and the challenges of their online classrooms and are learning to budget their study time in order to satisfy more than one very patient and understanding teacher!  Abigail is looking forward to that specific challenge but satisfies herself at the present time with trying to introduce a new subject or two into her curriculum, wincing when she hears the condition, "IF you finish your other assignments, then we will begin _________."  And then there is Bear.  He is an eager student and always wants to know "When are you teaching me?"  He loves to sing the Alphabet Chase song, read books, memorize his Cubbie verses, play the matching game, and draw with big sister on the days that he isn't "doing music" with his other two (older) siblings.  Belle simply takes it all in with a big grin.

During last weekend, our school photographer had an extra day or two off from his real job, and so we were able to schedule individual photo ops.  Only two students needed to take advantage of the "re-take" day!  We hope you enjoy.