Sunday, October 7, 2012

The Table of Thanksgiving!



I am an incredibly blessed dad to have two amazing daughters who love each other as you can clearly see!  



At Grace, we take time each month to reflect on our Lord’s death through the  “breaking of bread” which is familiar to those from a Brethren background.  In some other traditions, this time together is referred to as “communion” or the “Lord’s Table”  and if you are from a more liturgical background, this table is called “Eucharist”   and that referring to the very presence of the LORD

Everyday we are called to follow Christ to the table of “eucharisteo” meaning to show gratitude, to feel grateful and give thanks.

Pride slays thanksgiving.  A proud man is seldom a thankful man for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.  Henry Ward Beecher.

Psalm 136:3-7
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods.
His faithful love endures forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords.
His faithful love endures forever.
4 Give thanks to him who alone does mighty miracles.
His faithful love endures forever.
5 Give thanks to him who made the heavens so skillfully.
His faithful love endures forever.


Giving thanks is at the very core of Christianity.  “The  foremost quality of a trusting disciple is gratefulness” Brennan Manning
It is in giving thanks that we are led to completely trust and believe.   All gratitude and remembrance in everyday life and moments that God gives us is an accepting of His will, His goodness and His faithfulness.  It is in the remembering of His death that we are brought low and He is raised on high!

Philippians 2: 8  he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Dying to self demands that I might gratefully receive what is better.  To follow Christ to the table of thanksgiving is to come to to the table of surrender.  It is here that I learn that I am not self-made, it is here that I learn humility, it is here that I stop trying to earn my own way and receive forgiveness.

No words can describe the depth of this necessity to surrender our created wills to the divine will of the Creator. Where, where can we obtain the courage we need to make this self-surrender? Where, except from the God who died on the Cross for our salvation  John Hardon

I think of the end of His earthly life.  Jesus Himself bends the knee in a garden and weeps His own song: “Father, if you are willing; take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”  Luke 22:42  He opens wide His mouth and accepts: He will drink this cup of suffering too.  Why?  For the greater joy.  Joy now, joy forever.  Conceived in grateful humility.    Ann Voskamp in “One Thousand Gifts”

I want to challenge you with journaling 10 to the LORD that you can feel gratitude for today!

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