From the Pastor’s Desk 

HOW BLESSED ARE YOU?

       “Count your many blessings, count them one by one, …. See what the Lord has done …” says the words of an old    Gospel Song.  Irving Berlin picked up the same theme when he said in a song from the movie “White Christmas”, “Count your blessings instead of sheep … and you’ll fall asleep, counting your blessings.”  We are blessed.  You know that.  We keep hearing about how bad things are economically, yet as I heard one person say, “As long as I still need to lose an extra twenty pounds, how bad off can I really be?”  Yes, we are blessed.

The month of November always creates thoughts about Thanksgiving; not just the holiday on the last Thursday, but on what the holiday is about.  We should be thankful to God.  God has blessed us.  How do thank God for those blessings?  First, by the life we live.  Our life is our “living sacrifice” (see Romans 12:1-2) to God that shows how thankful we really are. Second is by worshiping God.  We need to join together in the public worship of God.  We are fortunate in this parish to have two different opportunities each Sunday. It doesn’t do you any good, however, if you fail to take advantage of one of them.  Third, we give God part of our blessing back in offering.  Keeping what you have been blessed with away for the One who blessed you with it isn’t being very grateful.

First Christian Church has made Stewardship Education one of the priorities for this year.  All successful stewardship campaigns have to be based on the same idea:  If we are thankful to God for what God has done for us, then we need to show that in every way including our financial stewardship.  If there is one idea I want to lift up to you this Thanksgiving    season, it is that one.  If we are truly thankful (we are, aren’t we?) then we have to show it.  We have to live it.  We have to carry that idea of Thanksgiving from the table to the world through the ministry of the church.  Thanks giving requires both thanks and giving.  This is an excellent time to show God that we are truly thankful with how we live, worship, and give.  We have been blessed so much, how could we do otherwise?

See You in Church Sunday,

Pastor Sandy