Articles for tag: Thanksgiving

November 24, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

Not the Gift, but the Giver

By Mark A. Taylor As American Christians celebrate Thanksgiving Day, there’s a good chance we may miss the greatest value in saying thanks. Typically, our lists of “reasons I’m thankful” include relationships or opportunities or experiences or possessions. All these are appropriate, but listing what we have unfortunately often only prompts us to remember what we lack. “¢ We probably start our thanksgiving inventory with “family.” But quickly most of us also think of arguments, misunderstandings, or more serious breaches that are part of most family histories. “¢ We might be thankful for our ministries. But many church leaders privately

November 3, 2016

Michael C. Mack

November/December Ministry Ideas: Giving Tuesday

By Michael C. Mack You know about Thanksgiving and the special shopping days that have become associated with it, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Now you can add another special day the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (November 29, 2016), a global day dedicated to giving back called Giving Tuesday. “It”™s a simple idea,” says the holiday”™s official website, www.givingtuesday.org. “Whether you come together with your family, your community, your company or your organization, find a way to give back.” Giving Tuesday was created in 2012 by 92nd Street Y (www.92y.org) in partnership with the United Nations Foundation and has engaged more

October 28, 2016

Christian Standard

And When He Had Given Thanks

By Ron Davis One of the curious elements of the Passover Jesus shared with his apostles in the upper room, as recorded in Luke 22:14-20, is the comment, “he gave thanks.” Thanks? For what exactly? Jesus is hours away from being arrested, cruelly abused, and murdered in humiliation. And he knows it full well. Thanks! For what? For the material elements themselves? A simple “loaf” of unleavened bread, the commonest of food, better suited to fill a stomach than to nourish. The drinkable juice of a plant that grew clusters so large and plentiful and of which some shriveled on

September 9, 2016

Christian Standard

The Vertical and the Horizontal

By C. Robert Wetzel There is both a vertical and a horizontal dimension to the Lord Supper. In a spiritual sense, we are looking up as we once again focus our thoughts on the gift of God in the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we eat the bread we remember his words, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24). And as we drink from the cup we hear his words, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it in remembrance

September 2, 2016

Christian Standard

Wordless Groans at the Lord”s Table

By C. Robert Wetzel “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26). We often find our congregations preparing for the Lord”s Supper with an appropriate Communion hymn followed by a meditation that helps us focus on the meaning of this sacred event. This is followed by what some call the “words of institution,” such as the words of the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. The presiding elder then offers a prayer of blessing over the bread and cup. As we partake, we focus our thoughts

May 20, 2016

Christian Standard

Celebrity Doubles

By Tom Lawson During the 1930s a hopeful contender in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest in San Francisco was disappointed when he did not even make the finals. The contestant was, of course, none other than the real Charlie Chaplin. Today, an entire industry of celebrity doubles has arisen. Want Arnold Schwarzenegger at your 5-year-old”s birthday party? No problem. Want Barack Obama to speak at the church”s annual Thanksgiving dinner? No problem. Among the billions of human beings on earth, some clearly bear striking similarities to others. In European folklore this may be behind the myth of the doppelganger­””a person”s

May 2, 2016

Christian Standard

Lesson for May 8, 2016: Grateful Faith (Luke 17:11-19)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri, and has held preaching ministries in Missouri, Illinois, and Colorado. This lesson treatment is published in the May 1 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  Gratitude should be our default setting (Psalm 107:1; 118:1). Gratitude is God”s will (1 Thessalonians 5:18). We were made to be grateful, and it should be as natural as breathing. Not to give thanks is duplicitous. Ingratitude is high treason against God and a mark of

March 18, 2016

Christian Standard

Whose Supper Is It?

By J. Michael Shannon In 1 Corinthians 11:17-26, Paul describes the proper attitude to exhibit around the Lord”s table. His admonition is to the church at Corinth, a congregation that desperately needs this message. That church has many problems, more so than most any congregation we might attend today. One of the more serious problems is that it fails to take the Lord”s Supper seriously. Here is a church where the rich will not wait for the poor to arrive for the supper and eat all the food before the actual celebration of the emblems. This is a church where

March 4, 2016

Christian Standard

What Are You Waiting For?

By Jennifer Johnson As you read this it”s March, but I”m writing it in December. The lead times for print mean I”m usually penning reflections for an issue months before it goes to press, so although you are currently preoccupied with final preparations for Easter, I am in the middle of Advent. I have a love/hate relationship with this part of the church calendar. Christmas is my favorite time of year, but that”s because most of us jump right to the celebrating. Music, lights, special events, too much special food””we go right from Thanksgiving to Emmanuel. But Advent reminds us

March 4, 2016

Christian Standard

The Cup

By J. Michael Shannon The Christian world has long been fascinated with the cup of the Last Supper. One legend says that Joseph of Arimathea took the cup to England. There, it seems to have gotten mixed up with grail legends and become a part of the King Arthur stories. Dozens of churches claim to have the cup. A seventh-century legend says the cup was at one time in a church in Jerusalem. It was described as a two-handled silver chalice. In Genoa, Italy, there is a hexagon-shaped cup made from green glass that some thought was an emerald. In

January 15, 2016

Christian Standard

Let Us Celebrate

By Rick Chromey Every culture has holidays, but few sanctify more special days than Americans. Perhaps it”s because we embrace our past as good and godly. Perhaps it”s because we hunger for any reason to party or get a day off. Or perhaps it”s because we need another special day to capitalize on our consumerism. Regardless of the reason, Americans celebrate famous people like Martin Luther King Jr., St. Patrick, and Columbus. We memorialize Mondays into three-day weekends to rest from our labor. We throw parties on July 4, October 31, and December 31. We love to give thanks around

November 24, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Why Weren”t They More Thankful? (Part 2)

By Mark A. Taylor As we bustle through Thanksgiving with our eyes on Christmas, many of us Americans are counting the cost of our Christmas gift-giving. “Please bring a $25 item for the gift exchange.” “How much does your brother spend on us for Christmas?” “What will we give Sue and Bill? I can”t remember what they gave us last year.” The thread through most of this is a concern to “stay even,” a compulsion coming largely from pride (we don”t want to be seen as cheap) and selfishness (we have our own expenses, after all; we can”t let this

November 17, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Why Weren”t They More Thankful? (Part 1)

By Mark A. Taylor I love the family times, the meal times, the kick-off-the-holiday-season times that usually surround Thanksgiving Day. But every year as the holiday approaches, I”m tempted to wonder if we should change its name. Considering how most Americans actually celebrate, maybe we should call it Have a Crowd for Dinner Day or Shop Early for Big Savings Day or Watch Some Football Day. Don”t misunderstand. I don”t mean to be a grump. As I said, I”m grateful to have the day off and to spend it with people close to me. But I am a bit chagrined

November 14, 2015

Michael C. Mack

Thanksgiving Discussion Starters

By Michael C. Mack As Thanksgiving approaches and on the day itself, people will naturally be thinking about thankfulness. Pray for people you will see throughout the week. As you talk with friends, coworkers, or neighbors, or as you get together with family, watch for natural opportunities to ask these simple questions: “¢ What are you most thankful for? “¢ Whom are you most thankful for? “¢ When do you tend to be the most thankful for what you have? “¢ Other than at Thanksgiving, do you think you are generally a thankful person? Why or why not? Next, be

November 7, 2015

Michael C. Mack

November Ministry Ideas

By Michael C. Mack November 21: National Adoption Day. Held the Saturday before Thanksgiving in all 50 states. On this day a number of courts and communities work together to finalize the adoptions of thousands of children in foster care. Ideas: Work with agencies in your community to support adoptions. Plan with adoptive parents in your church to advocate for adoption in your community. Plan your weekend services around adoption, inviting adoptive families from the community. Speak about God adopting Christians as his children (Romans 8:15, 23; Galatians 4:5) in your sermon or Sunday school lessons. November 27: Black Friday.

November 6, 2015

Christian Standard

The Cup of Thanksgiving

By Victor Knowles “Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf”Â (1 Corinthians 10:16, 17). If there is ever a time to be truly thankful, it is when we gather around the Lord”s table to remember Jesus Christ. Our Savior instituted the Lord”s Supper during the Passover meal. The third cup in the meal was called “the

July 31, 2015

Christian Standard

City Communion

By Daniel Schantz “I . . . am like a sparrow alone on a housetop” (Psalm 102:7). The city can be a lonely place, and on this Sunday morning you are utterly solo. Your husband is on the road, and the kids are at grandma”s house. You are a worship widow. You take a seat near the front of the auditorium, looking around to see if there is a familiar face, but you recognize no one. The lights in the auditorium dim, and the video screen flashes to life with lovely nature scenes””a yellow field of wheat against a blue

February 20, 2015

Christian Standard

The Cup of Blessing

By C. Robert Wetzel “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16, King James Version). There are so many rich meanings and experiences in the Lord”s Supper! When the apostle Paul spoke of the “cup of blessing” he used a term that had a special meaning for those who understood Jewish dinner tradition. At the end of a Jewish meal the most honored guest at the table took the cup, lifted it up, and said the benediction. Today when we talk of the benediction we probably think of

December 23, 2014

Mark A. Taylor

A Promise for More Than the Shepherds

By Mark A. Taylor It was a golden moment. We were touring the magnificent Christmas displays at Longwood Gardens, a 1,000-plus-acre delight not far from Philadelphia in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Tucked in one corner of the Gardens” many-roomed, 4.5-acre conservatory is a majestic 10,010 pipe organ, a centerpiece for hourly Christmas carol sing-alongs throughout the day we were there. In spite of the instrument”s ability to fill the room with its own volume (and rumbling bass notes we could feel as well as hear), voices soared and surrounded us as we sang the carols together. And one of them””certainly not

December 8, 2014

Christian Standard

Lesson for December 14, 2014: Make a Joyful Noise (Psalm 95)

This treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson is written by Sam E. Stone, former editor of CHRISTIAN STANDARD. It is published in the December 7 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Sam E. Stone  Psalm 95 begins with a call to sing praises to the Lord. The invitation to come is found three times in today”s text. The messianic implication in these verses is confirmed by the usage of this psalm in the New Testament. It is quoted in Hebrews 3 and 4, where it is attributed to David. Leslie S. M”Caw observed, “The anthem

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