November 2016 - Pastor Dan

 As a young child, I always looked forward to Thanksgiving. I knew our extended family would gather at one of the homes of an aunt or uncle, or even our home, and have a great meal and great time. I remember laughter and poker games much more than the occasional melt down of one of the cousins or myself. Oh yes, too much sugar!! But what I really liked about Thanksgiving was that at the end of the parade, the first sighting of Santa was on TV for all children to see. For me, this meant more parties, more fun, more sugar, more great food and great gatherings are just ahead. And no school.

 We do enter into a festive time of year as November is upon us. There's planning and purchasing, there's gatherings and stress and melt downs and joy and laughter and worry and a whole host of emotion and expectation. And there is added pressure to those of us who are to host gatherings and events celebrating the season. There seems to be a sense of relief and being set free when the gatherings we host go off well, or maybe not so well, but at least that's one less stresser in our life.

 Now-a-days I find myself being a pastor. There's more services to plan, there's more events that happen, there's more ways to contribute to the saints in need and there seems to be less time to get it all done. To be honest, some services go better than others from my standpoint. And some of the services in which I think things did not flow or come across as desired, someone will share how much the service touched them and how meaningful the service was. And it's at these moments I find myself truly thanking God Almighty.

 If you're like me, when the events and gatherings we plan go off well and people leave with smiles and joy in their hearts, we tend to initially pat ourselves on the back. We say things like, I'm so glad I thought of including the chocolate fountain with fruit and marshmallows. That was a hit for both young and old. Or, those new napkin rings really were the finishing touch on the table setting. When things go well, is our initial response a response of being proud? Or is our initial response one of gratitude and thankfulness? When things don't go well and yet people are touched, we can easily see Gods hands in the event. And when things unfold seamlessly and well I pray our eyes see Gods hand in that is well.

 November is a month in which our attention is drawn to giving thanks. May our hearts continue to be filled with gratitude and may our thanks and praise for the goodness of God abound with true worship and true joy. May you have a blessed Thanksgiving and may you continue to enjoy the Advent and Christmas season as God continues to be active in our lives and in our congregations.

In Christ's love and service,

Pastor Dan