The Christian life is a song of thanksgiving, a glad and joyous hymn of praise to God. "Be thankful," Paul admonished the believers at Colossae. "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you," he counseled the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 5:18). In his Letter to the Ephesians, he told his readers to "be filled with the (Holy) Spirit" (Eph. 5:18). Then he proceeded at once to indicate that a prominent mark of the Spirit-filled life is thanksgiving "always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father" (Eph. 5:20). We are called in to life of gratitude and Thankfulness. .
The psalmist, invites, "O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise!" (Psalm 95:1-2). And again, "Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name!" (Psa. 100:4). Psalm 150, the grand finale of the Psalter, is composed entirely of a chain of 13 commands to praise the Lord. It closes with a call to all living creatures to join together in a swelling chorus of praise to Him. "Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!" (Psalm 150:6).
After Jesus cleansed ten of their leprosy, only one came back to say thanks. "Where are the nine?" Jesus asked, when only one of the healed, a despised Samaritan, returned to express his gratitude. "Was no one found to return and give thanks except this foreigner?" (Lk. 17:17-18). That note of disappointment at human ingratitude is as much a revelation of the Father's heart as anything our Lord ever said or did.
God looks for and delights in the thanksgiving of His grateful people. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits" (Psalm 103:2). What a mighty impulse to thankfulness lies in those three words of the psalmist: "all his benefits"! As the English poet Joseph Addison put it:
"Ten thousand thousand precious gifts
My daily thanks employ."
In his classic Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe, a devout Christian, put these words into the mouth of his hero, "All our discontents spring from the want to thankfulness for what we have."
Fanny Crosby, writer of many popular gospel songs, was stricken with blindness at six weeks of age. When she was just a child of 8, she wrote these lines:
"Oh what a happy soul am I!
Although I cannot see,
I am resolved that in this world
Contented I will be;
How many blessings I enjoy
That others people don't!
To weep and sigh because I'm blind,
I cannot, and I won't."
Union Center UMC Saturday Evening Worship Service
Location: First United Methodist Church, 53 McKinley Avenue, Endicott, NY
Sponsored by: Union Center UMC
Date: Saturday, November 27, 2011
Time: 6:00 Coffee – Fellowship
6:30 pm Worship Service
Music: Laureen Naik
Speaker: Rev. Brown Naik
Come! Share! Rejoice!
Location: First United Methodist Church, 53 McKinley Avenue, Endicott, NY
Sponsored by: Union Center UMC
Date: Saturday, November 27, 2011
Time: 6:00 Coffee – Fellowship
6:30 pm Worship Service
Music: Laureen Naik
Speaker: Rev. Brown Naik
Come! Share! Rejoice!
The St. Petersburg (Russian) Men's Ensemble will be in concert onSaturday, December 3, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Location: First United Methodist Church,53 McKinley Avenue, Endicott, NY
Sponsored by the Union Center UMC
128 Maple Drive, Endicott, NY
More Information available at (607) 748-6329
Location: First United Methodist Church,53 McKinley Avenue, Endicott, NY
Sponsored by the Union Center UMC
128 Maple Drive, Endicott, NY
More Information available at (607) 748-6329
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