Early Post of Weekly Once-Over (11.27.2013) - Have a save Thanksgiving

Thankful For The Gift or the Giver?: If the foundation of our thankfulness is that we get God, then you and I will give thanks always for everything, because we're always getting God. However, if the foundation of our thankfulness is the gift, and not the giver, then our gratitude will ebb and flow based on how much of our true treasure we are getting.

A Table Of Forgetful Remembrance: On some level, every gathering of family around a table is a shadow of this idea of remembrance, a time when we recall our collective history, making days like Thanksgiving ones we anticipate with a mix of joy and dread, depending on who will pull up a chair to the feast. Why? Because our collective history is often dotted with land mines—difficult personalities, past hurts, broken relationships.

Proud People Don't Give Thanks: Desiring God put together a 10 minute clip of a sermon by John Piper he did nearly 30 years ago. This is definitely worth listening to.

Giving Thanks In Hitler's Reich: The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them. The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever. 

The First Thanksgiving: McKenzie concludes with the observation that, unlike the Pilgrims, we are too comfortable in this world. American Christians today rarely hunger for heaven. The Pilgrims, despite any of their faults, help us remember that we must “set [our] minds on things above” (Col. 3:2) and “lay up treasures in heaven” (Matt. 6:20).

Sabbath Rest and the Moral Limits of Consumption: Each year it seems like the Christmas season starts a little earlier. I'm not talking about the four weeks of Advent or the Christmas season that begins on December 24. The church calendar and the liturgical year remain the same. It is, rather, the Christmas shopping season that seems to be pushed forward bit by bit with each passing year.

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"Since 1863, on the fourth Thursday of November, families and friends in the United States have gathered to commemorate an old tradition linked back to the early European settlers.

You know the story: The pilgrims and Native Americans came together for a happy feast to celebrate the harvest and forge new friendships. A few hundred years later, this event became a legislated holiday and got Norman Rockwelled into the fabric of American life. We call it Thanksgiving." - Jonathan Parnell

Hope and Desire

This time of year is always a joyous time to gather as family and eat a ton of food. And this year we want to give everyone practical helps to make this Thanksgiving enjoyable but also very fruitful and intentional. Below we linked a few blog posts that will be helpful for you this holiday season as you prepare for the madness. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Opportunities | Remembrances 

5 Simple Ways To Have A Missional Thanksgiving: These five things will help you and others understand what thanksgiving looks like. Doing the things on this list will lead you away from a me understanding and into a we understanding. How can I not just say thank you to God but learn to walk out that thankfulness in the everyday. The principles above in this blog post can start to be walked out in many ways that don't have to happen just at Thanksgiving.

Who Are You Inviting to Thanksgiving?: In order to fulfill the Great Commission, we need to know whom Jesus wants us to invite to our Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving on Mission: What if God had more for our kin this Thanksgiving than the Macy’s parade, tryptophan-induced naps, and NFL football? What if we saw our gatherings with extended family not as a chance to check out, but as an opportunity for Christian mission? 

TensionsHow to Deal with Holiday Family Tensions?: Here are a few quick thoughts on what followers of Jesus ought to remember, especially if you've got a difficult extended family situation.

Rethinking Thanksgiving: I’ve always thought of Thanksgiving as a day to count my blessings, to take an inventory (at least a partial one) of what I’m grateful for, to try not to take God’s providence for granted. This year I’m wondering if there’s a risk in blessing-counting, at least when those blessings are things...

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