Cornerstone

Romans 1:21

We’re not very good at saying “Thank You,” are we?

We’re like the little boy….. On his return from a birthday party his mother queried, “Bobby, did you thank the lady for the party?”

“Well, I was going to,” he answered, “But a girl ahead of me said, ‘Thank You,’ and the lady told her not to mention it. So I didn’t.”

It is interesting to note that it wasn’t until we were at war, the Civil War to be exact, that our Thanksgiving holiday was officially recognized by Congress.

It had started in the small Plymouth Colony in 1621 when the English Pilgrims feasted with members of the Wampanoag Indians who brought gifts of food as a gesture of goodwill. The custom grew in various colonies as a means of celebrating the harvest.

In 1777, over 100 years later, the continental congress proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving after the American Revolution victory at the Battle of Saratoga.

But it was twelve years later that George Washington proclaimed another national day of thanksgiving in honor of the ratification of the Constitution and requested that the congress finally make it an annual event.

They declined! It would be another 100 years and the end of a bloody civil war before President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November -Thanksgiving. The year was 1865.

It might surprise you to learn that it took still another 40 years, the early 1900’s, before the tradition really caught on. For you see, Lincoln’s official Thanksgiving was sanctioned in order to bolster the Union’s morale.

Many Southerners saw the new holiday as an attempt to impose Northern customs on their conquered land. You might say that Thankfulness was “politically incorrect!”

It is sad when we consider that thanking God for His bountiful provision might be politically incorrect, inconvenient, or unnecessary. This was the sin of the people Paul discusses in Romans 1 where he said, 21 “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” (KJV)

I am grateful that Thanksgiving has become a national holiday that is celebrated by most. And yet even though we may be pleased at this advancement we must be careful to assure that the emphasis is on Thanksgiving and not on holiday. Our celebration and feasting could easily become an exercise in gluttony rather than gratitude.

Dr. Gayle Woods

Eccl. 1:1-11; Matt:28:18-20

Maintenance and mission are both necessary in order to minister effectively. When maintenance is emphasized while neglecting mission, it loses its purpose and becomes little more than a bore and a chore. When mission is emphasized at the expense of maintenance, its accomplishment is neutralized. Maintenance and mission are both necessary and important. Maintenance may not be very exciting, but it shows that we care. Mission is exciting but easily forgotten because of the sense of urgency that maintenance declares.

This is a tension that we experience in our calling. We have a mission to accomplish but in order to accomplish the mission we must maintain the vehicle and trappings necessary to accomplish the mission. Often our emphasis on one or the other gets out of balance and we are less effective in our work as a result.

If it seems that your ministry is ineffective you can still ignite a spark of renewed flame in your work. But to see this happen you must do some self-evaluation. How is the balance in your life AND work between maintenance and mission? Are you so caught up in the necessary things involved in your work that you have forgotten the purpose for it all? The proper balance can bring new life and new excitement to your work. You can come to the place where you can ‘t wait to get to the work because of what you are sure God is going to do through you.

Dr. Gayle Woods