We Gather Together

I love worshipping and sitting under the teaching of the Word with my church family each week.  As I consider Thanksgiving blessings this year, my heart is quick to thank God for the church family with whom we get to share life.  While I love loving them, serving with them, and doing life with them througout the ordinary days, there is something extra sweet when we all gather together at our annual Thanksgiving service.

Everyone from the youngest babies and toddlers to the stooped over grandmas and grandpas gather together in our sanctuary.  Our pastor usually begins by reading William Bradford's Thanksgiving proclamation of 1623---I love that part.  Microphones line the aisles.  And then our church family is invited to give testimony as to how God has worked over the past year.  One after another, our brothers and sisters approach the mikes.  It is a precious, tear-stained time of rejoicing and thanksgiving. 

There is beauty in the little ones---and the big ones, too---hearing the stories of the gray haired lady who has walked with Jesus for many, many years.  There is richness as they hear those older than them point to the Giver and recount how God has been actively working in their lives.  All these testimonies give our kids---and us---a picture of what God is like.  We hear how He's supplied real needs and sustained through real trials.  We hear the absolute joy and overwhelming thankfulness in knowing and walking with Jesus.  It strengthens our faith and pours hope and courage into our hearts.

It's a poignant, beautiful reminder of Psalm 78:4...

"We will not hide them from their children,

but tell to the coming generation

the glorious deeds of the Lord, and His might,

and the wonders that He has done."