• “ I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among the throngs I will praise you” (Ps 35:18).
• Join us tomorrow evening at 7:00, before the mayhem begins, and give thanks to God. When we stand and purposefully bind together God and the greatest gifts and joys in our lives, we not only offer him right praise, but we more fully understand his place as our redeemer and defender. We speak against the indifferent fatalism that rules the world, and for the one who works all things together for good for those who love him.
• These are truths we lose in the sheer busyness of life, in the relentless onslaught of challenges and woes, in the mad preparations for a huge meal and lots of company. Take an hour and come in out of the storm. Sing, pray, hear the word.
• A last thought. I’ve been reading the Didache, a late-first-century manual for young churches. Here is a line from one of the Didache’s Eucharist prayers: “Almighty Master, you have created everything for the sake of your name, and have given men food and drink to enjoy that they may thank you. But to us you have given spiritual food and drink and eternal life through Jesus, your child.” Using Peter’s phrase, all that we have “ for life and godliness” is given to us. The purpose? That we would give thanks or, to say it another way, to recognize that all of life is a manner of receiving the graciousness of God.