Join us tonight at 7p for worship and corporate thanksgiving: “in the midst of the congregation I will praise you” (Ps. 22:22). We’ll look briefly at Habakkuk’s trajectory from complaint to thanksgiving in just three short chapters — a trajectory that could be life-changing for many of us. Thankfulness is rare. Let’s make it common.
I’ve been meaning (and failing) to announce more of Ross’s performances in the Seattle area — but here’s one: on Dec. 20 & 21 (Friday & Saturday) Ross will be a featured soloist in “Festive Cantatas – Christmas in Gabrieli’s Venice,” part of the Northwest Baroque Masterworks International Series (more info here). All our musicians are a gift to us; take a moment in Advent (usually a heavier workload) to thank them for their ministry to the Lord and to us.
Finally, this season is good for me. I tend to approach life in terms of problems to be solved and tasks undone. I have little natural inclination toward thanksgiving. Paul’s “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess 5:18) has never really been inherently compelling to me. I resonate more with “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Php 3:14). In fact, that entire chapter is what resonates with me. Yet when I do stop and reflect on what I have to be thankful for, as tonight will make me do, I find it’s a relief and a joy to discover how good my life is and how beyond expectation Lisa and I have been cared for by the Lord. This, in turn, opens my heart to God in a sort of marveling at what he as done for us. And there is a peace that comes — a peace born of seeing that all our needs and wants have been extravagantly supplied, despite our not striving after them. Then it becomes increasingly easier to say, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his steadfast love endures forever” (Ps 136:1). Join us tonight and praise him in the midst of the congregation.