From the Study...

Dear Friends,

Each Wednesday we gather the kids of the Child Development Center together in the sanctuary at 10:00 AM for Chapel. We sing songs, recite the books of the New Testament adding one book each week, and then we pray. My part of the prayer is very short. The kids do most of the praying, and they pray a very specific kind of prayer. They pray prayers of thanksgiving, and there is a specific method to their thanksgiving prayers. The first thing I do is ask them what they want to thank God for, and the room breaks out in a loud chatter as all the kids tell what they are thankful for … all at once. After that we begin our prayer by asking God to listen as these children give God thanks for the things most important to them. Then I stop talking as the children begin talking to God and name all the things they are thankful for. This can go on for a little while as they thank God for Moms and Dads and pets and their favorite foods and teachers and warm beds and on and on, all announced in loud voices in these conversations between these little ones and this God who they know is listening to every word they are saying. These children have a lesson for us as we grow older. Their lives are lived in thanksgiving to God for all good things God gives, they take nothing for granted, and they know God hears every one of their prayers. Their little lives are lives lived in thanksgiving.

My prayer for all of you is that you will gather at the Thanksgiving table much as you did in the years before a pandemic interrupted out traditions. There may be some chairs which were occupied by loved ones who have joined the Church Triumphant. Remember them and give thanks. There will be some new faces at the table to welcome. Thank God for their presence. Let’s do as the kids in chapel do. Name your thanksgiving with your voice and make that your Thanksgiving prayer.

May every blessing of Christ be yours this Thanksgiving,

Mike