Sunday, November 21st at 6:00pm

Join us for an evening of prayer, praise, & giving thanks!

Stay after for fellowship & pie (provided by us)!

 

..WE REMEMBER GOD’S SALVATION.

Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.”  —Exodus 13:3

Our Thanksgiving Prayer Service is coming up on November 21st, and I wanted to give some thought as to why it’s important for our church to have this service. And the conclusion that I came to is that giving thanks is a way for us to keep God’s past goodness in our present consciousness.

I think we can all agree, memory is a fleeting thing. As a kid, I had a pretty good memory. I used to act in community theater productions, and I would memorize my lines in just a couple of weeks. The adults that I would be acting with would get annoyed with me because I would know their lines better than they did. Now that I’m older, and especially since I’ve been a father, my brain just doesn’t seem to work the same way. Thank God for my wife. I probably use her brain more than my own. The older we get, it seems, the less we remember.

When it comes to trusting God in our daily lives, we too often live without any perspective on the past. And so our failed or faulty memory can be a liability to our relationship with God. This was the case for the Israelites. No sooner had they been miraculously saved from slavery in Egypt by the mighty hand of God, than they started complaining about their difficult life in the desert. This is a recurring theme throughout the Bible and throughout history. God acts, and the people forget. God acts, and the people forget. Again and again. That’s why there are many, many passages in scripture that call us to remember. Here are three:

Deuteronomy 6:12 — Then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Psalm 105:5 — Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered.

Isaiah 46:8-9 — Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.

During his life here on earth, Jesus knew how important remembering was. And he knew that part of his job would be giving his people a way to help them remember. His death and resurrection were works of salvation. But what good are the works if no one remembers them. How might he help us remember his works?

One way that God helped the Israelites to remember their salvation was by instituting a meal that they would share once a year. The Passover meal was a remembrance of the great work of God so that all generations would think back to the day of their salvation. Something about food, about eating together, gives meaning to the memory. It becomes tangible and experiential—not just a thought, but a shared action. The meal is an embodied memory. This is why when Jesus wanted to give his followers a way to remember his saving work for them on the cross he instituted a meal.

“The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’” — 1 Corinthians 11:23-25

Memory is fleeting. As the church, we must do the work of remembering—remembering Christ and all that he has done to secure for us a salvation that calls us into a living hope. Because to remember is to live, but to forget is to die.

When we gather together on the evening of Sunday, November 21st for our Thanksgiving Prayer Service, we will have a time of celebration, a time of thanksgiving, and a time of remembrance. We have so much for which to be thankful. The Lord has blessed us in countless ways. We gather to remember His goodness to us and to pray our thanksgiving to our Savior.

I hope to see you there.

Plus, there’ll be pie!