STEWARDSHIP NEWS
By: Gordon & Deborah Johnson
November is a popular month for many Americans. In the farm belt most of the crops have been harvested and stored safely away. In other areas snow has already fallen and skiers are anxious to head for the hills to get an early start on the new ski season. Sports fans are treated to a large number of college and professional football games. But perhaps the best thing about November is THANKSGIVING DAY.
Christians love to join together with fellow Christians and sing hymns of harvest and thanksgiving like:
“Come, ye thankful people come;
raise the song of harvest-home.
All be safely gathered in ere the winter storms begin;
God, our Maker, doth provide for our wants to be supplied.
Come to God’s own temple, come;
raise the song of harvest-home.”
(TLH, 574, v 1)
Christians and Lutheran Christians, in particular, recall how Dr. Martin Luther explained the meaning of the petition “Give us this day our daily bread.” Luther said that “God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all wicked people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.” He then went on to explain what is meant by daily bread with these words: “Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and wants of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.”
That’s quite a list of things for which to be thankful. We enjoy these many blessings because two things that God delights in doing are “loving and giving.” This is stated so clearly in the well-known words of John 3:16 (NIV): “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
St. Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, penned these words in Romans 8:31-32 (NIV): “He [God] who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?”
A suggestion for Christians each morning is to pray, “Thank You, Lord, for the gifts of life, health, work, family, friends, home, daily bread and this new day. Bless and protect us this day in all our activities, travels, work and play.”
One of the best benefits that comes with thanksgiving is thanksliving that shows up as we freely and joyfully manage all of life and life’s resources for God’s purposes. That is Christian stewardship in the best sense of the word. Happy Thanksgiving!
