New Philadelphia News Join us for Lovefeast Services Sunday, December 7 - Children’s Lovefeast & Candle Service @ 10AM Sunday, December 21 - Congregational Lovefeast & Candle Service @ 7PM Wednesday, December 24 - Christmas Eve Lovefeast & Candle Service @ 4:30PM & 8PM ** The band prelude begins 45 minutes prior to each service with the exception of the Children’s Lovefeast**
Across the Pastor’s Desk: Thanksgiving It was George Washington who proclaimed the first national day of Thanksgiving. The proclamation was published from New York on October 2nd, of 1789. Washington expressly stated that Thursday the 26th day of November in that same year was to be a day of prayer and thanksgiving to Almighty God “the beneficent author of all good,” whose providential care, and protection, had enabled the fledging nation not only to survive the war of Independence, but to establish a constitutional government beneficial to all her people. The initial establishment of a national day of Thanksgiving did not last.
Jeremiah that those who gave thanks and made merry, “…will not be few.” Isaiah also looked across a land that had been devastated, and anticipated a time of thanksgiving, saying: For the LORD will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song. Isaiah 51:3
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In the New Testament Jesus gave thanks at every meal. He also thanked God for those who were looking for the salvation of Israel. He also thanked God for In 1863, at the height of the Civil War, Abraham revealing God’s self to babes and the simple, while Lincoln reestablished a day of Thanksgiving, fixing it hiding God’s self from the wise and sophisticated to the last Thursday in November. In his proclamation (Luke 10:21). It is a shame when people become so Lincoln acknowledged the Civil War, and thanked sophisticated that all the mystery is pushed out of life, God for the survival of our nation, which he attributed and there is no room for God. to “the gracious gifts of the Most High God, Who, St. Paul talks about those things, which produce while dealing with us in anger for our sins, (had) nevertheless remembered mercy.” thanksgiving in Christians. In 1st Thessalonians chapter 3 the apostle gives thanks for people. He Of course, for a Christian, thanksgiving is not just thanks God for the joy he feels when he remembers a day on the calendar. The word “thank” and its the members of the church in Thessalonica, and he derivatives occur more than 200 times in the Bible. earnestly prays that his steps might be directed to them The word thanksgiving, which we will concentrate once again. In 2nd Corinthians 4, St. Paul says that on, in honor of the occasion, occurs 32 times in the a major reason for thanksgiving is God’s grace. He Old Testament, and 11 times in the New Testament. says that as it extends to more and more people, “it The book of Leviticus introduced a special offering of increases thanksgiving to the glory of God.” thanksgiving. According to I & II Chronicles, King David appointed songs of thanksgiving to be sung to I pray that your Thanksgiving might be filled with Joy. the praise of God. Jeremiah the prophet urged songs Pastor Green of thanksgiving and coupled them with making merry. It was a dark time when God promised through