Happy Thanksgiving
CHRISTINA FOX | EDITOR Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours from all of us at enCourage! "...give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thess. 5:18).
Grief in this Holiday Season: Gospel Comfort for Every Loss
ELIZABETH TURNAGE | CONTRIBUTOR Grief is as old as the Fall. Ever since Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, eating of the one tree denied them, loss has plagued the cosmos. This loss leads to grief. As the holidays arrive this year, grief will be fresh for many, raw for some. In the Middle East, Ukraine, Turkey, the Southeastern United States, and many other places throughout the world, disaster has struck, and the holiday season threatens to swallow its victims in a sea of grief. This year, your neighbor or friend, your co-worker or cousin, or perhaps you yourself, weep deeply and often as you mourn the loss of a loved one, a job, a relationship, a home, or a pet. How can we help? How can we grieve with hope if we are the ones who have suffered loss? By understanding grief and by looking to Christ, our grief may lead to the hope of restoration this holiday season. We can grieve all sorts of losses. As Christians we sometimes feel guilty for grieving something like a lost home or pet, a lost job, or even a lost relationship. Somehow, we got the idea that grief should be reserved for death. Somehow, we got the idea that when we grieve a loved one who died, we should be “happy” because the person is in heaven. That’s simply not the way grief works, not in life, and not in Scripture. As we look at Scripture, we see reasons to grieve all sorts of losses. Surely, we may grieve death, because our Lord himself grieved the death of his dear friend Lazarus, despite knowing he would soon raise him from the dead (see John 11:1-44). Because God created the heavens and the earth and everything in it, and because he gave humans the responsibility of working the land and making it fruitful, it is natural to grieve the loss of land and work. Job, who lost everything — family, livestock, and land — to enemies and natural disasters (see Job 1:13-19), grieved deeply but was not rebuked for his grief. The Israelites wept for their homeland when they were in exile: “By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion” (Psalm 137:1). Because the Lord cares for all creatures great and small, it is also appropriate to grieve the loss of a pet who brought us a taste of the Lord’s delight. All of creation has the potential to show us the goodness of the Lord; for this reason, we may grieve the loss of any good gift from God. Grief really is worse during the holiday season...
A Song of Thanksgiving
SHARON ROCKWELL | CONTRIBUTOR Folk songs tell us stories in musical form. The Smithsonian offers a collection called “Classical Folk Songs for Kids.” The recordings are songs that I remember my parents singing, and now I sing them to my grandchildren (they are all too young to notice I cannot carry a tune!). Who does not remember the words to “Big Rock Candy Mountain” and “Puff the Magic Dragon?” Hymns tell us stories as well. “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” based on Psalm 46, relates the attributes of God and records His mighty deeds. “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” tells the story from 1 Samuel 7:12 where, after God gave the Philistines over to the Israelites, Samuel set up a stone called an Ebeneezer to commemorate the spot where “Till now the Lord has helped us.” The hymn hits the hearts of everyone who has ever felt God’s redeeming love. A Thanksgiving Song The first song recorded in the Bible is one of thanksgiving (Ex 15:1-21). Moses sang it when the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians and from Pharaoh, with his host of warriors. After the final plague God brought on Pharaoh, the killing of the firstborn of Egypt including even Pharaoh’s own, Pharaoh reacted by finally relenting and letting the Israelites go. The Israelites’ firstborn were protected by the blood of the lambs painted on their doorposts. In anger, Pharaoh changed his mind and pursued the Israelites, intending to slaughter them before reaching the Red Sea. But God made a path through the Red Sea for His people, and when Pharaoh followed, the water surged around him and his chariots, destroying every last one. The Israelites witnessed the great power of the Lord and saw the Egyptians dead on the shore. With that, the Israelites “feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses” (Ex. 14:31). Moses’ response was to give God the glory and lead the people of Israel in a victory song. The Lord had demonstrated His faithfulness in a grand and glorious manner, saving the people of Israel. Selected verses from Moses’ song can provide a template for our own songs this Thanksgiving...
Give Thanks
LAURINDA WALLACE |GUEST The table is set perfectly—for the moment, serving dishes line the kitchen counters, and all is ready for the annual feast. Aromas of turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and fresh bread drift throughout the house as everyone anticipates the call to the table. Your clock management for the Thanksgiving feast seems just as crucial as it is for the NFL coach with thirty seconds left in the game, and his team is down by one point. When everyone is finally seated, you relax while watching your family fill their plates. However, for all the preparation and cooking, Thanksgiving Day is quickly over. In the busyness of cooking, the chaos of excited children, and too much pie, we may barely remember the prayers offered, and the gratitude family and friends shared around the table. Is the reason for this festive meal already in the rearview mirror? While our calendar proclaims one day in the year as Thanksgiving Day, as God’s people, every day is an opportunity to give thanks—not to an ambiguous universe, but to the God who made heaven and earth. Saving up gratitude to the Lord for one day a year certainly isn’t what Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Colossian church: And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful (Col. 3:15). Thankfulness is the Christian’s way of life. The children of Israel had short memories of God’s faithfulness and care just after the miraculous parting of the Red Sea and their rescue from the Egyptian army. Their gratitude soon switched to complaints that there was no food, and then they didn’t like the manna the Lord sent. This was just the beginning of their grumbling. I’m certainly guilty of the same, quickly forgetting how the Lord answers my daily requests for safety and provision of needs, which was recently brought to my attention. Every day, I pray specifically for the Lord’s protection over my grandsons, two teenagers and three between the ages of three and six. A lot can happen in any young man’s or little boy’s day! In the last few weeks, two incidents with my grandsons could have ended in injury or worse, but the graciousness of God kept them from harm. I don’t want to forget those wonderful mercies, but how can I make sure they aren’t?...
Serving Our Public Servants
DOMINIQUE MCKAY |GUEST Another election day has come and gone. Some are happy with the results and others are angry or confused. As church leaders, we can be overwhelmed by the expectations that congregations demand from us when it comes to politics. But what if there was a way to help them reset their perspectives and right-size the role of public service? Romans 13 teaches us that those who are in authority have been put there for our good — a force for administering justice against wrongdoing. This sets the stage for how we should approach our public servants. Not with suspicion or disdain, but instead with an open heart for how God will use them for his purposes, which are always good. In the book of 1 Timothy, Paul encourages Timothy to pray for all people, but he specifically calls out “kings and all who are in high positions” with a care for how they lead. This is the heart posture God is commanding us to have for our government leaders — compassionate and desiring their success. But how exactly do we practice that heart posture?...
Daring to Hope
ALICE KIM | CONTRIBUTOR At the end of Mark chapter one (vv. 40-45), we are introduced to a man plagued with leprosy. He lived his life as a public service announcement warning people to keep their distance lest they become like him. His inescapable daily reminder of a scorned, forgotten, and marginalized existence would be humiliating and painful enough to make anyone cower. Nevertheless, as Jesus’ public ministry to the ill and demonically tormented was widespread, he found himself at a crossroad between deferring hope or desiring for something more (Pr. 13:12). He courageously chose the latter. Notably, the narrative seems to slow down as the man approaches Jesus and kneels before him. It’s as if Mark leans in and personally invites readers to do likewise. A hope long buried was suddenly resurrected. Although awakening hope would be risky, to the point of vulnerability to greater ridicule, isolation, and judgment, the cost of doing nothing could potentially haunt him with unrelenting regrets filled with what-if’s. His lowly posture embodies his desperate plea. It exudes the depth of anguish, indescribable affliction, and utter shame. His confession, “If you will, you can make me clean” carries the heaviness of helplessness and dependence...
The Object of Our Thanksgiving
KERRY ANDERSON | GUEST Thank you note season is here. Though a waning tradition, I’m still a sucker for nice stationery, cute note cards, and handwritten thank you’s. And while we didn’t always nail the follow through (more than once I’ve found one of those unstamped, unmailed letters months later), we really did try to have our kids and ourselves write thank you notes for the gifts received on birthdays and holidays. The content was rarely substantial or original. Most started with the expected, “Dear Grandma, Thank you for the….” But, they were something. They acknowledged receipt of the gift and expressed gratitude for it. With pressing, my children would expand a bit more about the gift and its utility or their enthusiasm for it. It was progress in gratitude, at least in practice. But something was missing As I reflect now, generating enthusiasm for the gift falls short of the goal. Maybe rather than piling up attributes toward the thing received, perhaps the first two words of a thank you note are the ones that really matter. It’s the “Dear Grandma (or whoever),” the person opening and reading that note that is critical. We could all write lengthy, detailed thank you notes for gifts we receive, but if we don’t address and give them to someone, and the giver never actually sees or hears our words of thanks, our gratitude is lacking, empty, and misplaced. It becomes merely an advertisement for a product. The Object of our Thanks A sermon on this from years ago stuck with me (bringing in grammar concepts always perks my ears up) when my pastor explained that our thanks must have an object. There must be a receiver (God) of our expressions of thanks. We aren’t to be just thankful for something we’ve received. We’re to be thankful TO God for giving it to us. As believers, the object of our thanksgiving is not the gift; it is the giver...
Gethsemane Glasses
LAURA PATTERSON | GUEST I awoke that Friday morning in May to the same white walls and sterile smell for the twenty-second day in a row. The same dingy blinds covered the same window. The birthday cards I’d received the week prior were still taped up on the mirror on the far wall. The now familiar white blanket engulfed my legs and torso. The sense of familiarity I’d come to find in my surroundings was suddenly arrested that morning as feelings of shock, dread, and numbness flooded my body and left me wondering if I was truly awake. I’d just given birth during the wee hours of the morning and, after being returned to my antepartum room without my baby, I had somehow managed to sleep for an hour or two. Doctors, nurses, and a lactation consultant visited me in my haze, and I eventually got the news that I could go meet my child. My nurse assisted me into a wheelchair, and I took the longest ride of my life to the adjoining children’s hospital. I knew I was headed to meet my baby in the neonatal intensive care unit, but no amount of exposure or information could have prepared me for the shock of meeting my two-and-a-half-pound infant covered in tubes, lines, and bruises. The well-intentioned nurse assigned to my son that day noticed my tears, came to the bedside, and said gently, “it’s ok, mom.” “NO, IT’S NOT!” I yelled deep within my soul. From Demanding to Entrusting My internal cry that morning was full of truth. My baby was not ‘ok’. The neonatologist sat my husband and I down in a private room only hours later to help us understand that we should expect our son to die within a couple of days’ time. I felt the very visceral reality of life in a sin-sick, disease-laden, death-cursed world. Crying, ‘It’s not ok!’ wasn’t wrong. But it was incomplete...
A Book for All Seasons
CHRISTINE GORDON | CONTRIBUTOR Everyone has a water bottle nowadays. They come in every size and color, with a variety of price points and mechanisms. You can find them in the hands of schoolchildren, construction workers, bank tellers, and everyone in between—and that’s a good thing. We’ve learned that an appropriate amount of water in specific body systems can make or break our health. According to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, proper hydration regulates body temperature, keeps joints lubricated, prevents infections, delivers nutrients to cells, helps organs function properly, improves sleep quality, helps cognition, and regulates mood.[1] While most of us forget to drink as much as we should, most Americans now understand at least some of hydration’s benefits and try to get their glasses in every day. We know water will help us to function and even thrive, so we make sure to have it with us, no matter what we’re doing. What if we thought about Scripture like water? Oh, I know the messages that are out there. There are enough “shoulds” about Scripture reading in the Christian world to choke us, which is what they normally do. We’re told we should read the Bible for lots of reasons, many of which involve some sort of shame spiral if we don’t. They can sound like this: “How will your children learn to love the Bible if they don’t see you loving it?” “How will you know Jesus if you don’t read his Word?” “If you have time to watch TV, you have time to read the Word.” These may be true, but I don’t know that they’re the best motivators for a joyous occasion of intimacy with our Lord. What if you thought about the Bible like you do your water bottle—something your soul needs to survive and thrive, that can refresh and reset, regulate and help you to function, even prosper? Believe it or not, this is what the Bible says about itself...
The Assumptions We Make
LISA UPDIKE | GUEST We were getting pedicures—a splurge! Two women sat at our feet, trimming our nails, and chatting. One of them said something and they both began giggling. My daughter and I exchanged glances. We couldn’t speak their language and the first thing we assumed was that they were laughing at one of our feet. Haven’t you made those types of assumptions? Conversation is flowing, you hear it down the hall…you walk in…things fall silent. “Were they talking about me?” Someone looks up and then away. “Are they trying to avoid me?” You send a text with cute emojis, get a one-word response, and immediately think, “Is she mad at me?” The Danger with Assumptions Ugh! Soon we’re enslaved by our assumptions. Our concern over what someone might be thinking robs us of freedom while our inner middle-school girl begins to run our life. We avoid relationships, assuming that others will judge us for our struggles. We might dodge the put-together woman at church because, juice on our blouse, we’re worried she’ll critique our disheveled appearance. Meanwhile, she is desperately lonely, and misses being with children. We move through our lives, thinking we know the hearts and minds of others, behaving as if our assumptions are actually facts. How careful we must be, for it is from the well of such assumptions that we are prone to draw insecurity—a poisonous drink...