Reverend Adam Hamilton – Thanksgiving
Day, 2013 – Thursday, 28 November 2013 - Dear Church of the Resurrection
Family,
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you to each of you who are serving
meals and blessing others in need throughout Kansas City today. 1500
Resurrection volunteers have served this week in some capacity helping to bless
others for Thanksgiving, and they will have served 4,000 people. This is
approximate; we'll know the final numbers by the end of the week, - but again,
THANK YOU!!! I'm grateful for and proud of each of you who have served.
This weekend the Advent season begins.
The sanctuary and chapel are decorated for the season, and we'll be lighting
the Advent candles and singing Advent hymns. We're also starting a lighthearted
but meaningful new sermon series in which we'll look at the themes of Advent
through the lens of favorite Hollywood Christmas films. This week we'll begin with
Miracle on 34th Street, ranked as the 9th most inspiring American film by the
American Film Institute and winner of five Academy Awards in 1947. The film is
about doubt and faith. It begins on Thanksgiving Day with the Macy's
Thanksgiving Day Parade. Ultimately Kris Kringle is put on trial for claiming
to be Santa Claus. We'll see clips from the film as we talk about doubt and
faith, and as we look to see who Kris Kringle is. You may be surprised, and I
hope inspired.
If you'd like to watch Miracle on 34th
Street before coming to worship this weekend you can watch it on Youtube (it is
divided into five clips there) or Netflix. Amazon and iTunes also have it to
rent instantly.
This weekend we welcome Wyandotte United
Methodist Church as the newest of our partner churches! Wyandotte UMC is
located 3 miles west of the Legends on State Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas.
They join Hampden UMC in Maryland, Highfill UMC in Arkansas and St. Luke's UMC
in Texas who are also partner churches to whom our sermons come each week on
video along with coaching and other support. Wyandotte runs about 90 people per
weekend in worship and who are focused on renewing and re-energizing their
congregation and reaching and serving their community. We also have a handful
of churches in California who are in partnership with us, sharing a host of
resources from Resurrection. Please join me in praying for the Wyandotte UMC
this weekend. Here's their website if you'd like to take a look and to get to
know the Wyandotte UMC family: http://wyandotteumc.org. If you are a pastor of
a congregation and would like more information about our partner church program,
please contact Travis Morgan.
Today we remember a meal in the fall of
1621 shared between the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony and the Wampanoag, a Native
American tribe from that region. The colonists, most seeking religious freedom,
had landed at what would become Plymouth in December of 1620. There were 102
colonists on board the Mayflower when it arrived in the New World. By the following
fall only 53 were still alive. Of the original 18 adult women, only four had
survived.
Earlier in the Spring Chief Massasoit and
his people and the Pilgrims had entered into a treaty with one another pledging
friendship, help and mutual protection. At that meal in 1621, 90 Wampanoag men
arrived including the chief. They brought with them five newly killed deer to
share with the colonists. The colonists had shot fowl, likely not turkey but
geese or ducks. Historians say there were no potatoes, but corn, grapes,
waterfowl, deer, pumpkins and squash and maybe even lobster and clams.
I was with two families this last week
who recently lost loved ones. Thanksgiving was borne out of such a season of
loss. The Israelites and early Christians learned that pausing to give thanks
in the midst of seasons of loss and adversity actually lightened the load. It
was a moment to focus on the blessings, and to remember with glad thoughts
loved ones who had died. Giving thanks in the midst of difficulty was an act of
trust, not only of looking back for the good, but of looking ahead trusting
that there were good things yet to come. Paul notes, "Give thanks in all
circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
As you prepare for your Thanksgiving meal,
and think about the blessing you share before the mealtime, take a few moments
to write down what you are thankful for during the last year. It may also be
helpful to allow silent time for others to express what they are grateful for
around the table. And you may find it a blessing to read from one of the Psalms
of Thanksgiving, like this one, found in I Chronicles 16, written some 3,000
years ago.
David…appointed the singing of praises to
the Lord by Asaph and his kindred.
O give thanks to the Lord, call on his
name,
make known his deeds among the peoples.
Sing to him, sing praises to him,
tell of all his wonderful works.
Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord
rejoice.
Seek the Lord and his strength,
seek his presence continually…
Tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the
peoples.
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be
praised;
he is to be revered above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are
idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Honor and majesty are before him;
strength and joy are in his place…
Let the heavens be glad, and let the
earth rejoice,
and let them say among the nations,
"The Lord is king!"
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
let the field exult, and everything in
it.
Then shall the trees of the forest sing
for joy
before the Lord, for he comes to judge
the earth.
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is
good;
for his steadfast love endures forever…
Then all the people said
"Amen!" and praised the Lord
Among the many things I am grateful for
this year is the privilege of serving as one of your pastors here at The Church
of the Resurrection!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Adam
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Reverend Adam Hamilton
Senior Pastor
United Methodist Church of the
Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, KS 66224 United States
(913)897-0120
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