Thursday, November 28, 2013

Reverend Adam Hamilton – Thanksgiving Day, 2013 – Thursday, 28 November 2013 - Dear Church of the Resurrection Family, Happy Thanksgiving!

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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