CYI Worldwide
  • GOD
    • God's Love Letter To You
    • Does GOD Exist?
    • This Was Your Life
    • Find God
  • Q&A
  • Prophecy
  • COMIC BOOKS
  • Get HELP
    • Speak To A Counselor
    • Bullying Sucks!
    • Depression
    • ADHD
    • Encouragement
    • Fighters
  • Exposed
  • Podcasts
  • Sex
  • Evangelism

       NEWS WATCH

EXPOSED! Pop Culture Lies

The Death of Thanksgiving (Colossians 1:11-20)

11/18/2013

0 Comments

 
By: Henry G. Brinton Senior Pastor, Fairfax Presbyterian Church
Original Article:Huffington Post

As Thanksgiving approaches and commerce clashes with personal values, people talk about what they are thankful for.

Macy's Department Store is famous for presenting the Thanksgiving Day Parade. But now the same store that is in its 87th year of producing a nationally-televised parade, watched by millions, is being blamed for ruining the holiday.

What has the store done? Decided to open its doors to shoppers on Thanksgiving Day at 8:00 p.m. Time magazine reports that people are denouncing the move as "greedy, misguided and unfair to the employees being forced to work on a day traditionally reserved for family."
Picture
"Please write an obituary because I think this death needs to be acknowledged," said one person after hearing Macy's decision. "It is the death of Thanksgiving."

But wait a second -- other stores are guilty as well. Walmart, Target and Toys "R" Us launched special deals on Thanksgiving last year, and Macy's may simply be trying to remain competitive.

However if no one wanted to shop on Thanksgiving, then no stores would be open. The true Thanksgiving-killer is the person who leaves the table and heads to the mall.

Let's use this controversy as an opportunity to take the pulse of thanksgiving in both church and culture today. We need to take a look at how thanksgiving is doing -- not just the day called Thanksgiving -- but the act of giving thanks itself.

Look around, and you can see evidence that gratitude is being replaced by good deals. Family meals are losing their competition with shopping sprees. The gifts of life and health are taken for granted as we concentrate on shiny and expensive material gifts. And since we have so many struggles at work and at home these days, we often look for the cheap high that comes from buying something nice for ourselves. It's called "retail therapy."

So how is Thanksgiving doing? Is it deceased, or has its death been greatly exaggerated?

The apostle Paul must have wondered about this when he wrote his letter to the Colossians, a group of Christians living along a main roadway in Asia Minor -- what is now modern Turkey. They were pulled between the values of their faith and the values of their culture, much as we are today. Paul warned them, "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ" (Colossians 2:8).

These words ring true today, don't they? We know the philosophy of trying to spend ourselves out of economic troubles. The empty deceit of a sales pitch. The human tradition of making the holidays an orgy of consumption. The elemental spirits of the universe that lure us away from Jesus Christ.

Paul asked the Colossians, and he asks us, "Why do you live as if you still belonged to the world?" (2:20). It's a good question, one that we should ask ourselves on Thanksgiving Day, and every day.

But the apostle is not a scold, trying to make us feel bad about ourselves. No, if anything, Paul is the apostle of gratitude, with the phrase "be thankful" as one of his recurring pleas (3:15). New Testament scholar David Pao points out that the New Testament has 62 mentions of thanksgiving, and Paul is responsible for more than three-quarters of them.

This pattern holds true in Colossians. Paul begins with an outpouring of thanks, saying, "In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints" (1:3-4). After affirming the good work being done by the Colossians, Paul says, "May you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light" (1:11-12).

As the human tradition of holiday shopping tries to crowd out Thanksgiving, we are able to "endure everything with patience" because our joy comes from the gifts of God instead of from conspicuous consumption. Notice how the letter to the Colossians does not assume that we show gratitude only when everything is perfect. Instead, Paul knows that there will be much hardship to endure at the same time that we are giving thanks.

Holding thanksgiving and hardship together is a spiritual challenge. We struggle to give thanks after the death of a spouse. We try to be grateful when a child is sick. We do our best to count our blessings when we lose a job, fail a class, suffer an injury, or experience a crushing disappointment.

Fortunately, many people find a way to do this. In on-the-street interviews, men and women rarely talk about material gifts when they are questioned about being thankful. Instead, they mention the gifts of God that sustain them through the struggles of life: Children, friends, partners, good health, kindness, generosity, knowledge... plus the gift of life itself.

George Niederauer, the Archbishop of San Francisco, adds to this list: "God's gifts of artistry, imagination and creativity; his gifts of dedication, fidelity and perseverance; his gifts of strength, acumen and skill."

You cannot buy these gifts at Macy's, whether it is open on Thanksgiving or not.

Paul concludes today's passage by inviting the Colossians to give thanks to God for what he has done for us through Jesus, the one who is the ruling power of the universe. First, we can be grateful for his forgiveness. Paul says that God "has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (1:13-14). No matter how many times we stumble, Christ is present to pick us up.

Next, we give thanks that Jesus is at the center of creation, holding everything together. "He is the image of the invisible God," says Paul,

the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers -- all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together (1:15-17). 
Jesus Christ is the one who is at the center of everything that is precious to us: Children, friends, partners, health, kindness, generosity, knowledge, artistry, imagination and creativity. In Christ, all things hold together.

Finally, we can be grateful for the presence of Jesus in the community of faith.

He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things... by making peace through the blood of his cross (1:18-20).Whenever two or three are gathered, in church or around the Thanksgiving table, Christ is present. He shows us the fullness of a God who loves us so much that he sent him into the very middle of human life, to do the work of making peace.

Is Thanksgiving dead? Not as long as Jesus Christ is alive among us, at the center of creation and the community of faith. But it is our job to respond by giving thanks for the gifts of forgiveness, for the gifts of the world and for the gifts of the church.

Let's do this on Thanksgiving, regardless of when the stores open their doors.


0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Get News Updates!  

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Subscribe in a reader

    Categories

    All
    2 Timothy 3
    501c3
    911
    Abortion
    Alcohol
    Aliens UFO
    Aliens - UFO
    America Destruction
    America Destruction
    Anti Semitism
    Anti-Semitism
    Apologetics
    Apostacy
    Atheism
    Atheist Church
    Attack On Family
    Bible
    Border Wars
    Bullying
    Catholicism
    Censorship]
    Chicago Terror Zone
    Chrislam
    Christian Persecution
    Christian Persecution
    Christian Values
    Chris White
    Church Decline
    Church Issues
    Church Nonsense
    Climate Change
    College
    Culture Of Death
    Cutting Edge Ministries
    Cutting-edge-ministries
    Damascus
    Debate
    Destruction Of America
    Destruction-of-america
    Deviant Sexuality
    Drugs
    Ecumenical Movement
    Elite
    Emergent Church
    End Times
    End-times
    Evangelism
    Evolution
    Extreme Christianity
    False Flag
    False Gospels
    False Gospels
    Farming
    FEMA Camp
    Feminism
    Feminization Of Men
    Free Speech
    Gangs
    Gay
    Gay Agenda
    Gender Identity
    Global Warming
    Global-warming
    GMO
    Good News
    Government Corruption
    Grace
    Grok Radio
    Hate Groups
    Health News
    Heaven
    Hollywood Exposed
    Hollywood Exposed
    Homeless
    Homeschooling
    Homosexuality
    Human 2.0
    Humanism
    Immigration
    Incest
    Indoctrination
    Injustice System
    International Religious News
    Isaiah 17 Prophecy
    Isis
    Islam
    Islam Debunked
    Israel
    Jack-van-impe
    Jack Van Impe Presents
    Jeremiah 49
    Jewish News
    Jews
    Joel Rosenberg
    John Piper
    Korea
    Liberal Nonsense
    Loss Of Liberties
    Mainstream Media Exposed
    Mainstream Media Exposed
    Mark Dice
    Mark Of The Beast
    Martial Law
    Media Deception
    Media Deception
    Mental Health
    Middle East
    Middle-east
    Military
    Millennial Nonsese
    Missionaries
    Multiculturalism
    Multi Culturalism
    Multiculturalism6e9605f9ef
    Murder
    Music Industry
    Music Industry Exposed
    Muslim Agenda
    Mysticism
    Natural Disasters
    New Age
    NewsWatch Video
    New World Order
    Noah
    Nwo
    Occult
    One World Government
    One World Religion
    Oprah
    Parenting
    Pestilence
    Pets
    Planned Parenthood
    Police Brutality
    Police State
    Political Correctness
    Pope
    Pornography
    Positive News
    Poverty
    Prayer Request
    Prepping
    Prophecy
    Prophecy-in-the-news
    Prostitution
    Race Manipulation
    Racism
    Rapture
    Research
    Revival
    Robotics
    Russia
    Salvation
    Saracsm-hoaxes
    Satanism
    Satire
    School Curriculum
    School Violence
    School Violence
    Science
    Sex
    Sex Trafficing
    Sexual Abuse
    Shadow Government
    Sharia Law
    Signs Of End Times
    Social Media
    Spiritual Warfare
    Suicide
    Taking A Stand
    Taking-a-stand
    Technology
    Terrorism
    Terrorism In America
    Testimony
    Transgender
    Transhumanism
    True American History
    United Nations
    Vampirism
    Violence
    Virtue SIgnals
    Walmart
    War On Christianity
    Wars/Rumors Of Wars
    What The?!
    Witchcraft
    Woman Issues
    Word-of-faith
    Xxx-church
    Youth Gone Wild
    Youth Issues
    Youth On Fire

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    February 2019
    July 2018
    September 2017
    August 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • GOD
    • God's Love Letter To You
    • Does GOD Exist?
    • This Was Your Life
    • Find God
  • Q&A
  • Prophecy
  • COMIC BOOKS
  • Get HELP
    • Speak To A Counselor
    • Bullying Sucks!
    • Depression
    • ADHD
    • Encouragement
    • Fighters
  • Exposed
  • Podcasts
  • Sex
  • Evangelism