Presby-Musings

In one of his classic devotions, renowned Presbyterian pastor, missionary, author and theologian E. Stanley Jones wrote that when most of us pray the Lord's Prayer it's the only time most of actually mean the words, "Give us ."  Jones was referring, of course, to the part of the prayer that goes like this, "Give us this day our daily bread." He said that if we truly wanted to see the kingdom of God come to earth, and for all of the world's economic needs to be met, we would mean what we say when we say "Give us ..."   But unfortunately, most of us spend a lot of time praying to God, "Give me ."  Jones writes,  "If we continue to look after none bout ourselves, thinking only of No. 1, we'll think of ourselves so much that we become sick of ourselves, our complexes and obsessions.  That will be our punishment.  We asked for ourselves, and we got ourselves a problem.  Why? Because we said, 'Give me .'"  ...

For the remainder of this week we'll be reflecting on Gratitude--because it's Thanksgiving Week, brothers and sisters!   Tomorrow many of us will gather around tables with friends and loved ones, and we'll celebrate Thanksgiving.  We'll share a meal (or three), the many blessings we've been given and perhaps some laughter, too. More than a few of us will fall asleep on the couch afterward with football on the television, and the sounds of our family in the background.   While most Americans will enjoy Thanksgiving to the fullest, there are few of us who know the history of this great holiday.  It was, in fact, Abraham Lincoln who set aside the last Thursday of November as a national day of thanksgiving.  For the next 75 years each President would do the same--annually declaring Thanksgiving a national holiday.  In 1941, Congress finally acted to make Thanksgiving a permanent national holiday.  So why did Lincoln think it was so important to ...