“Thanksgiving links the two as we better understand God through his gifts.”
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“Giving thanks provides perspective. Gratitude humbles us. It crushes pride and sweeps away entitlement.” - TGC
400 Years of Gratitude
While we are not certain of the exact date, we do know that this year marks the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving celebration in Plymouth.1
In the fall of 1621, “the 53 surviving Pilgrims and Chief Massasoit with his 90 Indian braves”2 (of the Wampanoag Tribe) came together to mark the bounty of their harvest and to give praise to God for graciously preserving them and providing for them.
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15 Preaching Quotes for Thanksgiving
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“400 years of American history, coupled with the full history of the church worldwide, provides us with plenty of preaching quotes for Thanksgiving. Here is a small sampling of preaching quotes” - C.Leaders
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Turning Back to Say “Thanks”
By Karin Brown
One Leper’s Return
One day as Jesus was heading to Jerusalem, He was met at the edge of a village by ten lepers who were keeping their distance, as the Law of Moses required. Knowing Jesus’ reputation as a healer, they cried out to him to have compassion on their suffering.
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Gratitude Is Good for You…
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“…if we are to be grateful (and we are), to whom should we be grateful, exactly? Karlamangla never specifies…. Maybe thanking no one in particular isn’t really gratitude.” - Breakpoint
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Chuck Colson on Radical Gratitude
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“…counting our blessings and conjuring an attitude of to-whom-it-may-concern gratitude, Pollyanna-style is not enough. What do we do when cancer strikes — I have two children battling it right now [2005]— or when loved ones die, when we find ourselves in the midst of brokenness and real suffering? That … is where gratitude gets radical.” - Breakpoint
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We Are Never Without Beauty
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“…as we live with opened eyes, we will see that we are most truly never without beauty, if only we will accept its fleeting nature, if only we will cease lamenting the past and look to the present.” - Challies
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The Power of Thanking God for What He Hasn’t Done
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“One of the most worshipful things we can do is to praise God for blessings He has promised that we have not yet received.” - C.Leaders
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On Personal Diversity
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“Recognizing the creative complexity of our God, and of his image in us, liberates us to be genuine—within the bounds of morality, of course—and to make our unique contribution to the larger body.” - Olinger
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“We should be like the Apostle Paul, who... consistently pointed out God’s grace even in deeply flawed local churches.”
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“Of course, our churches do need to grow. They do need to become holier and healthier. Paul knew this. Repentance mattered to him. Just ask the Corinthians. But what first grabbed Paul’s attention when he thought about that rowdy, discriminatory congregation in Corinth? God’s grace (1 Cor. 1:4–9).” - 9 Marks
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