Thanksgiving

by Alice Valdal

On Thanksgiving Sunday, the sanctuary was decorated with the fruits of harvest.  Squash, corn, pumpkin, pickles, apples and tomatoes, homemade bread, grapes and peppers.  We sang "Come Ye Thankful People, Come."  And who wouldn't be thankful at such a time, the table groaning under the weight of crops safely gathered in.

A few days later, we gathered in that place again.  This time, for a funeral, a very different occasion.  And yet, there was thanksgiving there too.  Gratitude for a life well-lived, for love realized and for the glorious homecoming of a sister.

Gratitude for Jesus, who promised "in my father's house are many mansions.  If it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am there ye may be also."

Two different services, two different moods, but through them both, the thread of thanksgiving to God from His people.