ThanksBRINGING is here again!

 

“O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.  Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy...” Psalm 107:1-2, KJV

ThanksBRINGING is this Sunday at Refuge. It's one of my most favorite gatherings of the calendar year. Yes, Christmas Eve and Resurrection Sunday are important as well for obvious reasons. But ThanksBRINGING, in my mind, ranks right up there with them. 

When we first came to what was then Chetek Full Gospel Tabernacle (CFGT) back in 1991 we came to a fellowship that lacked a lot of traditions. They didn't have a lot of “special days” in the church calendar year with the exception of Rally Day the Sunday following Labor Day to kick off a new year of Sunday School. Otherwise there were no traditions of Christmas Eve or Christmas morning service. No Easter cantata either. In theatrical terms, we had a dark house on December 24 and December 31, when many churches in the Pentecostal tradition tend to hold “Watch-Night” services. Nope. No special days here.

Maybe it's because I was raised Lutheran. Maybe it's because I think traditions, contrary to what some may believe, can be life-giving things. But either way with leadership's blessing I began to add special gatherings. I don't recall off hand what year it was but early on I offered a Thanksgiving Eve service. When I was growing up our church, Lake Edge Lutheran, always partnered with another Lutheran fellowship on Thanksgiving Eve to worship and give thanks. Somehow gathering with the folk from nearby St. Stephen's either in their sanctuary or in ours seemed like a very good thing on the day before we sat down to enjoy a hearty turkey dinner.

At CFGT, the liturgy would be simple. We would sing some
appropriate songs – like “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” and the chorus “Give Thanks” - but instead of preaching people would be given an opportunity to share something they were thankful for. Those first few years the gatherings were quite small. In those days, the pews in our sanctuary were bolted to the floor which meant that sharing would be spoken out instead of to one another. This, of course, affected the more intimate atmosphere I was trying to create. But the main dampener of this event was the week Thanksgiving falls in – Deer-Gun season and lot of folk were either away at their hunting shacks or too tired to come in to a service that began at 7 pm after a day spent in the stand. I do recall a slight uptick in attendance after a few families had gone through some traumatic things and they wanted to make sure to be present to give thanks to God for getting them through it. But for the most part it remained a more intimate gathering. 

In 1995, we carpeted the sanctuary and thereafter the pews had “shoes” that held them up which meant they were theoretically movable. But let's face it: when a pew is 12 feet long there is no way a circle can be made for sharing. But once I start something its very difficult to persuade me to drop it and our little Thanksgiving Eve service carried on. And then two things happened that changed everything.

In the early 2000s we got rid of our pews altogether and brought in nice comfortable chairs. The beauty of chairs in the sanctuary, of course, is that you can design your worship area as you see fit not as the original members had it.  And then Melissa, a woman who was part of our fellowship then, approached me with an idea that was golden: “Have you ever thought of moving this gathering to earlier in the month (i.e., before hunting begins) and hold it on Sunday morning with the same format? You know, a little bit of singing following by lots of sharing? But then we add this: turkey dinner with all the fixings right here in the sanctuary?” Immediately, I could see it: all the chairs formed in an oval as we went around and shared thanks. As soon as we were done the sanctuary would be set up as a banquet hall and then we would sit down and enjoy Thanksgiving dinner as a family of believers. And right in that moment ThanksBRINGING was officially formed. 

By adding the meal and moving the day to Sunday it took a good idea and made it a great one. A gathering like this engages all the senses – we see those we love stand and share of God's goodness in their life, we hear their stories as we smell the turkey cooking in the roasters, we touch the communion bread and break it for one another and then we sit down like Moses and the elders of old sat down in the presence of God on the mountain and taste and see yet again that the Lord is GOOD (as are the turkey, gravy, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie we will indulge in as well!)

So, my fellow Refugees, do you have your story ready? I got mine and I can't wait to boast on how God met me this past week. Let the offerings of thanks be brought into God's house. They're going to be great!

The table is set for us to gather!