A Famine Not of Bread

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Thanksgiving Day has a long history in the United States. The first thanksgiving was a harvest festival celebrated in 1621 at Plymouth Colony. President George Washington issued the first national thanksgiving proclamation in 1789, but it wasn’t until President Abraham Lincoln acknowledged “the ever watchful providence of Almighty God” with his 1863 proclamation that Thanksgiving gained popularity as an annual holiday. In 1941, Congress fixed the date for Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of November. Since that time, our nation seems to have turned this into a day of thanksgiving without specifying whom we thank. Thanksgiving Day is “Turkey Day” and takes a backseat to “Black Friday” for November holidays. More time is spent watching football games than in worship, giving thanks to God. But we Christians don’t really need a presidential proclamation, or an act of Congress, or a special Thursday in Novemb...

"Jesus Heals Ten Lepers"   by James Tissot The text for today is our Gospel, Luke 17:11-19, which has already been read. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Jesus is continuing His journey to Jerusalem, traveling along the border between Galilee and Samaria.   Just as He is about to enter into a village, ten leprous men come out to meet Him.   Observing the strict rule concerning infection, they do not come all the way to Christ, but stand at a distance, crying out: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Some translations have the word, “pity,” rather than “mercy.”   But mercy is a better word.   In a recent Bible study, we discussed the difference between mercy and pity.   We decided “pity is feeling sorry for someone; while mercy is actually doing something about it.”   That’s why it is more accurate to say the lepers ask Jesus for mercy, rather than merely pity.   They know that not ...

The text for today is our Old Testament lesson, 2 Kings 5:1-14, which has already been read. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! There was once a boat that sank in a storm in the ocean.   Another boat saw the accident and went to help.   Only one man was in the boat that sank.   Luckily, he got out in time and was swimming pretty well, but he definitely needed help getting out of the water.   The rescue boat pulled up about twenty feet from the man.   Someone quickly grabbed a blue life preserver and threw it out to him.   The man in the water caught it, but then he did something odd: he threw it back.   The person in the rescue boat was confused, so he hurried up and threw the blue life preserver back out to the man.   This time it landed right around his head—it was a perfect throw!   The man in the ocean grabbed the blue life preserver with both hands, picked it up...