American "Thanksgiving" Declaration of a Great American President

If you have never read Abraham Lincoln's declaration of a National Day of Thanksgiving, I very highly recommend it.  For those of you whose homes are in other nations, this is the National Thanksgiving Day in the United States of America.  The following is the original declaration by the great American President, Abraham Lincoln, which made the last Thursday of November the national "Thanksgiving Day."  How I pray for another such President.

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By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.  Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,
Secretary of State

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

"The Heart of God From Eternity

"....to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect." (1 Corinthians 1:17)

It's obvious, not just from today's text, but from the Bible in its entirety that the Cross of Jesus is the central theme, the focus of God's Word to humanity.  And if I preach or teach, if I write a devotional, or even if just in the course of daily life someone walks away from me and says, "My, how wise he is," or, "how clever he is," or, "how eloquent he is," I have failed as a witness to Jesus Christ. 

When we read the Gospels, there is no doubt that the whole narrative reveals Jesus' ultimate goal was Jerusalem and the cross.  Too much in Christendom today is a me-centered gospel, a gospel of you can do anything, just believe for it, you are wonderful, etc.  Of course, "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners," but Jesus did not save us by making you and me the focus.  He called people to, "Follow Me," not, "I'll follow you."  And where does the, "Follow Me," lead us?--- to the cross.  It is well deserving of repetition, and if he was not the originator of it, nevertheless I first heard it from my Dad: "The Cross was in the Heart of God from eternity."  What an absolutely marvelous reality, even though I cannot fully grasp the dept of its meaning.  The Cross of Jesus was in the Heart of the Blessed Trinity from eternity.

The song writer said, "At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light...."  And we not only "first [see] the light" at the cross of Christ, there is a real sense in which we can say that we "first" see Jesus Himself.  If I see a "Jesus" other than Jesus of the Cross, I am not seeing Jesus.  Our salvation, which includes healing, deliverance, preservation, peace, joy and so much more is a salvation only from the Cross of Jesus.  All that we see Jesus doing in the Gospels is in the shadow of His Cross.  It is only in what some call "the Christ Event," in the Cross of Jesus that the Living Triune God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit came to you and me---- to all humanity, and can I say?- Still comes to us.  When our Lord said, "take up the cross," He was commanding us to die to everything in my life that was before Him, and everything in my life which still tries to rule in me "after" Him.  It is a glorious invitation to total identity with and in Him.

Father, in Jesus' Name, "bring it's scenes before me."  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

"The Cross of Christ"

"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect."  (1 Corinthians 1:17)

Some use this as an excuse to marginalize baptism in water.  As far as I can see in the Scripture, baptism is not an option.  Refusal to be baptized in water in Jesus' Name is to refuse the New Birth.  No one has the rebellious choice to decide which commandments of Jesus to keep or break.  To those who say, "What about the thief on a cross," I say, You are not on a cross.

Our text is not a minimalizing of baptism.  Rather, it is a maximizing of the Cross of Jesus Christ.  Note the contrast between, "with wisdom of words," and, "the cross of Christ."  Clever, always- attempting-to-shock-with-"new-revelation"-preaching, or hackneyed words all make, "the cross of Christ...of no effect."  Of course no person, no demonic force can ever make, "the cross of Christ...of no effect," but they do so for themselves and their hearers if people do not walk away in awe of Father's mercy and grace revealed in, "the cross of Christ."  I can remember when this awe first came to me. 

My Dad was preaching in a Good Friday service back in the mid 1960s.  He was preaching on one of the seven last words of Christ from the Cross.  I don't remember which one, but I shall never forget the impartation of that message.  It was as though, in the words of the old song, "I Stood at Calvary."  This is not nostalgic remembrance of my Dad; this is for me a great "memorial."  I can only wish and pray I could carry, "a double portion of [his] spirit," on this.

Can you say today, "I Stood at Calvary"?  Some of us have literally, but more important, I desire whatever appreciation I can receive in this life of, "the cross of Christ."  I repeat the phrase of Billy Graham, "The cross is the pivotal point of history," and, we can say of our lives.  At the cross our Lord Jesus Christ dealt with our sin, rebellion, wickedness, iniquity.  It is at the cross I am reconciled with the Living Triune God, in the Blood, in the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray for more of what my Dad "saw" of Your cross.  Amen.
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Read "The Goal of Obama's Foreign Policy," by Carolyn Glick at: jhs58.blogspot.com
 

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

"Likewise Also"

"And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers." (Acts 2:42)

I said to our local church decades ago that house groups keep a big church small.  We weren't a "big" church by any means, but a group larger than 10 to 15 is not very conducive to, "fellowship, in breaking of bread, and in prayers." 

Most congregations today are guilty of what Dietrich Bonhoeffer said in his work, Life Together:  "Simply to be together in Sunday where everything is determined from the front is a sad distortion of what it means to be the church.  Life together for Christians is meant to be much more than that."  Someone once described "church" for most Americans as coming to a church building and "fellowshiping  the back of someone's head."  Sarah and I have had some great moments at home having a meal, followed by the taking of bread and wine in remembrance and celebration, "the Lord's death until He comes."  This is just not exciting enough for far too many professing Christians.  For me, it is more and more the greatest worship I know. 

As I spent some hours at Golgotha a couple of weeks ago, I was renewed in my worship, thanksgiving, celebration of the Most Precious Blood, the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.  I can say with absolutely no overstatement that I am alive today, I am in Christ today, I am serving our Lord Jesus Christ today, I am sharing this devotional thought with you today, I am a forgiven sinner today with a home in Heaven all because of The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus.  It would be great if small groups of Followers of Jesus would take time for a meal together, to experience the communion fellowship of a house church setting.  This is not a criticism of present day church gatherings.  This is just an advocacy for more than Church "from the front." 

"Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the New Testament in My blood, which is shed for you'....For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God....God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world."  Sharing a meal and the Table of our Lord with a small group of Fellow Followers of Jesus is an important key to living out our, "Abide in Me," life together.

Father, in Jesus' Name, I repeat Paul's prayer, "Forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ...."  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2