WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Appreciating Our Material Blessings and Our Life In Community ---- That's THANKSGIVING DAY

In 1621, the Pilgrims celebrated after their first harvest in the New World, and some Americans call this the "First Thanksgiving."  Wikipedia tells us that the first Thanksgiving feast was held at the Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts, lasted three days, and was attended by 53 Pilgrims and 90 Native Americans.

Squanto, a Patuxet Native American who resided with the Wampanoag Tribe, was one of the guests.  He had taught the Pilgrims how to catch eel and grow corn, and served as an interpreter for them.  Squanto had learned English while being taken around Europe as a curiosity, and during travels in England.  In addition, the Wampanoag leader Massasoit donated food stores to the fledgling colony during the first winter when supplies brought from England were insufficient.

It was already an established practice in Europe to hold feasts celebrating such blessings as a military victory, the end of a drought, or a successful harvest.  For some, it was probably seen as a religious event; for others it was perhaps a time to let off steam and "party."

The Pilgrims held another Thanksgiving celebration on July 30, 1623, after a long and nearly catastrophic drought ended with a refreshing 14-day rain, and assured a large harvest.  This 1623 Thanksgiving was significant because the order to recognize the event was from the Plymouth Colony's Governor William Bradford (a civil authority) and not from the church, making it likely to be the first civil recognition of Thanksgiving in New England.

Wikipedia continues: "Irregular Thanksgivings continued after favorable events, and days of fasting after unfavorable ones.  In the Plymouth tradition, a Thanksgiving Day was primarily a church observance, rather than a feast day.  But such Thanksgiving days would have been a civil observance linked to the religious one, as in 1623.  Gradually, an annual Thanksgiving after the harvest, developed in the mid-17th century.  This did not occur on any set day or necessarily on the same day in the different colonies in America."

Then, in the middle of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November, 1863, "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficial Father who dwelleth in the Heavens." Since 1863, Thanksgiving has been observed annually throughout the United States.

But in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt changed the traditional celebration date from the last Thursday in November.  In 1939, November had five Thursdays (instead of the usual four), and Roosevelt declared the fourth Thursday as Thanksgiving Day rather than the last one.  With the country still in the midst of The Great Depression, Roosevelt thought an earlier Thanksgiving would give merchants a longer period to sell merchandise before Christmas, helping the economy recover from the Depression.

Over the years, a number of traditions have grown up around Thanksgiving, that have no relationship to the event's early religious and civil intention.  For most Americans who celebrate with a Thanksgiving feast, a roasted turkey is the center of attraction on the dinner table.  Perhaps it was back in the era of President Harry Truman when the annual practice began for the President to "pardon" a live turkey, who would thus escape "capital punishment" and thereafter live out it's days on a nearby, peaceful farm.

In addition, many high school and college football teams will play their final games of the season on Thanksgiving Day or on the days immediately following.  This is facilitated by the common practice of employers to give workers as much as a four-day weekend.  Also, for many children, the big event of the weekend will be the annual Thanksgiving Day parade televised from New York City ---- but with much more emphasis on entertainment than on thankfulness for the year's bounty.

For many religiously-inclined Americans, the annual Thanksgiving celebration reminds us once again to thank God for the rich bounty we find in our lives, whether material or spiritual.  But many of us do say such prayers of thanks throughout the year.  So, for such folks, perhaps the really unique gift of Thanksgiving is the strong sense of community with others, which it fosters.

The "community" around the Thanksgiving dinner table may be family, neighbors or just good friends ---- but, at this time of year we make a real effort to be there, even if we need to fly from a distant place.  Young and old gather.  The aroma and food delicacies create relaxed conversation and sweet recollections of people and times from the past.  In our very mobile and digitized America, has Thanksgiving Day reinvented itself yet again ---- morphing into an annual, not-to-be-missed day of COMMUNITY?

No ---- think about the first Thanksgiving in 1621.  The Native American guests outnumbered the Pilgrims nearly two to one.  The Pilgrims were not just celebrating a good harvest and thanking God for their bounty ---- they were recognizing that "community" with others had truly enriched their lives.

Isn't  that true for us today?  While expressing thankfulness for our many blessings has not changed, it seems appropriate to also acknowledge the gift of community with others.  After all. the Pilgrims could see this from the very beginning!

___________________________________________________________________________

These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to 

encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth this fall at CPC.

___________________________________________________________________________ 

WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Is There A Short-Cut To Becoming Spiritual?

Does spiritual growth require some kind of hormone, like some other efforts to enhance performance?  Some of us may be disappointed with ourselves, like my brother Richard. Not so much with particular things he has done, as with aspects of whom he has become. Richard lives in Colorado, and we met and talked at a family wedding this summer.

I did not know much about Richard's private life, but after a few wedding toasts we were willing to talk freely about Richard's pain for not being the person he had always thought he would become.

Later, we had a chance to talk, away from the distractions of the wedding reception.  I told Richard that perhaps what he was missing was some of the mysterious process called "spiritual growth."  The goal of spiritual growth, I told him, is to live as if Jesus held unhindered sway over our daily lives.  Of course it is still we doing the living.  We are called by God, I said, to make daily life choices as the uniquely created selves which each of us is ---- with our own particular temperament, our own gene pool, our unique history.  But to grow spiritually means to make those choices increasingly as Jesus would have, if He were living in our unique place and time.  That is, to perceive what Jesus would perceive if he were to look through our eyes, to think what he would think, to feel what he would feel, and therefore to do what he would do.

John Ortberg, a teacher, writer and the pastor of Menlo Park (CA) Presbyterian Church, agrees that we may be missing the life we were appointed by God to live.  Too often, says Ortberg, people think about their "spiritual lives" as just one more aspect of their existence, alongside and largely separate from their "financial" lives or their "vocational" lives. Occasionally, they may try to get their "spiritual" lives together by praying more regularly or trying to master some other formal spiritual discipline.  It is the religious equivalent of going on a diet, or trying to stick to a budget, Ortberg says.

The term "spiritual life" actually refers to the whole breadth of one's life, says Pastor Ortberg.  It includes every moment and every facet of it ---- from God's perspective. Another way of  saying it," continues Ortberg, "is that God is not interested merely in your idea of "spiritual" practices ---- God is really interested in your life as a whole.  He wants to redeem it!"

As Pastor Ortberg sees it, "God holds out the possibility of transformation, and the possibility of transformation is the essence of hope.  Hope is the primary goal of the spiritual life."  The goal of spiritual transformation can and should be pursued full-time, he says.  Often we reduce our "tools for spiritual growth" to a few activities, such as prayer and Bible study, or a few periods of the day called "quiet time."  However, every moment of our lives can be an opportunity to learn from God how to live like Jesus.

Getting clear on what "spiritual life" looks like is no casual affair.  How does one know if we are settling for false transformation instead of the real thing?  Here are a few warning signs offered by John Ortberg:

1.) Am I spiritually "inauthentic"?  To be "inauthentic" means being preoccupied with appearing to be spiritual.  Perhaps we have a hard time talking about God without trying to convince people we are "spiritual."  Or, we may work harder at making people think we are a loving person than we do in actually loving them.

2.) Am I becoming judgmental or exclusive or proud?    Pride is a potential problem for anyone who takes spiritual growth seriously.  As soon as we start to pursue virtue, we begin to wonder why others are not as virtuous as we are.

3.) Am I becoming more approachable, or less?  In Jesus' day, rabbis had the mistaken notion that their spirituality required them to distance themselves from people.  The irony is that the only rabbi that outcasts could touch was Jesus ---- he was the most approachable religious person they had ever seen.  The other religious leaders had a kind of awkwardness that pushed people away.

4.) Am I growing weary of pursuing spiritual growth?   Conventional religious goodness manages to be both intimidating and unchallenging at the same time, and this is tiresome. Intimidating because, for example, it might involve 39 separate rules about Sabbath-keeping alone.  Unchallenging because we may devote our lives to observing all the rules and not ever open our hearts to love or joy.  Conforming to some particular religious subculture is simply not a compelling enough vision to capture the human spirit.

5.) Am I measuring my spiritual life in superficial ways?  God's primary assessment of our lives is not going to be a measure of the number of our prayers, Scripture reading or meditations.  Rather, the question is whether we are growing in love for God and people. The real issue is what kind of person are we becoming?  Practices such as reading Scripture and praying are important ---- not because they prove how spiritual we are, but because God uses them to lead us into life.

Pastor Ortberg summarizes these thoughts by saying that spirituality refers to the spirit of God and the fact that we are spiritual creatures.  So, Christian spirituality has to do with having our inward person (our mind, our will, our desires and intentions) formed or shaped by Jesus into a character that will honor God, not just honor ourselves.

___________________________________________________________________________

These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage your pursuit of personal spiritual growth this fall at CPC.

___________________________________________________________________________ 

WEEKLY COMMENTARY: How Should Today's CPC Fit Into The Summit Community?

Does CPC do a good job in sending members out into the community and the world, or is it's focus simply to get more people to come to church?  Do we at CPC evaluate our progress in terms of filling our seating capacity, or by our sending capacity?

Author and church development expert Dr. Leonard Sweet says, "A missional church faces outward toward the world. . . . . For too long, churches have faced inward, offering religion as a benefits package for members ---- something that 'meets my needs,' or simply offers comfortable social opportunities with one's friends."

Dr. Sweet reports that many churches ask, "How can we get more young people involved?" He believes this is the wrong question, because it is an "inward-facing" question.  A better question, he says, is to ask, "What are the hurts and hopes of our community and how can we respond to them?"

To truly connect with their neighborhood, church members must not just look at data on a page, but listen to the people in the community.  They must get out and talk to the people who live around the church ---- in Summit, New Providence, Berkeley Heights, and perhaps elsewhere in Union and Morris Counties.

So, is CPC an "outward-facing" church?  In many small but meaningful ways, CPC members regularly have been caring for and working to transform the community around us.  Members offer service on a committed and regular basis.  You know about our participation in Family Promise (homeless care), S.H.I.P. (Summit Helps It's People ---- meals for the homeless), daily visitation at Overlook Hospital and Runnells Specialized Hospital, and a variety of other organized, outward-facing efforts.

Over the years, CPC has built an enviable record of community involvement.  For example, our members were prime movers in developing Senior Citizen housing and low-income housing in Summit.  Now we have new challenges and they will be solved with the help of some of our more recently welcomed members, with renewed energy  and new ideas, building upon a strong foundation.

So, Dr. Leonard Sweet might praise CPC as an "outward-facing" church, but is there more to our story?  Don't we have some evidence of waning interest in Bible literacy?  While our worship services and Sunday sermons are compelling, perhaps some of our members, more and more, have become merely Bible "spectators," with their working knowledge of the Bible becoming less and less sure over time.

Is this not a bit ironic?  While we have a continuing track record of reaching out to others and giving of ourselves to others, are those relationships really "spiritual" in the old-fashioned sense?  What are we doing today?  Is it that today we evangelize to outsiders more by example, than by Bible lessons and the re-telling of Jesus' parables?

This is different from the practices of earlier generations, but perhaps it is not a bad thing.  We must, indeed, respond to the changing tastes and interests of American culture and society, and today many of the strict denominational borders within and around Christianity are fading.  We are encouraged to befriend and respect people who may be very different from us.  But, in a very real sense, is this not what Jesus would tell us to do, even if many of us cannot recite a specific Bible verse in support of such practices.

Here is a question for us:  If the time and effort required to gain and retain Bible literacy is increasingly replaced by "action" programs to help others in need, in the long run might that change our relationships with God, but in a good way?

___________________________________________________________________________

These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage some personal growth this year at CPC.

___________________________________________________________________________ 

WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Do You Know Any Evangelical Christians?

Several months ago I drove to western Pennsylvania with my two daughters for a family reunion.  We spent several days near the Ohio border.  There was plenty to eat and drink as we progressed through a delightful three-day weekend.  But perhaps more memorable were some of my conversations with other guests.  

In particular, I had a long chat with my cousin Peter whom I had not seen for 30 years. He is a few years younger than me, and works in some capacity as a medical researcher.

At one point, I remarked to Peter how beautiful the little church was that I had passed on my way to that night's family gathering.  Peter agreed, but added that as he saw religious faith, it was not about beautiful buildings and ritual ---- it was about strict adherence to some basic Gospel principles.  He explained that he was an evangelical Christian, and to him salvation by faith was all about the sin-atoning death of Jesus Christ, which he had come to believe in through personal conversion, meaning that he had believed that his life needed to be changed.   Equally important to him, he said, was the authority of Scripture, and the importance of sharing the Christian message, as contrasted with mere ritual.

At that point, I had to sit down.  Peter was a bit wound up now, so I thought I had better ask him some questions about evangelical Christianity.  He told me that "evangelicals" do not form a distinct denomination ----- it is an umbrella term applicable in varying degrees across many Protestant denominations.

Peter explained that American evangelism has had two core convictions:  (1.) that a personal encounter with the risen Christ is necessary for our salvation ---- the change in our lives that leads us to reject sin for a corresponding personal holiness in life. 2.) that Scripture offersa trustworthy guide to God's will for mankind. All evangelicals believe in biblical inspiration, he said, though they disagree over how this inspiration should be defined.  Peter said many evangelicals believe in biblical inerrancy, while other evangelicals believe in biblical infallibility.  

Peter told me that ever since American evangelism broke with the mainline Protestant

churches about 100 years ago, the hallmark of evangelical theology was a vision of modern society as a sinking ship, sliding toward depravity and sin.  He said that for evangelicals, the call to the church alter was the only life raft ---- the chance to accept Jesus Christ, thus rebirth and salvation.

I was glad he had brought our conversation back to the centrality of Jesus Christ.  So, I asked him what he meant by "a personal encounter with the risen Christ"?  Did Jesus appear to Peter in a dream, was there a distinct voice in the darkness of night, or did something happen on a mountain top?  How did he know that there had been a "personal encounter" with the risen Christ, in his life?

Peter said he had read the Gospels over and over, so he already had an intellectual understanding about Jesus Christ, even though it left some questions unanswered.  But at some point, he said, he had begun to feel an emotional attachment to Jesus.  He continued: "This analogy is quite simplistic, but it was a bit like my courtship with the girl I eventually married.  When we were dating, I learned much about her interests, friends and life experiences.  She learned many factual things about me.  At some point I began to have feelings for her, as well as factual knowledge.  On an emotional level we began to have sort of a 'personal encounter'.  I thought about her a lot, even when we were not together."

"I continued to have some of my old impulses and appetites," Peter continued, "but I could see myself moving closer to her impulses and her way of seeing the world.  Then, whenever we were together, we really felt close.  I think a 'personal encounter' with Jesus is somewhat like that.  It is a process over time.  When people say they have been "born again," I believe that they are simply saying that they have now progressed to the point in a long-term process where they know they are in love with each other. And my 'personal encounter' with Jesus Christ was like that."

"These days," said Peter, "many younger evangelicals take a less fatalistic view.  For them, the 'born again' experience of accepting Jesus is just the beginning.  What follows," he said, "is the long-term process of 'spiritual formation' that involves applying the teachings of Jesus in the here and now.  Modern evangelicals do not see society as a dying ship.  They talk more about the biblical imperative to repair the ship by contributing to the betterment of their communities and the world."

Peter noted that modern evangelicals support traditional charities, but also public policies that address health care, racial inequality, poverty and the environment. Beginning in the 1970's, he said, emphasis seems to have shifted from just winning souls, to also saving bodies ---- evangelical mission became as much about making the world a better place as it was about populating heaven.

Peter went on to say, "We shouldn't allow child to live under a bridge or in the back seat of a car.  We shouldn't be satisfied if elderly people are being abused or neglected, even though they are living in a nursing home."  Peter, the evangelist, really resonated with me when he said, "You can't just say 'respect life' and mean it exclusively for unborn babies."

Quoting evangelical pastor Rick Warren, Peter suggested that if more Christians worked to alleviate needs in their local communities, the church would become known more for the love it shows, than for what it is against.

At the end of the evening, I thanked cousin Peter for sharing so frankly his approach to faith.  At first I had been a little overwhelmed, but Peter had left me with much to think about.  I especially remember his closing comment about today's evangelicals:  "People in my age group are much more attracted to participatory theology," he had said, "and are very resistant to being told what to do or think."

As my daughters and I drove back to New Jersey the next day, I recalled my conversation with Peter and wondered ---- are there not some members of CPC who would be very happy embracing some of the modern evangelical theology?  Perhaps I am one of them!

________________________________________________________________________

These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage some personal spiritual growth this fall at CPC.

________________________________________________________________________