Tag Archives: gathering

5 Friday Faves – Thanksgiving Edition – the Gathering, Family Recipes, Table Talk, Living Room Sprawls, and Thanksgiving Day Naps

It’s Friday! The day after Thanksgiving. Otherwise known as Black Friday, the biggest shopping day in the US. Personally, I try not to even enter a store on this day. If you did, then you’re in better shape with your Christmas gift-buying than I am, so congratulations. For me, just one more day of Thanksgiving reflections. Another day of being thankful to God for this life…and for traditions that help us hold tight to each other…in the best of ways.

1) The Gathering – Our celebration of American Thanksgiving always involves some sort of gathering. When children grow up and start their own families, we parents are obliged to share them with their greater extended families on various holidays. I’m very thankful for the inlaws/in-loves I inherited through marrying Dave and we’re also thankful for our children’s inlaws. Whatever configuration you had this week, either for Thanksgiving Day or another occasion this week, I hope you had sweet times.

2) Family Recipes – It’s all about the food, right? My mom-in-law lavishes many lovely traditions on us with each holiday. One yummy one is her strawberry salad (a dessert, disguised as salad) served with the meal instead of after it. This year, we had Thanksgiving at home instead of at MomMom’s. Our youngest son Daniel followed her recipe and served up that dish of goodness, full of sweet memories for us. Also on our table this year was my mom’s turkey dressing and a sweet Southern cornbread from our daughter-in-law’s grandmother’s recipe.

The dilemma is when the recipe is a bit sketchy…as in this video below (so reminded me of how my mom cooked – a little bit of this and a little bit of that…to perfection).

Do you have any favorite family recipes you’d be willing to share? Even if it’s just the story? Please! In Comments below.

3) Table Talk – With so many around the table, the conversation is never dull. There’s always some variation of the theme of “what are you thankful for” – and then we turn to topics as varied as the feast spread before us. We hear about new girlfriends, new babies, new jobs, etc., etc. Always fascinating and occasionally we learn something outside of the good news category. This time, I learned about this thing called net neutrality. It’s defined as the principle that Internet service providers must treat all data on the Internet the same, and not discriminate or charge differently by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or method of communication.

Photo Credit: Flickr, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Basically, in the U.S., we have been able to access any type data we choose (whether it’s live-streaming, or an online game community, or an uploaded video of your nephew’s Christmas program). What puts net neutrality in the news is that the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) is moving to deregulate the internet such that internet service providers can have more say in their treatment of data. We may have to pay more for some services, internet speed could be affected, and we might not have the final say on what is available to us (data-wise). It’s an interesting issue because there’s big money companies on both sides.

My husband and I were talking about it today as to what the motives would be on wanting net neutrality vs. wanting to get rid of it. He brought up the issue of privacy and how willing we are to give up personal information over the internet. Right now, for instance, Facebook is free…or is it? Dave quoted someone in regards to this:

“If something is free, you are the product.” Are the internet service providers after our money or our information  (personal data)? It is one or the other. Later this month the FCC will make their decision, and we’ll see what comes out of the loss of net neutrality…if that happens. What are your thoughts?

What Happens When ‘Net Neutrality’ Rules Bite the Dust? – Tali Arbel

A Primer: Just What Is Net Neutrality – and Why All the Fuss? [Here’s What You Need to Know About the Fight for an Open Internet] – BillMoyers.com Staff

A Net Neutrality Primer: Should the Internet Be Regulated Like Ma Bell? – Ryan Radia and Jessica Melugin

Net Neutrality – Why Are Americans So Worried About It Being Scrapped? – Alex Hern

4) Living Room Sprawls – After we leave the dinner table, and the dishes are washed and food put away, it’s find a place to sprawl in the living room. Either for a football game or a nap (see #5).

What favorite activity do you have besides those I listed? A walk outside? Table games? Talking family history with the old ones? Playing with the babies?

One activity I would love to add to Thanksgiving is singing around the piano. We do that at Christmas time, but the video below, by People and Songs, below got me excited about pulling folks together to sing at other times of the year as well.

YouTube Video – People & Songs – Revelation – FB Live Living Room

5) Thanksgiving Day Naps – My husband has a gift for naps. Not just after a big meal. He is one of those work hard/play hard kind of guys, and when he finally sits down…sleep can quickly overtake him.

It’s sweet to watch…until I, too, nod off.

Also, by the way, it turns out that tryptophan, the supposed sleep-inducing culprit in turkey, is actually found as much in chicken as in turkey…so tryptophan is not the agent bringing on sleep every Thanksgiving Day. What causes us to sleep after dinner this day – the HUGE carbohydrate load, right? Something along the order of 3000 calories in one meal for most of us. Makes me sleepy just thinking about it.

YouTube Video – Does Turkey Make You Sleepy? – Dr. Daniel Barone

Verify: Does Turkey Make You Sleepy? – Abigail Curran

Now that Thanksgiving is properly celebrated it’s on to Christmas! Cranking up the radio for 24/7 Christmas music! Just heard Josh Wilson’s Jesus Is Alive for the first time today. One of these days, our son Nathan (Beyond the Guitar) will hopefully acquiesce to our badgering for a classical guitar Christmas album…so stay tuned. Also on the weekend post-Thanksgiving, Christmas lights seem to magically appear on houses all around this city (see Tacky Light Tour). How about yours?

Bonus: The Dennehy Family (here in Virginia)- “Family Is Adoption.”

Loving Parents Adopted 9 Special Needs Children

‘That Armless Guy’: Guitarist George Dennehy’s Inspirational Journey

Going to vs. Being Church – It’s Not Just About Sunday, But Sunday Matters, Too

Blog - Attending vs. Being Church 8Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. – Hebrews 10:23-25

This morning, I was heading out of my neighborhood, later than usual, and on my way to gather with my church family. I carefully passed by this tiny little girl pedaling her bike alongside her dad who was walking their dog. Sunday morning. No plans for church, it seemed. It made me a little sad.

I was late myself, so it seemed clear they weren’t attending a church this morning. I wondered, turning out of the neighborhood, what idea that little girl had of church. Then it hit me that I was unconsciously defining church as attending vs. being.

God in Scripture does not define church as an event or a place, but rather a people. We are to gather (Acts 2:42, 46-47) as His people –  to encourage each other, to serve and pray for one another, to worship God, and to support the work of the church (not the place as much as the people). There is a gathering of the church, but there is also a scattering of the church.Blog - Attending vs. Being Church 5Processed with VSCOcam with f2 preset

As we go out through the week, being the church, we are commanded by God to love Him and to love each other. (Matthew 22:37-40) Why a command? Our default is self. In His kindness, God points us to an upward focus and an outward focus.

      “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.   By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”  – John 13:34-35Blog - Attending vs. Being Church 3Crossover Parkville Baptist baseball clinic Stephen Arrington (yellow shirt), Suffolk VA, FBC Monroe, outreach pastorVictor Schloss, SEND City Coordinator for San Diego. With Jason Esparza in gray t-shirt, Stephen Dixon in white and Rachel Field.

As our culture trends more and more toward being post-Christian, we as believers in Christ must make more intentional choices regarding church.* Not making a decision is making a decision.  Are we attending church, not attending church, or being church?

Attending church maybe allows us to check something off our lists, but it’s not what being a true follower of Christ is. In fact, just attending is difficult to continue because our hearts and lives are not invested. It becomes easy, with all the distractions of life, to just not go.

Not attending church doesn’t get us to the place of being church either. When we make a series of decisions where we essentially become unchurched, we are in danger of falling away from God and His people. This is where the urging in Hebrews 10 (at top) is so vital.

Being church is what God calls us to ultimately. He means for us to gather and He means to send us out.

And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him [Jesus]. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” – Luke 4:17-19

Being church means so much more than just being church attenders. It means that we are part of a group of Christ-followers. Partners. Both locally and globally. Loving God and each other deeply and taking that love to our neighbors and the nations.

The little girl on her bike, and her daddy beside her, might delight in this idea of church…and the God of this church.

[Jesus speaking] Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Matthew 28:19-20

Salt Shaker Ministry: Being the Church vs. Going to Church – Live Oaks Church – Powerpoint & Bible Study

Going To vs. Being [Church Edition]

Doing Church vs. Being Church

The Local Church – Minimum vs. Maximum by John Piper

I Don’t Go to Church – I Am the Church by David E. Bish

Going to Church vs. Being the Church – RagamuffinGospelFan

*7 Startling Facts: An Up Close Look at Church Attendance in America

Attending Church for the Wrong Reasons

Do You Go to Church or Do You Go to Jesus?

Why Is Church Attendance/Going to Church Important

Photo Credits (above) – bpnews.net

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