{"id":1376,"date":"2014-11-26T07:03:11","date_gmt":"2014-11-26T12:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=1376"},"modified":"2014-11-26T07:07:18","modified_gmt":"2014-11-26T12:07:18","slug":"worship-wednesday-all-good-gifts-thanksgiving-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=1376","title":{"rendered":"Worship Wednesday – All Good Gifts – Thanksgiving Memories"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2006<\/a><\/p>\n

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.\u00a0 – James 1:17<\/p>\n

For most of 20 years, we lived in\u00a0North Africa\u00a0where a Thanksgiving holiday was a foreign concept. “Eid el Shukr” (“Feast of Thanks” in Arabic) was understood but not a day set aside. We, along with other expat Americans, brought Thanksgiving with us and invited our local friends into the experience. On the surface, American Thanksgiving has pretty much three constant components – food, family, and football. In those days of living overseas, watching football on T.V. on Thanksgiving Day was a bit challenging, but these days, it seems, all things are possible.<\/p>\n

Now, back in the States, the old traditions are changing. My Mom, who always laid out an incredible Southern-style feast on the kitchen counter back home in Georgia,\u00a0is no longer with us. As with some of you, I’m sure, I miss her still every day and how she lavished love on us through these family times together. Our children are grown now and establishing their own traditions with more families and friends added into the mix. After so many years being away, we find ourselves needing to re-work our own traditions as well.<\/p>\n

Last night, we participated in a community Thanksgiving dinner for international students. This is our fourth year, So I’m thinking it’s a new tradition for us. As we visited with new friends from Iran and Colombia, we marveled at how small the world has become. Enjoying Thanksgiving yummies together with them took us fondly back to our years in Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco.<\/p>\n

\"Blog<\/a><\/p>\n

Thanksgiving is, for us, all about food, family, and football…but there’s also another element…faith… I am grateful every day for the kindnesses of God and those he’s placed in my life. Celebrating Thanksgiving allows us to put an exclamation point on being grateful. It’s not just about a tableful of food, although food is clearly a focal point. Thanksgiving, even as a national holiday and not a religious one, focuses our sight beyond ourselves. There is an object in Thanksgiving beyond ourselves.<\/p>\n

Over 30 years ago, a funky little Broadway musical was turned into a film – Godspell. It was an adaptation of the life of Jesus according to the Gospel of Matthew. At that time, I was in that season of life young people pass through of searching out what I believed. It wasn’t going well at that time. Praise God, He did not forget me during those days when I\u00a0had all but forgotten Him. Watching Godspell, of all things, was one of the occasions God used to wake me up. There’s\u00a0a wonder\u00a0and delight\u00a0in the\u00a0young followers of Jesus\u00a0in the musical. It reminded me of what I had once with God…and what could be again.<\/p>\n

All the songs in the\u00a0musical Godspell are lovely. Composer and Lyricist, Stephen Schwartz, beautifully captured some of Jesus’ teaching and the depth of love and\u00a0rightness between Him, His followers, and creation, in general. All Good Gifts, <\/em>adapted from an old hymn, is one such song and is a\u00a0pure and proper doxology\u00a0of praise for Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

Worship with me.\u00a0 [Here’s the YouTube video<\/a> from Godspell to give you the melody.]<\/p>\n

All Good Gifts<\/em><\/a>*
\nWe plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land..
\nBut it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand..
\nHe sends us snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain…
\nThe breezes and the sunshine, and soft refreshing rain…<\/p>\n

All good gifts around us
\nAre sent from Heaven above
\nThen thank the Lord, thank the Lord for all his love…<\/p>\n

We thank thee then, O Father, for all things bright and good,
\nThe seedtime and the harvest, our life our health our food,
\nNo gifts have we to offer for all thy love imparts
\nBut that which thou desirest, our humble thankful hearts!<\/p>\n

All good gifts around us
\nAre sent from Heaven above..
\nThen thank the Lord, thank the Lord for all his love..<\/p>\n

I really wanna thank you Lord!
\nAll good gifts around us
\nAre sent from Heaven above..
\nThen thank the Lord, oh thank the Lord for all his love..<\/p>\n

\"2011<\/a><\/p>\n

Food – Family Favorites\u00a0in Mom’s Kitchen<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"2011<\/a><\/p>\n

Football – on T.V. or out on the street with cousins and friends<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/a>\"2010<\/a><\/p>\n

Family – Time together…savoring every minute.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"2011<\/a><\/p>\n

Happy Thanksgiving…<\/p>\n

Oh…just in case Thanksgiving is a struggle…and it isn’t all\u00a0happy family fun…I pray you take courage and rein in your heart to remember that God sees and loves you. We can be a blessing…if you’ve read this far…you are a blessing to me. Wish you were at our table…maybe one day you will be. You are definitely welcome at God’s table.<\/p>\n

*Lyrics and Story Behind the Song –\u00a0All Good Gifts<\/em> (Godspell)<\/a><\/p>\n

YouTube Video – All Good Gifts<\/em> (Godspell 1990)<\/a><\/p>\n

YouTube Video Clip – All Good Gifts<\/em> (Godspell original cast 1973)<\/a><\/p>\n

Wikipedia article on original hymn\/lyric – We Plough the Fields and Scatter<\/em> (1862)<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.\u00a0 – James 1:17 For most of 20 years, we lived in\u00a0North Africa\u00a0where a Thanksgiving holiday was a foreign concept. “Eid el Shukr” (“Feast of Thanks” in Arabic) … Continue reading Worship Wednesday – All Good Gifts – Thanksgiving Memories<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[183,808,50,33,18,432,619,610,47],"tags":[1845,1844,615,530,812,95,1835,811,1843,360],"class_list":["post-1376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture-religion","category-film","category-god","category-inspired","category-jesus","category-music","category-thanksgiving","category-thanksgiving-or-gratefulness","category-wednesday-worship","tag-all-good-gifts","tag-godspell","tag-goodness-of-god","tag-gospel","tag-grateful-heart","tag-home","tag-jesus","tag-thank-the-lord","tag-thanksgiving","tag-worship-wednesday"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pauPAB-mc","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1376"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1400,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1376\/revisions\/1400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}