Give Thanks!

Binhi sang Pagtuo

November 9, 2009

Dear Centralians and Friends,

Greetings from the campus!

November is usually the month that the churches celebrate thanksgiving. This week our reflection will center on thanksgiving, and the scripture text comes from Psalm 100.

There are six things that can be found in our scripture text. I am giving an acrostic meaning of the letters from the word THANKS.

First, T – Thank God for giving us three things. Thanksgiving comes from two words – Thanks and giving. Thanks be to God for he has been giving us his goodness, mercy and faithfulness. Verse 5 says, “For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His faithfulness endures to all generations.”

Because of these three major things that God has given us, what will be our responses? The 5 letters that are left, based on our text are the responses that God is expecting us.

The first in the five responses is that we must have a H – Heart that is thankful/grateful (indebted). Verse 4b says, “Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.”

The second in the five responses is that we should A – Always praise God. Verse 1 says, “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all you lands!” Verse 2b, “Come before His presence with singing.” And Verse 4a, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise.”

The third in the five responses is that we must remember that we belong to N – New Covenant community. Verse 3b, “We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” We Christians belong to the New Covenant community or the new testament community. Jesus said, “this new covenant I gave to you…love one another.”

We need to be reminded that when we were baptized, we signed a new contract with Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We gave our commitment to repent from our sins, to be transformed by the Holy Spirit, and as a result to be initiators of the Kingdom of God. Have we been faithful to this new covenant? The church covenant that we read every communion Sunday is a big reminder for all of us.

The fourth in the five responses is that we must K – Know that the Lord is God. Verse 3a, “Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves.” We are his people. He is the owner. Sometimes we forget that God is the owner and we are his stewards. What is happening around us has shown how we fell short of our responsibility as stewards of God’s creation.

The fifth response is that we should S – Serve the Lord by serving his people. Verse 2, “Serve the LORD with gladness.” The Hebrew word used by the Psalmist to describe serve is awbad. The literal meaning of awbad is to be enslaved to serve the Master. We are bondservants of Jesus. This verse teaches us that serving God is not a burden but a joy. We must never feel that the ministry of Jesus Christ is a burden but rather we must feel joyful because we are serving the Lord of lords and King of kings.

May God bless us all!

Sincerely,

Pastor Francis Neil G. Jalando-on

Assistant Chaplain

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