Scripture: Psalm 108:1-6
My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make melody. Awake, my soul! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn. I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples, and I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is higher than the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth. Give victory with your right hand, and answer me, so that those whom you love may be rescued.
Thought for the Day: I simply love Anne Lamott! She is one of the most honest earthy people I have found, and when she speaks about life and faith, there is absolutely no fluff. It is what it is, and she is who she is. Just recently she posted the following on her blog (I’ve slightly condensed it):
The year I got sober, 1986, I started worrying about Thanksgiving in August, because in my family, at least, everyone always went crazy, and I had always gotten the craziness all over me, like Oobleck, the sticky green slime in Dr. Seuss.
But then the night before Thanksgiving, a sober gay man with AIDS took me aside and said, “Annie, another word for Thanksgiving is Thursday. Just don’t drink tomorrow. Just for one day.” Then he sprinkled purple glitter over me, and said, “I’ve anointed you with Fairy dust!”
It changed my life. Just Thursday? What a concept. He said all I had to do was show up, and no matter what, no drink. Left foot, right foot, left foot, breathe.
He was God with skin on for me that day, which is all we ever need. So I did what he said, because the only hope we ever have to give up is in our own agenda…
That was 27 sober years ago. So thank you to everyone who knows about fairy dust and who has been God with skin on for me. I wish you all a day of purple glitter.
That day with the purple fairy dust was still difficult for Anne Lamott, but she found the means to make it happen, or should I say that God found an effective strategy using the an unlikely person and method. But isn’t that what God does all the time?
I hope your Thanksgiving Day has a little purple fairy dust, but more importantly, I hope you encounter someone who is God with skin on.
Prayer: You’re great in both your love and your creativity, O Lord, and I am both thankful and blessed because of you. Amen.
Advent Begins This Sunday
Theme: Quiet on the Set
Scripture: Matthew 1:1-2, 15-16
Sermon: A Scandalous Entrance
