Caren Cummings

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I love holidays – all holidays, and I usually decorate for each of them throughout the year.  But I especially enjoy the holidays during this time of year.  I love the crisp coolness in the air, the changing colors of the leaves, the smells, and of course, the music.  I’ve been listening to Christmas music for at least 3 months.  Christmas has always been my favorite time of year.  My husband, Dave, prefers Thanksgiving.  He is a traditionalist.  Although he likes trying new things, going to new places and meeting new people, at heart he is a traditionalist. Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday for a traditionalist.  I thought I’d borrow a few thoughts from him…..

Thanksgiving is the last of the pure holidays.  Nothing commercial, nothing to promote, nothing but an opportunity to do what we should do all the time: give thanks.

What I like best about Thanksgiving is its inherent simplicity.  We gather together family and friends to share a meal and to consider all that we have to be thankful for in our lives.  That’s pretty much it.  But that is a lot.

We don’t expect any shiny wrapped presents.  We don’t have to stay up until midnight.  We are not at risk of blowing a finger off with a firecracker or stepping on a hardboiled egg.  We are not expected to put on a silly costume.  Nor are we expected to sing carols on this particular holiday.

I can think of only one secular Thanksgiving holiday song: “Over the River and through the Woods.” Thanksgiving pretty much equals going home.  Families traveling miles just to be together and break a little bread…and turkey, and dressing, and cranberries, and mashed potatoes, and gravy.  And pies.

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So many in our Immanuel family have faithfully joined us over the last eight years to pray for my sister-in-law, Debbie Smith, in her battle over cancer.  God has answered our prayers – though not necessarily in the way that we would have chosen - and Debbie is now totally cancer free, completely healed, and in the presence of her Savior.

One week ago, we sat in a service to remember and celebrate her life and, more importantly, to give praise and glory to the God she loved.  We listened to her favorite songs- It Is Well with My Soul, Amazing Grace, and Great is Thy Faithfulness. We read her favorite Psalm – Psalm 91, which interestingly and probably unknown to Debbie, was and is the favorite of my grandmother, my mother, and me.  We probably all claim it as our favorite for different reasons.  I love it because of the different names of God in verses 1 and 2, and the attributes of those names.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High. . . . The Most High – El Elyon –   the Sovereign God- the ‘Blessed Controller of all things;’  “will abide under the shadow of the Almighty” . . . .  the Almighty – El  Shaddai – the all-sufficient One, the protector, the lover of my soul;  “I will say to the LORD” . . . . LORD – Jehovah – I AM WHO I AM – the eternal, unchanging  Alpha and Omega;  “my refuge and my fortress, my God” . . . . God – Elohim –– the Father, Son and Spirit as Creator; “in whom I trust.”

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Easter has been my favorite day of the year for as long as I can remember.  I loved Easter as a child.  I loved the anticipation of what was coming.  I loved when our body of believers gathered around the Lord’s table for communion – in fact, the first communion in which I took part was at Easter.  I loved hearing our congregation enthusiastically sing Up from the Grave He Arose!   Our church always had a huge egg hunt on the Saturday before Easter, and as the moms were out hiding eggs, our pastor’s wife would share the gospel message to a room full of children.   It was the same story– in fact, I can still remember certain phrases that she used – year after year as she made those wonderful flannel-graph pictures come to life. 

Last evening, our men’s ensemble sang,  Come to the cross - gaze on the scene anew, and  we were challenged to “Behold the Lamb of God.” 

This year, in preparation for our Easter celebration at Immanuel, my heart and mind have been stirred to gaze on the scene anew-   to behold the Lamb of God- not just recount the same story I heard as a child and be emotionally stirred, but to behold, to look, to watch, to see…., to gaze- to fix the eyes of my soul on the One who knew no sin, but became sin for me that I might become the righteousness of God in Him. By some, it has been called the Great Exchange.  Jonathan Edwards says it like this. “But God has been pleased to provide One for us to take away our guilt and disgrace, and to be the glory in the midst of us; to put great honor upon us, to be as a covering to hide our nakedness, and not only so, but to adorn us and make us glorious; to bring us from our shameful ignorance and darkness; to be our righteousness for the removal of our guilt and to procure acceptance with God for us; to be our redemption.”  

This week we gather as a body of believers to remember His sacrifice and rejoice in His resurrection.  As  we fix our eyes and hearts on the One who took our place, we behold the Lamb –- the One who exchanged His robes for ours.                                                 

His robes for mine: O wonderful exchange!
Clothed in my sin, Christ suffered 'neath God's rage.
Draped in His righteousness I'm justified.
In Christ I live, for in my place He died.

His robes for mine: what cause have I for dread?
God's daunting Law, Christ mastered in my stead.
Faultless I stand, with righteous works not mine.
Saved by my Lord's vicarious death and life.

His robes for mine: God's justice is appeased.
Jesus is crushed, and thus the Father's pleased.
Christ drank God's wrath on sin, then cried, "Tis done!"
Sin's wage is paid, propitiation won.

His robes for mine: such anguish none can know.
Christ, God's beloved, condemned as though His foe.
He, as though I, accursed and left alone.
I, as though He, embraced and welcomed home!

I cling to Christ and marvel at the cost.
Jesus forsaken, God estranged from God.
Bought by such love, my life is not my own.
My praise, my all, shall be for Christ alone.
~-Chris Anderson

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July 4th always brings special memories - family gatherings with the grill sizzling in the backyard, cold watermelon, homemade ice cream, fireworks, canons andThe 1812 Overture,The Stars and Stripes Forever, lots of laughter and the love of people whose hearts and lives were knit together.  Family - such good times!

Yesterday, I sat in our morning worship service and listened as our church family sang together:

"Thy love divine hath led us in the past, 

In this free land by Thee our lot is cast,

Be Thou our Ruler, Guardian, Guide and Stay,

Thy Word our law, Thy paths our chosen way."      

We were stirred as we heard of the sacrifices made by those who signed the Declaration of Independence, we were reminded that we were established as a nation "under God,"  and we were challanged, as citizens of this nation and as citizens of Heaven, to live as people who are free.  Because of our faith in the Lord Jesus, we are free from the bondage of sin and free to serve one another - free to be salt and light in our nation, our communities, our homes.

Last night, the Disciples Sunday school class met at our home to make some more family memories.  The grill was sizzling (and so was Dave as he flipped the burgers and rolled the dogs).  We had watermelon, fireworks, canons and The 1812 Overture, The Stars and Stripes Forever.  The laughter of the children rang through the neighborhood, and the love and kinship we enjoy in this family of believers was evident.  How I praise our great God for His love and grace that has led us in the past - as citizens of this country, and as a family of believers at Immanuel.

The last stanza of God of Our Fathers states:

"Refresh Thy people on their toilsome way,
Lead us from night to never ending day;
Fill all our lives with love and grace divine,
And glory, laud, and praise be ever Thine."

May that be our prayer for our nation, our church, ourselves.