A very Happy American Thanksgiving to you all. I would like to pause with you and remember the many things that have caused and continue to cause us deep and prayerful concern: the ongoing Covid crisis, economic disparity, reconciliation in all its aspects, the rise of violence, lack of civil discourse in so many places, creation which continues to “groan” under our neglect, disaster relief, and recovery, repair and discovering together the post-covid church.
Just. Stop. Right. There.
We are intimately, persistently, and committed to recounting and prayerfully engaging the litany of concerns. It is time, more than time, to turn our hearts and minds and conversations to the things that we can give thanks for. And they are many!
We are encouraged and deeply thankful for our NABF network and the ways in which we see ourselves:
- seeking each other out to encourage and pray for one another
- walking alongside one another
- interceding in the difficult places with one another
- collaborating over Disaster Relief
- committing to Creation Care
- as Scholars, seeking to serve the church
- and recently, gathering online together and hearing about Recovery, Repair, and the Post-Covid Church
We do all of this through the strength, comfort, and encouragement of the Holy Spirit, whom Christ promised would come to accompany us as we seek to do these things for one another.
As Charles Dickens said in the Tale of Two Cities “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” It is time, well past time, to declare with thankfulness some of our best of times, in this Thanksgiving holiday.
As Nehemiah would say to us “may the joy of the Lord be your strength.”
Warmly, in Christ,
Jeremy Bell