Life Lines
festivals
Religious festivals bring a spiritual dimension into the march of time and the
turning of the seasons and remind us of the Lord’s perpetual presence. They
are like tent pegs that keep the Tabernacle of heaven firmly connected to the
earth.
Thanksgivi ng comes in the autumn of the year, in celebration of the
harvest. The timing of this festival is natural, but it is spiritually opportune
also, in that it leads into the celebration of the Lord’s birth. Being thankful for
blessings already received turns our minds to the Divine Source of all goodness
and thus prepares us for the reception of new blessings yet to come.
Christmas is a bright and happy moment in the dark of winter when we
celebrate the great miracle of the Lord’s birth in Bethlehem, with its promise
of “Peace on earth, good will toward men!” It came at a dark and cruel time
in human history, and yet into that world the Prince of Peace was born. There
is still much darkness and cruelty in the world today, and yet in the quiet,
humble, secluded little Bethlehem of hearts that cherish innocence and long
for salvation, the Lord is born anew. We are reminded of that every year at
Christmastime and our hope for the future is renewed.
(WEO)
lincoln and the spirit of thanksgiving
In his 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation Abraham Lincoln set the tone not only
for this annual observance in the United States but for the spirit of gratitude
that should be in all of our hearts, every day. It is an enduring blessing in itself:
“It is the duty of nations as well as men to own their dependence upon the
overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble
sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and
pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures,
and proved by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.
“We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to
punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the
awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment
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