Letter to the Anglican Orthodox Church from Bishop
Jerry L. Ogles, Presiding Bishop, Anglican Orthodox Communion - Worldwide
1 O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the
rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful
noise unto him with psalms. 3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the deep places of the
earth: the strength of the hills is his also. 5 The sea is his, and he made it: and his
hands formed the dry land. 6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our
maker. (Psalm
95:1-6)
Each fourth Thursday of November we celebrate a National Day of Thanksgiving to
our God. It is a day sanctioned by
a proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 in the midst of the War
Between the States and an act of the Congress of the United States. Sadly, many
in government and the public sector wish to diminish the meaning of the day by
referring to it as ‘Fall Break” or “Turkey Day.” It takes a human turkey to
call Thanksgiving by that latter name. It is irreverent to God and the meaning
of the day to do so.
When we read the passage quoted above from the 95th Psalm, one will
labor in vain to find the invitation to come before the Lord with Thanksgiving
limited to a single day of the year. In fact, our thanksgiving should be offered
up every day, and every hour, of the year. But it is good that a grateful
nation recognizes such a day each year. It is a time for gathering of family,
friends, and loved ones for a meal reflecting the abundant blessings of God
upon that family, and upon the nation. It is a blessing and comfort of Godly
faith that families dine together. Our Thanksgiving Supper may even resemble
that great Supper of the Lord where we sit down together with the whole church
in the presence of the Lord for Communion. Love burns warmly in our hearts as
we feast and celebrate our thankfulness to God, and to each other, for all of
the blessings of the year. In view of the love and camaraderie that we feel
during the Thanksgiving Feast, perhaps we should extend the practice to every
meal of the family. Families that dine together stay together, as the saying
goes.
There are ample examples in nature that point to the spiritual. Let us consider
the following illustration of thankfulness: “The circulations of the
ocean currents constitute a plain and permanent picture of these relations
between a human soul and a redeeming God. The sea is always drawing what it
needs down to itself, and also always sending up of its abundance unto the
heavens. It is always getting, and always giving. So, when in the covenant the
true religion has been constituted, the redeemed one gets and gives, gives and
gets; draws from God a stream of benefits, sends up to God the incense of
praise.” Wm. Arnot
In the illustration given,
it is worth noting that the waters of the sea are never diminished or exhausted
by their giving. We ask only one thing of the Lord in the prayer He taught us
to pray – the Lord’s Prayer. That one thing is our daily bread. In the Shepherd’s
Psalm (23rd) we acknowledge that those who worship in spirit and in
truth the Triune God are so blessed by Him that their Cups “runneth over.”
These are cups of love, of faith, of plenty, of security, and of blessings. If
the cups of our hearts are open to receive the grace and love of God, it will
be impossible to want for a full cup regardless how much we give of our love
and resources to others - is constantly being replenished and runneth over. It
is a tried and true axiom that you cannot out-give God.
May this be a year of true
Thanksgiving, national repentance, and renewed faith for a nation so well
favored by God.
Happy Thanksgiving, and God bless you.
Jerry L. Ogles
