first Thanksgiving sermon wasn't going to be all warm fuzzy thankfulness like we're all used to. Instead, I used it as an opportunity to move people to action. For some reason lately, I've been feeling an incredible draw to social justice issues, and used the story from Luke of the 10 lepers to demonstrate how we were all outcasts at one point. There are outcasts still among us. We need to reach out to them out of gratitude for what God has given us. In my opinion, it was my best sermon yet. I wrote it in 24 hours. Unbelievable.After my word explosion on Sunday, I really felt it was a chance to redeem myself and SLOW
DOWN. I asked God to keep me calm, even when I fumbled words or lost my place. Stay calm. It worked. Not only did it work, but I didn't fumble words, and kept my place just fine. Remember to pray. We have a tradition of meeting in the prayer chapel 10 minutes before every service begins. Tonight one of the prayer ministers spoke a word of blessing over my message and asked that God send the Holy Spirit to stir up the hearts of the people. I've been consciously breathing a deep breath in when the Holy Spirit is mentioned. Taking a moment to truly allow her to breath calming air into my lungs. The 30 minutes prior to the service was mighty hectic, rounding up greeters, ushers, making sure everyone had a canned good to bring as an offering, getting the sound and powerpoint people squared away. I needed that last 5 minutes to allow God to enter into the situation.Once the service started, it was out of my hands. This was the first service at Good Shepherd that I planned myself. Of course, there were people who sat down and helped me come up with ideas, but for the most part, the final word rested on me. There's more pressure there than I 
realized. But with each passing minute of the service, my level of appreciation seemed to deepen more and more to the number of people who made the service just what God intended it to be. If one person slacked on their job, the whole service might suffer. But everyone brought their A-Game tonight! It's a matter of teamwork and trust. I preached about thankfulness for what God has given us, and tonight am so filled with gratitude I can hardly put it into words. I'm guessing there were around 200 people there tonight who stopped what they were doing and decided to start their holiday of thanks by centering it on the giver of all we should be thankful for. Again, there was laughter, seriousness, and 
a serious commitment to action at the end of the service. Toward the end of my sermon, I asked everyone to get out the thank you cards that were provided for them in their program. We took a minute to write down something we were thankful for, and not only that, but how we plan to SHOW our thankfulness for it. Get it? Now SHOWING: thankfulness. No simply saying it, but showing it! On their way out the door, people dropped their cards into a mailbox, as if to say: I'm going to do it! I'm excited to hear whether or not people follow through with what they wrote. Oh, and I also got to talk about my "spread infectious glee" mission. I think others will do the same. Success.
realized. But with each passing minute of the service, my level of appreciation seemed to deepen more and more to the number of people who made the service just what God intended it to be. If one person slacked on their job, the whole service might suffer. But everyone brought their A-Game tonight! It's a matter of teamwork and trust. I preached about thankfulness for what God has given us, and tonight am so filled with gratitude I can hardly put it into words. I'm guessing there were around 200 people there tonight who stopped what they were doing and decided to start their holiday of thanks by centering it on the giver of all we should be thankful for. Again, there was laughter, seriousness, and 
a serious commitment to action at the end of the service. Toward the end of my sermon, I asked everyone to get out the thank you cards that were provided for them in their program. We took a minute to write down something we were thankful for, and not only that, but how we plan to SHOW our thankfulness for it. Get it? Now SHOWING: thankfulness. No simply saying it, but showing it! On their way out the door, people dropped their cards into a mailbox, as if to say: I'm going to do it! I'm excited to hear whether or not people follow through with what they wrote. Oh, and I also got to talk about my "spread infectious glee" mission. I think others will do the same. Success.In the front of the sanctuary, there was a beautiful table set with plates, utinsils, cups, flowers. No food. People were asked to bring some non-perishable food items to worship, and I watched as the table slowly began to overflow with food as people brought them forth for communion. A perfect example of living out our thankfulness for the food God has given us.
If you can't tell, I'm giddy about tonight. I'm so thankful that after all the constructive criticism from Sunday (all super helpful), that I was able to turn around and preach another sermon. It 
gave me a chance to put those tips into practice much sooner than I'm used to. I'm so thankful for the people who willingly jumped in to help at the last minute. I'm thankful for the amazing gospel choir tonight who cheered me on and who let their praises fill the room for all God is blessing us with. Being asked to sing a gospel solo really freaked me out, but then I discovered how fun it is to get to dance, move, and sing freely as the spirit moved through me. More gospel please! :)
gave me a chance to put those tips into practice much sooner than I'm used to. I'm so thankful for the people who willingly jumped in to help at the last minute. I'm thankful for the amazing gospel choir tonight who cheered me on and who let their praises fill the room for all God is blessing us with. Being asked to sing a gospel solo really freaked me out, but then I discovered how fun it is to get to dance, move, and sing freely as the spirit moved through me. More gospel please! :)This afternoon I got a chance to go by King's Harbor Church here in Torrance. Volunteers were 
setting up and getting ready to serve a Thanksgiving meal to the homeless. I could only stay for a little while (sermon stuff to do), but I couldn't believe the number of volunteers who showed up to help. They were lined up...there wasn't enough for people to do. How awesome to see so many people showing their thankfulness in a powerful way. Kids, youth, grandparents, nearly every age was present to show love to the homeless people. There were stations for feet washing, for haircuts, for prayer, and for food. I wish I could've stayed and had conversations with the people in need who went to the church for food.
setting up and getting ready to serve a Thanksgiving meal to the homeless. I could only stay for a little while (sermon stuff to do), but I couldn't believe the number of volunteers who showed up to help. They were lined up...there wasn't enough for people to do. How awesome to see so many people showing their thankfulness in a powerful way. Kids, youth, grandparents, nearly every age was present to show love to the homeless people. There were stations for feet washing, for haircuts, for prayer, and for food. I wish I could've stayed and had conversations with the people in need who went to the church for food. Of course my heart is sad tonight as I continue to see new pictures from the bombings and shootings in Mumbai, India. I've been on cnn.com multiple times tonight to see what the status is. Please keep these people in your prayers tonight.
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