THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
November 25, 2002
In 1970 a song appeared by F. P. Green with words that seem to me to be so important today. For the fruit of all creation, for his gifts to EVERY nation, even the Saudi’s and Iraqi’s (my addition,) for those things we think most about at Thanksgiving, the plowing, sowing, reaping, that grow when we sleep, and the future fertility that remains in the earth if we will but take care of it, the hymn says and I totally endorse, Thanks be to God.
Can we appreciate the scope of God’s concern in these words? Not simply for us, or the US, but for all people. There is more. Just reward for labor. In help to neighbor. And again the world wide emphasis that the church at it’s best is always proclaiming, our task of caring for hungry, for despairing. For when we share our harvests at a reasonable price or as a gift, in all of the above, the song cries out, God’s will is done.
And there is more than just the physical need of men involved. The harvest of the spirit, the good we all inherit, the wonders all around us, that sometimes even astound us, and the truth discovered and the other truths that may confound us we again proclaim during this Thanksgiving week. Thanks be to God.
But as you know, the most important fact of all that, God’s LOVE has found us. For this we give our utmost thanks to God.
And as his love has been proved for us on the cross, we need to prove our love for him by the actions we express in our lives.
I commend to you the hymn, "For the Fruit of All Creation" by Fred Pratt Green, published by Hope Publishing.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
201 Oak St.
Mauston, WI 53948-1333 608-8474555
Past Weeks Thoughts: