Speak Up This Thanksgiving

November 24, 2021

NOTE: My Advent meditations will begin on Monday, November 29, 2021. My meditations for the last three days of this week will be related to Thanksgiving.

Speak Up This Thanksgiving 

“Let the redeemed of the LORD say so”

Psalm 107:2

In October, Dr. Billy Abraham died. He was a beloved Wesleyan scholar who had taught at Southern Methodist University for more than thirty years, and he was in the process of launching a new Wesley House at Baylor University. He will be greatly missed, especially by the Methodists who are looking forward to the new Global Methodist Church which should begin as a new denomination next year. Billy was always encouraging us to “Know what we believe and say it!”

Eleven years ago, Cheryl and I spent the week before Thanksgiving in Israel enjoying many of the sites of our Christian heritage. Eight years ago, we were in Colonial Williamsburg enjoying many of the sites of our heritage as Americans. Our heritage in both places was made possible because of the faithful who knew what they believed and said it.

I am thankful that Cheryl and I had the opportunity to experience the Holy Land. Repeatedly, I was impressed that our Christian heritage is paved with the deep personal commitment and sacrifices of that great cloud of witnesses who surround us. (Hebrews 12:1) On our trip to historic Virginia, I was also very impressed that our heritage as Americans is paved with the deep personal commitment and sacrifices of countless men and women who responded to a higher calling in life than self-gratification.

As I take the time during this Thanksgiving holiday to ponder our heritage, I recall something I read in Jerusalem at Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Museum. Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) reflecting on the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group, made this observation:

“In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist; And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist; And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew; And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.”

God calls his people to speak up, or as the Psalmist put it, “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so” (Psalm 107:2). The Kingdom of God is extended when God’s people speak up. In your gratitude for all that Christ has done for you, I urge you to speak up. Speak up in your homes and churches. Speak up in your places of employment outside of your home and all the many places you enjoy social activities. The mainline media gives people the political and secular interpretation of the issues of our times. Speak up and give those around you an opportunity to understand the events in our culture from the perspective of Jesus who is our way, our truth, and our life. (John 14:6)

In gratitude this Thanksgiving, let us resolve to “Know what we believe and say it!”

NOTE: Following my own advice, on January 3, 2022 I will begin a six- week series of meditations of what I think are the core beliefs of the Christian faith.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2021 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.