Happy Thanksgiving

You are a special and much loved people, hand picked by God. To mark you out as God’s people, you have a uniform to wear. It consists of generosity, humility, tolerance and a passionate concern for others, all of which must be worn without any pretentiousness. The thing you do have to wear it with is love. Without love, you won’t even be able to keep the rest of it on - it would all look totally out of place.

Christ has called you to be a cohesive body, permeated and held together by his peace. I’ll give you some instructions here for life in the body, but if you let the peace of Christ shape the way you live, you’ll find it comes naturally. Hang in there with each other. No doubt there will be times when you will rub each other up the wrong way, but be forgiving. The Lord had no hesitation forgiving you, so follow his lead and forgive each other. Cultivate a mindset of gratitude. Provide rich soil in your hearts into which the word of Christ can sink deep strong roots. Don’t keep good advice to yourself. Share what you have learned and guide one another in the ways of wisdom. Then you’ll all have plenty to be grateful about. Let your gratitude overflow in the songs you sing together - whatever the style, offer them as spirited gifts to God. At all times, whatever you are up to, see to it that the things you say and do are all things that Christ would be proud to be associated with. Let everything you do for Christ be a way of communicating your thanks to God, for it is God who has given you life.

Colossians 3: 12-17 (Laughing Bird Paraphrase)