Monday, November 19, 2012

November 19 – “Harvest Celebration”


We had our first Harvest Celebration at Seaside yesterday.  Quite appropriate for Thanksgiving week, right?  The idea was to focus of sacrifice and appreciation for what God has blessed us with over the past year.  I wanted to do more than just take up an extra offering and serve turkey at the dinner on the grounds.  We had some unique challenges to overcome, though.  Only one member of our praise team was able to be on hand Sunday, with all the family travel as well as work responsibilities going on.  That meant I had to figure out the best way to work in “canned” music.  It’s not that we haven’t done that sort of thing before.  That’s how we got started years ago before we had any musicians.  We just sang along with cd’s and used one of those really old things called an overhead projector to get the words up on the wall.  Lots of fun, but not the same as live music, I must say.  So here’s a rundown of what we did.

Technology has come a long way since overhead projector days.  I was able to download some music videos of the songs that had the words already embedded.  Then is just became a matter of regulating the volume.  That problem solved, I moved along to the service itself.  We started out with a look at the Hebrew Feast of Tabernacles in Leviticus 23.  I even built one and crawled inside briefly, although I’m sure mine would never have passed muster as far as regulations for building sukkahs is concerned.  The idea was to make a connection between that Feast and our own Thanksgiving.  They sure sound similar.  Wouldn’t be surprised if the Pilgrims did a little modeling after what they had read in Scripture.  There were several different stations scattered around the room, depicting each emphasis of the service.  The wave station was first.  I had some flat bread there and I “waved it before the Lord” to show things like all things belong to God, our commitment to bring our first fruits to him, and our recognition that he promised us a Savior.  Then everyone walked to that table and broke off a piece of bread.  After a time of encouraging one another, everyone received five pieces of candy corn.  They represented the meager rations the early Pilgrims had during their rough winter months – five kernels of corn per person per day.  For the community prayer time we each walked to a table of stuffed animals – lamb, ram, bull, and birds (I couldn’t find a goat) – all types of sacrifices from Temple days, and prayed as we touched one of the creatures.  The Blood table followed.  That’s where we recognized the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made when he gave his life as a perfect sacrifice.  After hearing the Gospel, everyone came to the table and drank a cup of juice.  The next station included a teaching about giving, and everyone was encouraged to pass by our giving boxes and present their offerings.  One family even gave a collection of groceries as an extra offering to the Lord.  The final station involved waving before the Lord two loaves of bread made using yeast.  The idea there was to recognize that there is now no longer any distinction between Jew and Gentile.  Under Christ we are a new creation, the Church, because of the presence within us of the Holy Spirit.  Everyone walked by and tore off a piece of that bread, then formed a large circle of unity.  In that circle we sang our final song, The Family of God. 

The final event of the day was dinner on the grounds.  Among the food served was some actual lamb (along with the requisite turkey), as well as some other first fruit kinds of things.  There was this one issue, though.  Cailyn came with us to church, and when it came time to eat, she was adamant about where she wanted to sit – on the floor.  Chris argued with her about coming to the table, but Cailyn finally countered with “But Nani, you said we were eating dinner on the ground.”  There you go.  Watch your words.

Psalms 40:1-2 says, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.  He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”

Father, thank you for a great thanksgiving experience yesterday.  Amen.

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