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Hi everyone!  I hope you’re all having a great week, especially as we ramp up to Thanksgiving weekend.

We certainly have a lot to be thankful for, don’t we? I’ve enjoyed the sunshine and the unusually warm October weather this past week. I’m grateful for family, having spent some time together with both our kids last weekend and anticipating another gathering this coming Sunday. I’m glad for the freedom to travel—whenever and wherever we want, allowing us to connect with kids and friends, to visit favorite places and to explore new scenes near us and farther away. I’m conscious that we ate very well when we gathered this past weekend, and am reminded that though costs continue to creep up, I’m blessed with the privilege of going to the grocery store anytime I want and finding plenty of food on every aisle. I won’t go to be hungry even once this week. In fact, my biggest challenge is to avoid eating too much!

And I go to bed without the slightest fear that someone is going to break into my home during the night, or that a bomb is going to go off near our building. Diane and I will be warm, dry, and snug. We may not live in luxury by a billionaire’s standards, but we will be more comfortable than kings and courtiers who lived even a couple of centuries ago.

We both get to spend our days doing things that we find enjoyable and meaningful. I’m particularly blessed to serve a wonderful community of brothers and sisters in Christ who are eager to follow Him, who are growing together in love for God and each other, and who constantly encourage and teach and bless me. It’s a delight to be part of such a warm church community, and an enormous privilege to invest my days in the life of our congregation.

I could go on, but you get my point. I have so much to be thankful for! It’s true all the time, of course; but it’s good to have the reminder this Thanksgiving weekend to pause and reflect and count my many, many blessings. Yes, there are concerns on my heart, too—and I know many of you carry a load of concerns and challenges as well. But even there, it’s good to be able to lay our burdens in the Lord’s strong hands and know that He will carry us through. That creates space in our hearts and minds to focus on all His goodness to us, to be filled with joy and thankfulness.

May thankfulness truly fill our weekend, and all our weeks.

While I’m reflecting on the good things we enjoy, I’m also very conscious that we’re coming up on 2 different elections in the next few weeks. Now don’t get me wrong—I don’t particularly enjoy elections as such. I’m not crazy about the colorful gardens of political signs I drive by every few blocks, or all the ads that come to my box. But I’m grateful to live in a country where our governing leaders are accountable to the people they serve in at least some measure, where they have to pay attention to the concerns and needs and wants of the population. I’m glad for the safeguards built into our system that help to limit the corrupting effects of power. I’m glad that—at least in Canada—there are some legal limits to the influence people can impose on government by their money. I don’t always love all that our leaders do or the decisions and policies they put in place. But I’m grateful for a constitution that protects the legitimate rights of those who live here, and glad that overall, our governors really do wish to do what’s good for the nation and its people.

In this election season I’m working hard at the discipline of appreciating our leaders rather than criticizing them, and most of all, the discipline of praying for them. Even in a fairly healthy democracy, we can’t control all that goes on at a governmental level. But again, we can find rest in the knowledge that our Lord is in control and working out His plans. So we pray (before, during, and after exercising our civic responsibility to vote!).

Several Scripture passages come to mind as I drive by all those political signs. For example:

  • Proverbs 21:1: “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes.”
  • 1 Timothy 2:1-4: “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live in peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
  • And from this next Sunday’s sermon text in 1 Peter 2:13-15: “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors who are sent by him…. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the talk of foolish people.”

We live in cooperation with our social leaders because it promotes peace, it is a good witness, and it honours God. In a country like Canada, we do our best to vote well and to promote good leadership so that it’s easy to support our leaders. And we pray: for wisdom, courage, grace, and the guiding hand of God so that we will enjoy peace as much as possible, and so that God’s Kingdom will advance.

This Sunday we’ll be thinking about thanksgiving. With elections coming up, and given that our passage in 1 Peter 2 talks about how we deal with authorities, we’ll also be thinking about our relationship to our social leaders, and our responsibility to pray for them.

With 2 elections on the horizon, I’ve also felt that it would be appropriate for us to have a special time of gathered prayer—for our leaders and for the election—for all who are able and willing to join. With that in mind, we’ve set aside an hour for dedicated prayer this coming Tuesday during the normal 20/20 slot at 7:00 pm in the Fireside Room. If you’re able, please consider coming together to pray in these important days.  If you can’t join, that’s fine, but still let me encourage you to spend some special time in prayer. It is an important season for us here in BC and on the North Shore.

Meanwhile, have a wonderful week and a great Thanksgiving weekend. See you Sunday!

—Pastor Ken