TREASURY OF SERMONS
1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003
The Story of Church Anniversary Thanksgiving in Singapore
By Rev (Dr) Timothy Tow
(Preached at Life BPC, 10.30am Service, 2 Oct 1999)
The reason why I've chosen to speak on this subject is to prepare our hearts to celebrate our 49th Anniversary Thanksgiving in two weeks' time. We are the first in Singapore to celebrate our Anniversary in Thanksgiving, for prior to this, whenever a church celebrated their anniversary, they just celebrated it as an anniversary.
How we celebrated our 1st anniversary in 1951 as a Thanksgiving came about after the Thanksgiving in America, which originated from the Pilgrim Fathers. Who were the Pilgrim Fathers? They were a group of English Puritans who would not join the State Church , the Church of England, but worshipped separately in their private houses, so they were persecuted by the authorities, like Chinese house churches are hounded by the Communist Government in China today. John Bunyan is an example. He was put into prison for preaching and worshipping separately from the Church of England. Their crime was that they were "Non-conformists."
A group of them escaped to Holland to practise their freedom of religion. Though they were well received by the Dutch, these English refugees found it hard to adapt to their hosts because they could not speak their language with a deep guttural sound, nor could they get used to Dutch ways. So they decided to migrate to the New World, to America .
In the English Reformed Church in Amsterdam today there is a stained glass window depicting these Pilgrim Fathers, kneeling on the wharf to pray before they boarded their little ship, the Mayflower for the New World in 1620. For it was from this Church that they left for America .
It took them almost three months, 102 of them, in the Atlantic crossing, under rough weather. When they finally landed at Cape Cod , winter began to set in. At great odds they built log cabins to found a colony. They met with Red Indians hostile to them. In the severe winter half of their number died. But they persisted in their God. When spring came they sowed and reaped and became established. They worshipped in Thanksgiving to God, and that is how the 4th Thursday of November became the Thanksgiving Day of the United States of America today.
When our Church was founded on Oct 20, 1950 we were a congregation of 30 adults with our children and we went through many hardships but we survived. Hence when we celebrated our first anniversary, we remembered the ordeal of the Pilgrim Fathers and declared ours was also a Thanksgiving Day. As the Chinese saying goes, "Every beginning is difficult." Thus, in later years when we founded Far Eastern Bible College , we began with three students. At the end of the year, however, two left us, so we had only one student. As we managed to survive, FEBC also declared her Thanksgiving.
When we call the congregation to Thanksgiving, many take it lightly. Others may even criticise the pastor for so doing out of an ungrateful heart. This is gross ingratitude. Shakespeare calls ingratitude as that biting cold winter wind. The Chinese call an ungrateful fellow to be one who having crossed a brook kicks away the plank that brought him across. Ingratitude is, I'd say, the half sister of treachery.
There is a cartoon to illustrate this point. A sick man looks to his doctor as an angel. When he has cured him he becomes his God. When the doctor presents his bill he becomes his Satan.
An example of an ungrateful man is King Saul. When the people chose him to be king he hid himself in a false display of humility. After he was made king by Samuel the Prophet, he was no more obligated to him. Samuel made an appointment with Saul to sacrifice on a certain day at Gilgal. On the day fixed for the sacrifice, Samuel arrived a little late. The king could have waited a little longer, but no, not at all. He took over the sacrifice from him, and just as he had finished, Samuel arrived. Saul, having discarded Samuel, had no valid excuse to give. For his disrespect and ingratitude God cast him from his throne. This is the judgment on ungratefulness. The throne went to David, a man after God's own heart.
David was the opposite of Saul. He was God's darling, because David was a grateful man. He was ever thankful for the grace he received at God's hand. David knew how to say "Obrigado" in Portuguese which means "Thank you, I am obligated." This is revealed in his countless praises and thanks he offered to God, e.g. Psalm 103. In this Psalm he reminded himself not to forget all His benefits. He thanks God first of all for his salvation through the forgiveness of sins. He thanks God for healing all his diseases. He thanks God for saving Him from accidents. He thanks God for a good appetite and for rejuvenation of strength and health.
For our Church to institute an annual Thanksgiving is most appropriate for as a thankless people, all the more we need to be reminded. Many a time, when God has redeemed our lives from sickness or accident, yea, even death itself, we instantly forget. Even when we go to the extent of vowing, we default to pay our vows.
But the Pilgrim Fathers upon reaping a good harvest the year after their safe arrival in America promptly gave thanks. Our church did the same in our first years. As time goes on Thanksgiving in America has lost its spirit and the eating of turkey and cranberry sauce does not remind the people to give thanks. Let Lifers learn the lesson of gratitude and give thanks to the Lord, remembering how through the years He has saved us from many a sickness and accident, but above all in saving our souls and forgiving all our sins. Amen.
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