Spanish 
"A Season of Thanksgiving" from the Summer 2018 Vision Newsletter
Many of the holidays we celebrate in our church are preceded by a season that builds our anticipation of the celebration. For Christmas, we have Advent. For Easter, we have Passiontide and Holy Week. For Pentecost, we have Eastertide.
Let us also create a season of Thanksgiving to carry us towards this holiday. During this season, we have the opportunity to be intentionally aware of what God has given us, to increase our joy in Him, and to strengthen our trust in Him. Starting on the first Sunday of October, each service leading up to Thanksgiving Sunday will focus on an aspect of giving thanks to God:
1. Gratitude for God, the Father
2. Gratitude for Jesus Christ
3. Gratitude for the Holy Spirit
4. Gratitude for the church of Christ
5. Gratitude for the salvation power for the departed
6. Gratitude for our congregations and our childhood in God
We encourage you to think more about these six aspects of gratitude and how you can help create this season of Thanksgiving in your congregation. Consider the thoughts below and be encouraged in your personal giving as an expression of love and faith.
GIVING IS FAITH
Giving is an attribute of the Triune God, thus, it is an attribute of Christian behavior, and faith is a necessary foundation to be a Christian.
We give because we believe in the future that Jesus has promised us – to share His glory with us if we remain faithful. We are secure with Him, knowing that what we give in this temporal life originated from God. By His grace He will give me eternal life and infinitely more.
If we truly believe in the Triune God, we trust in His work and ways. As we grow in our love of God, we want to be with Him, and to be with Him, we have to be like Him. Thus, as giving is an attribute of God, in faith to Him, we want to do the same.
GIVING IS LOVE
Giving to God: We want to give something to God. What do we give to Him when He has everything already? We can only give back to God what He has given us first – our free will. We can let His will be the dominant force in our lives.
Giving to our neighbor: By letting God’s will be dominant in our lives, we begin to think and feel like Him. We love our neighbor, and out of this love, we want to give them the one thing that they do not have from us: our time. We can have empathy for what our neighbor is going through by being with them.
Giving to the church: The church is the assembly of believers and was established by Jesus. We belong to this assembly, so we want to share the gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit, and our resources, to sustain it.