Embedded Files
“Across the Lands”
You're the Word of God the Father
From before the world began
Ev'ry star and ev'ry planet
Has been fashioned by Your hand
All creation holds together
By the power of Your voice
Let the skies declare Your glory
Let the land and seas rejoice
You're the author of creation
You're the Lord of ev'ry man
And Your cry of love rings out
Across the lands
Yet You left the gaze of angels
Came to seek and save the lost
And exchanged the joy of heaven
For the anguish of a cross
With a prayer You fed the hungry
With a word You stilled the sea
Yet how silently You suffered
That the guilty may go free
You're the author of creation
You're the Lord of ev'ry man
And Your cry of love rings out
Across the lands
With a shout You rose victorious
Wresting victory from the grave
And ascended into heaven
Leading captives in Your wake
Now You stand before the Father
Interceding for Your own
From each tribe and tongue and nation
You are leading sinners home
You're the author of creation
You're the Lord of ev'ry man
And Your cry of love rings out
Across the lands
“All Creatures of Our God & King”
1 All creatures of our God and King,
lift up your voice with us and sing:
alleluia, alleluia!
O burning sun with golden beam,
and shining moon with silver gleam,
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
2 O rushing wind so wild and strong,
white clouds that sail in heaven along,
alleluia, alleluia!
New rising dawn, in praise rejoice,
you lights of evening, find a voice:
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
3 Cool flowing water, pure and clear,
make music for your Lord to hear,
alleluia, alleluia!
Fierce fire, so masterful and bright
providing us with warmth and light,
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
4 Earth ever fertile, day by day
bring forth your blessings on our way;
alleluia, alleluia!
All flowers and fruits that in you grow,
let them his glory also show:
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
5 People and nations, take your part;
sing praise to God with all your heart:
alleluia, alleluia!
Let all things their Creator bless
and worship him in lowliness:
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”
1 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise him, for he is your health and salvation!
Come, all who hear; brothers and sisters, draw near,
join me in glad adoration!
2 Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things is wondrously reigning,
sheltering you under his wings, oh, so gently sustaining.
Have you not seen all that is needful has been
sent by his gracious ordaining?
3 Praise to the Lord, who will prosper your work and defend you;
surely his goodness and mercy shall daily attend you.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do
as with his love he befriends you.
4 Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!
All that has life and breath, come now with praises before him!
Let the amen sound from his people again.
Gladly forever adore him!
“At the Cross”
There's a place
Where mercy reigns and never dies
There's a place
Where streams of grace flow deep and wide
Where all the love I've ever found
Comes like a flood comes flowing down
At the cross at the cross
I surrender my life
I'm in awe of You I'm in awe of You
Where Your love ran red and my sin washed white
I owe all to You I owe all to You (Jesus)
There's a place
Where sin and shame are powerless
Where my heart
Has peace with God and forgiveness
Where all the love I've ever found
Comes like a flood comes flowing down
At the cross at the cross
I surrender my life
I'm in awe of You I'm in awe of You
Where Your love ran red and my sin washed white
I owe all to You I owe all to You (Jesus)
Here my hope is found
Here on holy ground
Here I bow down here I bow down
Here arms open wide
Here You saved my life
Here I bow down here I bow (down)
At the cross at the cross
I surrender my life
I'm in awe of You I'm in awe of You
Where Your love ran red and my sin washed white
I owe all to You I owe all to You (Jesus)
“CORNERSTONE”
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly trust in Jesus' Name
When darkness seems to hide His face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil
My anchor holds within the veil
Christ alone cornerstone
Weak made strong in the Saviour's love
Through the storm He is Lord
Lord of all
When He shall come with trumpet sound
Oh may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone
Faultless stand before the throne
Christ alone cornerstone
Weak made strong in the Saviour's love
Through the storm He is Lord
Lord of all
“CHRIST IS MINE FOREVERMORE”
Mine are days that God has numbered
I was made to walk with Him
Yet I look for worldly treasure
And forsake the King of kings
But mine is hope in my Redeemer
Though I fall His love is sure
For Christ has paid for every failing
I am His forevermore
Mine are tears in times of sorrow
Darkness not yet understood
Through the valley I must travel
Where I see no earthly good
But mine is peace that flows from heaven
And the strength in times of need
I know my pain will not be wasted
Christ completes His work in me
Mine are days here as a stranger
Pilgrim on a narrow way
One with Christ I will encounter
Harm and hatred for His name
But mine is armour for this battle
Strong enough to last the war
And He has said He will deliver
Safely to the golden shore
And mine are keys to Zion city
Where beside the King I walk
For there my heart has found its treasure
Christ is mine forevermore
Bridge
Come rejoice now O my soul
For His love is my reward
Fear is gone and hope is sure
Christ is mine forevermore
Come rejoice now O my soul
For His love is my reward
Fear is gone and hope is sure
Christ is mine forevermore
And mine are keys to Zion city
Where beside the King I walk
For there my heart has found its treasure
Christ is mine forevermore
Ebenezer CRC - Thanksgiving 2025
Adam Veenstra
For our message this morning we are going to be looking at one simple proverb that can provide a foundation for this holiday.
The entire book of Proverbs in the Old Testament is meant to provide wisdom for all of life, so that God’s people can discern how we should build our lives; how we should work, worship, relate to one another, and celebrate.
Proverbs 10 verse 22 says this:
The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, without painful toil for it.
Simple enough, maybe, but an important reminder for all of us about true wealth, and true abundance, as we build our lives and as we celebrate today.
Part of the reason we celebrate Thanksgiving in autumn is because traditionally the harvest and the year’s toil would be finished, and people could begin to draw in and rest for the winter.
It’s a chance to take comfort in the wealth that toil has brought, and express their thankfulness for it.
But that kind of wealth and material comfort is not assured, no matter how hard you work during the year - no matter how painful the toil.
And Scripture itself tells us that the idolization of that kind of wealth and relying too heavily on it - the love of money - is the root of all evil.
Monetary wealth is spoken against more than anything else in Scripture.
So if the Lord blesses us with wealth and abundance, it must be of something even more.
Something no amount of painful toil can achieve.
Christianity can sometimes have a dangerous theology of blessing.
And some of that is down to semantics, and using inadequate language to give God the glory for his gifts and his faithfulness.
We can still be thankful for the tangible blessings that we have; it’s important that we don’t take any of it for granted.
But the real blessing, true abundance, must run deeper.
This weekend, many people will look around the table and will feel blessed by what they see. That’s how they’ll describe it.
Because there seems to be no other way to describe getting to eat a great meal with your favourite people.
Food and family and health are incredible blessings, that we should absolutely be thankful for.
But, the holiday only lasts so long.
At some point the table will be cleared, the company will go home, and you will be left by yourself.
Are you any less blessed when the food is gone and the house is empty?
Because for some, that will be their reality for the entire weekend: are you any less blessed if you don’t have a big Thanksgiving dinner with your friends and family?
There’s an unintentional, but dangerous, theology of blessing that we sometimes profess, that these tangible things - however good and precious they are! - are the only blessings in life.
You can compare any Thanksgiving dinner table up or down.
I have sat at holiday dinner tables across the economic spectrum, and that is not what true abundance is.
I think that if not for the presence of sin in our world, we would all have abundant feasts this weekend, surrounded by all the people we love.
But these more obvious and tangible blessings aren’t a given. And they aren’t forever.
Instead, true blessing, true wealth, true abundance, is an act of grace from our God.
It is the abundant presence of our God that we are all blessed with.
Because of his love, you are blessed, and you are never alone.
I imagine that most of you, whether you regularly attend church or only got dragged here by a relative today because of the holiday, have heard the story, or at least the phrase, the Prodigal Son.
It describes a son who leaves his family to live however he wants, completely absent from their lives for a time.
So that is how we usually think about the word “prodigal” - absent, or self-involved.
But it actually describes how the son lived - recklessly, and with abandon.
By that definition, we come together every week to worship a prodigal God.
We give thanks today because of a God who gives recklessly and with abandon out of his love for us, without thought to how much we might deserve it.
Today is a holiday that celebrates abundance. And that’s what we think we crave.
We want a driveway overflowing with cars representing a table overflowing with loved ones and food. If you go online or into any store around a holiday like this, that is what you’ll see.
Even the dollar stores have autumn-themed cups and plates and tablecloths and even bakeware, and if you’re brave enough to go into a store like Home Sense you’ll learn that you can decorate your house this fall with any colour pumpkin that you want.
And it’s not limited to holidays.
It’s been said that nothing succeeds like excess.
We are a culture of consumption, and we use that consumption to satisfy ourselves.
If I make everyone’s favourite foods for Thanksgiving, that means that they’ll like me.
If I post just the right family photos on Thanksgiving, and people like them on Instagram, that means they like me.
It means that I’m special. It means that I matter. It means that I’m loved.
That is what we truly crave. That’s what a full table at Thanksgiving really represents to us: an abundance of love.
And that is what God does lavish us with.
With that God is prodigal; his blessings are abundant, without painful toil.
We never have to work to earn his love.
This morning’s service is a holiday break from our visioning series here at Ebenezer this fall, which will lead into an overall visioning process.
Wherever that process may lead us, whatever we end up with, I hope it’s a vision of abundance.
I hope that the Ebenezer family will always strive to be a church of abundance: an abundance of fellowship, of grace, of discipleship, of prayer and music, of accessibility, of thanksgiving!, and of belonging.
All reflecting the abundance of love that our God has blessed us with.
Our celebration of communion this morning demonstrates the lengths God would go to in order to bless you.
It demonstrates that there are no limits to his forgiveness and his love.
In just these little bits of bread and juice we receive a tangible reminder that God gives from the deepest part of himself. That we are made in his likeness, and were created to be holy and blameless in his presence.
And that the grace of Christ restores that holiness and ensures that we will be in his presence, always.
True abundance.
Our hope is that no matter what the rest of this weekend looks like, these few songs, this little bit of bread and juice, this brief message, and this short time that we spend together, will inspire gratitude and thanksgiving for the true abundance that we are blessed with.
Thanksgiving for the love of God our Father, and the grace of Jesus Christ - it is truly ours, always, given in abundance by our prodigal God.
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