After more than forty days’ suspension due to COVID-19, a Shaanxi church hosted its 15th annual Thanksgiving service on Sunday, November 28.
In the morning, following the COVID-19 protocols, believers entered Shuguang Church in Baoji, Shaanxi, seated at intervals as per the social distancing requirements.
After the song "Rise up. Shine the Light!" from two choirs of Canaan and Joshua, Elder Yi Lianmei preached the gospel. First, she shared about how on one day in September 2007, three believers were suddenly injured in an accident on a trip to Xi’an. Though they suffered severe injuries of varying degrees, they were saved under the protection of God. Because of God’s grace at that time, the church started to celebrate Thanksgiving Day every year. Second, Elder Yi recalled three experiences of building the church and described in detail the hardships and labors that were performed with gratitude.
The third experience was of believers struggling to make contributions even two months before Thanksgiving Day. She said just that day a female member of the choir entrusted her husband to donate 1,000 yuan, though she was undergoing chemotherapy in the hospital.
After reviewing and counting God's grace, she shared a sermon titled "The Path We Take", in which she mentioned that four female Christians over 75 years insisted on copying one chapter of the Bible every day, responding to the church’s calling since the beginning of this year.
After the hymn "If Lord Comes Back Today" from pastors, deacons, and leaders of each district of the church, Pastor Zhao Feng preached a sermon with the title of "You and I Should be grateful", stating that gratitude was a virtue, a kind of wisdom, and a kind of action.
In the afternoon, after the hymns from the praise team and the senior choir, 15 theatrical performances were presented by members of three choirs and five districts of the south, east, north, west, and middle. Besides the musical melodrama "Saw God" created and directed by the senior choir themselves, a dance "Mountains Surrounding Jerusalem" was performed at the end.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
(The article is originally published by the Gospel Times.)
