Church Visiting and German Thanksgiving: NIC

Thank you to so many of you who have been praying that I find a church home. I visited the Neuenburg International Church (NIC) today with friends. I am sharing a link to the church below if any of you are interested. This church was planted about 10 years ago and moved into a new building about a year ago. They are located in the village of Neuenburg above a children's clothing store. Here is the bulletin from today's service.

The church is an international church and the service has both German and English. Songs are both German and English. We sang Hab Dank which translated is Give Thanks. We also sang Fels des Heils. Can you figure out what this is in English? I have included a short video clip. I also included the whole song from YouTube if you want to listen to the whole thing. 

The pastor is from the US and there is a translator who translates the message into German. They are currently moving through Genesis in their messages. Today's message was from Genesis 2:8-14 and entitled "Giving thanks with a stone in our shoe." Pastor Stephen reminded us that every person gives thanks whether to God or someone/thing else. Every person must acknowledge that we did nothing to deserve the gifts received. He pointed to the passage from Genesis and asked why did God make these precious stones and gold? We do not need them for our survival. They are made for our good and for His glory. We cannot just receive a gift; we need to give thanks to the giver. Thankfulness requires a target. As Christians, we can be thankful in all circumstances. He referred to Paul and stated Christians are a people who can be thankful in all circumstances because of the gospel. 

Pastor Stephen shared a story of a friend who has cancer yet throughout all of his treatments, remained calm. Stephen asked why he was so calm? E's reply was "What's a few years of cancer in the face of eternity?" Cancer and other illnesses are just a blip on the screen. Those who are not in Christ are devastated by these life threatening diseases. As Christians, we have hope and can truly be thankful in all circumstances. 

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

 1 Thessalonians 5:14

The problem that keeps us from being thankful is that life is full of rocks in our shoes. These rocks are a distraction and can keep up from being thankful to God. 

This message was given as today is Erntedankfest in this particular region of Germany. I am including a link if you are curious. 

https://www.german-way.com/history-and-culture/holidays-and-celebrations/thanksgiving-in-germany/

This is a shortened summary of what Pastor Stephen shared this morning. I have visited this church a few times and have really enjoyed the worship and fellowship with other believers. Would you continue to pray that God would lead me to the church He desires for me to be? 

Here is the link for the church website:

http://neuenburginternational.com/

After the service, there was a potluck to celebrate Erntedankfest. There were a couple of soups, one was a pumpkin soup which is a traditional fall soup here. There were also German pretzels, a spin-off of flamkucken (kind of like a pizza with bacon and cheese and onions), and a few cakes for dessert. The pumpkin soup was warm and delicious! 

Have a beautiful fall Sunday!