Faith & Feelings

Bad days. We’ve all had them, and for many of us, it doesn’t take much to send a day spiraling into chaos before breakfast is even over.

According to a new survey, the average American knows their day is going to be bad by 8:36 a.m. Additionally, it’s not just a rare occurrence—four times a month, people expect the worst, adding up to an average of 48 bad days every year.

Mornings, it seems, are critical in setting the tone for the day. The survey highlights that common morning mishaps—such as waking up feeling sick (35%), suffering from poor sleep (31%), or starting the day with a headache (29%)—are among the top indicators of a bad day. Even seemingly minor inconveniences, like misplacing keys (26%) or leaving a phone at home (25%), can derail the entire day.

The impact of these morning disruptions is significant. Nearly half of those surveyed (48%) reported canceling plans or calling in sick after a challenging start to the day, opting to return to bed in hopes of salvaging what remains.

Possible Preaching Angle:
We have all been there, but a Christian doesn’t have to let pessimism or emotions rule their day. Beginning this new year, resolve instead, by faith, to put your day into God’s hands – “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psa. 118:24)

Anxiety has become an unwelcome companion for many, creeping into everyday life with relentless persistence.

The most striking revelation is the pervasive nature of worry among younger Americans. An overwhelming 62% of Gen Z and millennial respondents report feeling constantly anxious, compared to 38% of older generations. On average, people spend two hours and 18 minutes each day caught in the grip of worrisome thoughts. This is a significant chunk of time that could otherwise fuel productivity, creativity, or personal growth.

The timing of these worry periods reveals interesting patterns. A third of respondents find themselves most anxious when alone. 30% are plagued by worries as they prepare to fall asleep. Another 17% are tormented by anxious thoughts upon waking. 12% experience peak worry while getting ready for bed.

When it comes to specific concerns:

53% of respondents cite money as their primary source of anxiety.
42% worry about their loved ones.
42% fret about pending tasks and to-do lists.
37% have health concerns
22% have sleep anxiety (22%),
19% are concerned by political uncertainties

For parents, the concerns extend far beyond personal anxieties. 77% express profound worry about the world their children are inheriting, with 34% specifically calling out climate change as a significant concern.

One parent’s raw emotion captures this generational anxiety: “Honestly, I worry that there won’t be a world for my child to grow up in.”

Possible Preaching Angle:
How many minutes a day do you spend worrying? Instead, turn your anxieties over to the Lord and pray as David did “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts…and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psa. 139:23). Jesus knows your tendency to worry and he said, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life… your heavenly Father knows what you need.” (Matt. 6:25-34)

A Storyteller Overland-commissioned study provides a fascinating glimpse into the nation’s adventurous spirit. “Looking at the data, it’s clear Americans are craving a break from their everyday routine,” says Summer Trammell, chief engagement officer at Storyteller Overland.

The survey revealed that over a quarter of Americans (27%) feel they’ve fallen into a rut, with one in four respondents admitting their life is a bit boring. In fact, the average respondent fantasizes about going on an adventure four times every day, but only 10% felt they could be adventurous in their current life on any given day.

When asked how they’d define “an adventure,” most described it as anything outside of their daily routine and an experience (46%) that makes them appreciate life more (30%). The top three things that stir adventurous urges are a dose of warm weather (34%), seeing the same mundane surroundings every day (33%), and seeing friends and family go on trips (33%).

As for the perfect adventure, most respondents said it should last six days, with the average person willing to travel upwards of 2,700 miles for a break. Hawaii, California, Florida, Alaska, and Colorado were the top destinations on their bucket lists.

The survey also uncovered heartwarming advice from respondents on how to live more adventurously. One respondent said, “It doesn’t have to be thrilling or dangerous! It can be anything that provides you happiness.”

“Just do it. You’re not getting any younger, so if you can afford it by making a few sacrifices, just make the plan and do it. My best adventures were solo trips, so don’t wait on anyone,” another traveler urges.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Boredom; Calling; Purpose; Will of God - By investing your energy in purposeful adventures—big or small—you can overcome boredom, discover new facets of yourself, and move closer to the life and purpose to which God called you. Volunteer for a new ministry at church or serve on a short-term mission, even if it is outside of your comfort zone.

Chapman University recently completed its 10th annual Chapman Survey of American Fears (2024). Each wave of the survey focuses on what Americans fear, the potential causes of those fears, and the consequences of fear. In addition, the comprehensive survey includes extensive background information about respondents, allowing for examinations of how fears vary by different groups.

Here are the top ten fears for 2024 (check the Chapman Survey for American Fears for new yearly top fears):

1. Corrupt Government Officials 65.2%

2. People I Love Becoming Seriously Ill 58.4%

3. Cyberterrorism 58.3%

4. People I Love Dying 57.8%

5. Russia Using Nuclear Weapons 55.8%

6. Not Having Enough Money for the Future 55.7%

7. US Becoming Involved in Another World War 55.0%

8. North Korea Using Nuclear Weapons 55.0%

9. Terrorist Attack 52.7%

10. Biological Warfare 52.5%

Regarding the number 1 fear, Corrupt Government Officials, the survey added this comment:

Our analysis of the data also shows that Americans perceive corruption at all levels of government – local, state, and Federal. Whereas some might suggest that perceptions of corruption are driven by mistrust of national politicians and the executive branch of government, our findings show that, although Americans perceive somewhat less corruption at the local level, all levels of government are generally perceived as compromised. And despite the intense partisanship that surrounds public discussion of corruption, we found that Americans are fearful of corruption across lines of party and ideological identification.

When talking about the harms of social media today, one of the first problems people mention is FOMO—fear of missing out. Scroll through Instagram and see your friends having fun at a party you weren’t invited to. Check Snapchat to find everyone’s Bitmojis together on Snap Map without you. This feeling of constantly missing out, we’re told, is a major cause of anxiety and depression for Gen Z.

But that’s not true anymore. More often, it’s the opposite. We want to avoid the risk, the rejection, the awkwardness, the effort, and energy that the real world demands. Our major problem isn’t fear of missing out. It’s fear of taking part.

Look at how many young people are scared of doing everyday things. Not just fear of learning to drive, or getting a job—but scared to order in restaurants. Can’t walk into a cafe. Don’t want to open their door for a delivery. Under the hashtag #socialanxiety on TikTok, which has nearly 3 billion views, young people are sharing symptoms, describing debilitating anxiety, even recording their panic attacks in public.

One British TikToker hosts a series called “Doing Things You’re Afraid of To Show You It’s Okay.” In the series, she films herself facing challenges like getting in an elevator, asking for help in a supermarket, and asking for directions. It’s great to see someone working on their anxiety — but what’s alarming is how popular these videos are, and how many users say they have the same fears. Meanwhile forums like r/socialanxiety on Reddit–which has over 400,000 members–are filled with teenagers and young adults admitting that they are afraid of the real world. They feel much more comfortable online.

Many young people even fear making phone calls, and avoid it as much as possible. One study from last year found that 90% of Gen Z say they have “phone anxiety,” writing down scripts before they speak.

Across social media, there’s also a growing celebration of missing out. The phrase “JOMO” (Joy of Missing Out) is catching on, along with TikToks, tweets, and memes about the relief of cancelled plans. They say this is about wellness and self-care but that just sounds nicer than self-isolation. Missing out is good for our mental health, we tell ourselves. We’re better off inside.

Gen Z is the first generation who had a phone-based childhood, who spent their formative years in a pandemic, who have had less face-to-face interaction than any other in history. The only world they’ve ever known is one where they can get everything they need without interacting with another human: self-service checkouts, delivery apps, online porn, online lectures, and online communities.

Possible Preaching Angle:

The only thing scarier than the real world is never being brave enough to enter it. The life to be afraid of is the one unlived. Learn to trust God and live life. Discover the gifts and abilities that God has given to you. Get up. Get out. Give it all you’ve got. Fear missing out again. And then refuse to do it any longer.

An article in The Wall Street Journal notes that “Some American soldiers returned from Afghanistan bearing scars or missing limbs. Others have wounds invisible to those around them, or even to themselves.”

The article highlights the story of Tyler Koller. Raised in a conservative Christian home, Koller joined the Army at the age of 18, and his first deployment was with Bravo Company. In his Army days, the fire in Koller’s belly was stoked by belief in his mission and faith in a just and loving God. He’d gather his squad to say a prayer before they stepped out of the wire to go on patrol, and he wouldn’t ever say a cuss word, even though his fellow troops used to offer him money to say the F-word out loud. “No way,” he’d say. It would be an affront to the Lord and to his mother, who raised him in the Pentecostal church.

Koller wasn’t physically broken in Afghanistan, but something did happen to him. Like many men and women who went to Iraq and Afghanistan in over 20 years of war, he suffered a moral injury. A soldier heads to a war zone with a carefully tuned moral compass that parents and preachers and teachers and friends have helped to calibrate.

But in a combat zone, soldiers see, hear, and do things that aren’t aligned with the true north of that moral compass. Koller saw horrible things in Afghanistan: the killing of American and Taliban soldiers but also the inadvertent maiming of children. He learned of bacha bazi, a slang term for the sexual abuse of young boys by corrupt Afghan policemen.

“The faith that I had went away,” Koller said, though “I have hope in my heart that there’s a higher being out there.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

This is a negative illustration, but it can raise questions around suffering or the problem of evil. What does your sermon text or biblical theme say about how to maintain your faith in the midst of suffering and evil?

At the beginning of 2024 there was the launch of the world's largest cruise ship called The Icon of the Seas. CNBC called it the “Biggest, Baddest Ship on the Planet.” The cruise ship is five times the size of the Titanic and measures 1200 feet from the bow to the stern (That is more than three football fields) and weighs 250,800 metric tons!

The Icon of the Seas is a small floating city. There are a total of 20 decks, eight neighborhoods, seven swimming pools, six waterslides, forty bars and restaurants, an ice rink, and even a 55ft indoor waterfall!

‌How does a monster ship like the Icon stay afloat?

It has to do with weight distribution. “Cruise ships float because their mass is lower in relation to the volume of water they’re sailing on.” These differences in weight distribution keep these modern marvels buoyant.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Life can bring many challenges and we can feel like we are in danger of sinking. The big question is what or who is keeping you from sinking?

Pastor John Yates III once worked for the British scholar and Bible teacher John Stott. Yates reflected on the time when Stott’s aging and disability started to slow Stott down. Yates says:

Stott spent the last 15 years of his life going completely blind. It began with a small stroke that knocked out the peripheral vision in his left eye, forcing him to surrender his driver’s license. And over the years that followed, this man who wrote more books during his lifetime than most of us will read in an average decade became unable to see the pages in front of him. But that wasn't all. His body grew increasingly weak. He needed more sleep. He was eventually confined to his bedroom.

I spent three years working closely with John when he was in his early 70s. I was in my mid-20s. It was absolutely exhausting. I've never been around another person with a capacity for work as fast as his. He was the most disciplined and efficient man I've ever known. But there he was, years later, now in his 80s and into his early 90s, with his mind as sharp as ever. But then he was unable to do much of anything, except to sleep, eat, and listen out his bedroom window for the call of a familiar bird.

Now I found this personally incredibly difficult to understand. Why would God allow a man like John to suffer the loss of precisely those faculties that made his life so meaningful and has worked so successful, if it just seemed cruel? It would have been better, I thought, for him to die or to suffer from Alzheimer's, because at least then he wouldn't have known what he was missing.

But then I finally begin to understand why John never seemed to complain. That's because God was giving him the gift of absolute dependence. God was showing him that he delighted to offer Stott a dependence on him.

Admit it. We’ve all dreamed of escaping our daily routine and walking off into the wilderness to explore the great unknown. The truth is, we all need a bit of time by ourselves every once in a while, and that’s exactly what luxury travel agency Black Tomato are offering.

Their “Get Lost” service is the ultimate trip for anyone looking to get away from it all—especially if your idea of fun is being deposited in the middle of nowhere with only a backpack, a GPS tracker, and a toothbrush. Travelers are then tasked with the daunting job of navigating their way back towards civilization—a challenging but ultimately rewarding experience for those hoping to embrace their inner nomad.

Black Tomato introduced the concept—a kind of a blind date for vacations with “Survivor” elements—in 2017. Cofounder Tom Marchan, who came up with the idea of getting clients “lost,” thought of it as he considered ways to help people truly relax in an age of digital distractions. He said: “Could we create an experience that requires total mental and physical focus? By being totally distracted, it’s almost impossible for them to think about the day-to-day, everything at home.”

With Black Tomato’s guidance, travelers can choose how lost they want to feel, and how surprised they want to be by their destination. In most cases, travelers don’t know where they’re going until they receive flight information; if they fly private, they might step off a plane with no clue where they are.

For Esther Spengler the only requirements she had were going somewhere warm and far away from the United States. Spengler saved up for the 10-day trip to Morocco, which she said cost roughly $13,000. Her adventure began when she flew to Marrakesh and continued by car into the mountains. After a couple of days of training—learning navigation, fire-starting, and how to put up her own shelter—Spengler was on her own for three days.

Despite bloodied toenails and a tricky time setting up her tarp shelter, Spengler was thrilled with the experience. “It turned out really, really incredible and so much more than I could imagine,” she said.

Possible Preaching Angles:

1) Experiencing God; Trusting God – God often calls us to step out of our comfort zone into unknown territory and trust in him alone—Abraham was called to a place he did not know (Heb. 11:8); Peter was called to step out of the boat and walk on water (Matt. 14:28). 2) Solitude; Seeking God – We also need times of solitude and withdrawal from life’s busyness to focus on God alone (1 Kings 19:12; Psa. 27:8).

An article in The Financial Times claims that “the west is suffering from a crisis of courage.” The author notes:

And the problem is much broader than politics. Society itself seems to be suffering from a crisis of courage … Virtue signaling might be endemic, but courage, like honor, is not deemed a virtue worth signaling. Indeed, all the incentives are stacked on the opposite side: there is little to lose from going along with what everyone is saying, even if you don’t believe it yourself, and much to gain from proving that you are on the “right” side. Courage — sticking your head above the parapet and saying what you really think — can, conversely, get you into a huge amount of trouble, and, usually, you are not rewarded for it.

The mere mention of courage has been in decline for a long time. A 2012 paper in the Journal of Positive Psychology that tracked how frequently words related to moral excellence appeared in American books — both fiction and non-fiction — over the 20th century, found that the use of the words “courage, bravery and fortitude” (which were grouped together) had fallen by two-thirds over the period.

Moral courage does not equate to recklessness, and neither does it mean being a provocateur for the sake of it … But if we want our societies to thrive, we must be courageous enough to think for ourselves and stand up for what we believe in. The late writer Maya Angelou was right when she said: “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.”

Although she served faithfully in the youth ministry of her church, Taya Smith's singing talent was largely unknown among her church congregation. Having been forced to take time off from her job during the holiday season, she delayed too long to buy a plane ticket to visit her family. Since flights had become too expensive by then, Taya was stuck in Sydney for the holiday week. After attending a church recording that Sunday night, she sang her heart out with the youth band on stage and was noticed by the producers for Hillsong music.

Two mornings later Taya received a message from producer, Mike Chislett, requesting her to come over to the studio to do some backing vocals for a new music project. Since she didn’t have a driver's license, she traveled on multiple buses and trains over two days, and then rode her skateboard from the train station to the recording studio (about one and a half hours each way).

While at the studio, she was asked to record a song titled “Oceans.” It was the fulfillment of a prayer she had prayed two weeks earlier, asking God for help to step out into the unknown.

When released, the song “Oceans (Where feet may fail),” spent 61 weeks at number 1 on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs Chart. Billboard termed it the #1 Christian song of the 2010's. The song talks about stepping out into the unknown and was based on the moment the Apostle Peter walked on water.

Many of the world’s greatest souls became their best selves not in spite of but because of their distress. The great hymn writer Cowper wrote hopeful hymns and the great artist Van Gogh brushed epic paintings while contemplating suicide. Charles Spurgeon preached some of his best sermons while depressed. Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and Martin Luther King Jr. battled melancholy. The great composer Beethoven went deaf. C.S. Lewis buried his wife after a short, cancer-ridden marriage. Elie Wiesel and Corrie Ten Boom survived the holocaust. Joni Eareckson Tada lost her ability to walk in a tragic accident. John Perkins endured jail, beatings, and death threats from white supremacists.

As grief expert Elizabeth Kubler Ross famously noted, “The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known one defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation and sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep love and concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”

In an issue of CT magazine contributing editor Susan Wunderink writes:

When I was a swimming instructor, I spent a lot of time trying to get little kids to float. I would tell them to put their ears in the water and their belly buttons out of it, and I’d say, “When I count to two, you won’t feel my hands underneath you, but they’re there.” As soon as I’d say “two,” most of the children would frantically jerk their knees towards their chins and flail their arms, dropping their full weight into my hands. Almost all people float when they assume a posture of rest, but people who think they’ll sink don’t keep that posture for long.

Faith is about a posture of rest, too. Many of us are terrified by the life of faith, needing always to feel the support of steady jobs, steady relationships, and back-up plans. God, knowing that, signed us up for swim lessons. ... God intends to make a swimmer of (us), and he was teaching (us) to rely on him through what seems like a disaster.

The Glamour magazine YouTube channel has 4.43 million subscribers. It covers a wide variety of lifestyle topics. The one entitled "70 Men Ages 5 to 75: What's Your Greatest Fear?" has over 84,000 views.

Here are there top 8 fears, listed in ascending order of times mentioned:

8. End of the world due to climate change

7. Clowns

6. Heights

5. Evil people causing me harm

4. Being alone/Dying alone

3. Spiders/Snakes

2. Death of loved one

1. Failing to live up to my potential (most often mentioned)

You can watch the video here.

Dieunerst Collin is one of the latest collegiate athletes to sign an NIL deal. The 2021 NCAA policy that allows athletes to receive compensation in exchange for sponsors who use their name, image, and/or likeness. Collin, a freshman offensive lineman for the Lake Erie College Storm football team, is now being sponsored by Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen.

It wasn’t only Collin’s stellar play that put him on Popeye’s radar for a sponsorship. Collin has been associated with the brand for a long time because, as a young boy, he was captured on a short video inside of a Popeyes restaurant that ended up as a source of bullying and ridicule.

While he was waiting for his father and brother to return from the restroom, a teenager began filming Collin, claiming he looked like a kid version of a local rapper. The video was uploaded to Vine (a defunct video sharing service), where it went viral. It was eventually turned into various GIFs and memes that people used for comedic purposes. Collin became known as the “Popeyes Meme Kid.”

Collin told CNN,

When it happened, we didn’t want to be in the spotlight. People were coming to my dad and saying, “Hey, we’ve seen your kid on this,” trying to make a joke of it. My dad didn’t like it for his kids to be joked on. But now, the fact that I switched it into a blessing, he likes it.

As a teenager Collin helped win a state championship for East Orange Campus High School in New Jersey, and was given first-team all-conference honors. At the conclusion of his freshman season at Lake Erie, Collin tweeted in affirmation from someone who suggested that Popeyes should sign the young man to an endorsement deal. A few days later, the deal was official.

Collin is now featured on a new video, on the official Popeyes Instagram account, touting his accomplishments as Collin says words of affirmation to his younger self:

This is where the story started, the moment that made us a meme. We didn’t ask for it, but don’t worry, little man, we didn’t let it stop us. We learned to lean in, we turned the attention into motivation, and the motivation into championships. From memes to dreams.

Possible Preaching Angle:

In his grace, God can use episodes of bullying or ridicule and redeem them to show your worth and his goodness.

In 2021 Chapman University surveyed adults on 95 fears. It turns out that the majority of Americans suffer from tremendous fear. Many–perhaps as high as 85 percent of the population–live with a sense of impending doom. (This is) a classic sign of clinical anxiety.

The survey follows trends over time and identifies new fears as they emerge. The survey is a nationally representative sample that gives us insight into what terrifies America. Fears are ranked by the percent of Americans who reported being afraid or very afraid.

Top 10 Fears of 2022 % of Very Afraid or Afraid

1. Corrupt government officials 62.1

2. People I love becoming seriously ill 60.2

3. Russia using nuclear weapons 59.6

4. People I love dying 58.1

5. The U.S. involved in another world war 56.0

6. Pollution of drinking water 54.5

7. Not having enough money for the future 53.7

8. Economic/financial collapse 53.7

9. Pollution of oceans, rivers, and lakes 52.5

10. Biological warfare 51.5

A general overview of America’s top 10 fears in the 2022 survey suggests that Americans’ fears center on five main topics: corrupt government officials (number 1), harm to a loved one (numbers 2 & 4), war (numbers 3, 5, & 10), environmental concerns (numbers 6 & 9), and economic concerns numbers 7 & 8).

As nations across the globe reel from one crisis to another, the Collins English Dictionary has just revealed its 2022 word of the year to be “permacrisis.” “Permacrisis” is a noun defined by the U.K.-based publisher HarperCollins as "an extended period of instability and insecurity, especially one resulting from a series of catastrophic events.”

A blog post on the Collins Dictionary website noted that the term rings true because of the war in Ukraine, climate change challenges, political instability, and the surge in inflation. He goes on to say the term embodies the "dizzying sense of lurching from one unprecedented event to another," as people wonder what new "horrors" might be around the corner.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Advent; Christmas; Good News - Anyone ready for some good news? And I mean perma-good-news? Well, that’s what the angels said they were bringing that first Christmas and it’s still the best news today! “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

In an issue of CT magazine, author and college president Krish Kandiah writes:

One of my earliest memories is of holding my mother’s hand on my first day of school. I was so nervous as I entered the classroom that I wouldn’t let go. The warmth of her fingers reassured me as my heart pounded in my chest. When I felt scared and alone, she was my lifeline and my security.

I was reminded of that day a few years ago as I sat in a dark room, once again holding my mother’s hand. The silence was deafening as I strained to hear the muted words coming from the dehydrated mouth of a woman whose body had been ravaged by cancer. This time my mother held on to my hand, seeking reassurance from its warmth in her time of distress. The comforter had become the comforted.

Those were heartbreaking days. One moment I was praying for a miraculous recovery, the next for the end to come quickly. I was also haunted by God’s conspicuous absence. What I would have given during those long, languishing hours for his still, small voice of calm.

Turkish theologian Ziya Meral, writes: Where is God when millions of his children are being persecuted in the most brutal ways? Why does he keep silent in the middle of persecution but speak loudly in the middle of conferences with famous speakers and worship bands? I have prayed many times like Luther: “Bless us, Lord, even curse us! But don’t remain silent!”

Meral’s struggles eventually led him to consider Jesus’ own experience: “The greatest glory Jesus brought to God was not when he walked on the water or prayed for long hours, but when he cried in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane and still continued to follow God’s will. (He did so) even though it meant isolation, darkness, and the silence of God. Thus, we know that when everything around us fails, when we are destroyed and abandoned, our tears … are the greatest worship songs we have ever sung.”

In the fall of 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued two landmark statements. The first was the famous Gettysburg Address in which Lincoln commemorated the battlefield of Gettysburg. The other statement, made just weeks before, may be a bit more surprising. On October 3, 1863, President Lincoln instituted the first official Thanksgiving holiday.

Lincoln wrote, “It has seemed to me fit and proper that [the gracious gifts of the Most High God] should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.” Thus, Lincoln set apart the last Thursday of November as “a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father.” Apparently, in the midst of the worst war our nation had ever seen, Lincoln thought the time was ripe for gratitude.

We may be tempted to think Lincoln’s statement of gratitude was inappropriate, naïve, or even offensive. Reading the entire text of Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation, however, disabuses the modern reader from the conclusion that he had (somehow) forgotten about the Civil War. Lincoln candidly addressed the horrors of the Civil War, a war “of unequaled magnitude and severity” that had transformed tens of thousands of Americans into “widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife.” But he coupled this hardship with hope, recognizing the hand of God guiding him through the valley of the shadow of death.

Conflict and gratitude. Hardship and hope. Lincoln wasn’t confused. He was seeing thanksgiving through a biblical lens.

Possible Preaching Angle:

The surprising context for the holiday Lincoln instituted is a good reminder to us today. God wants us to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess. 5:18) because it focuses our hope and future in the goodness and power of our God and not on our “light and momentary troubles” (2 Cor. 4:17).

Death abounded in America in 2020 and 2021. According to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 570,000 more people died in 2020 than in 2019, with about 350,000 of those attributable to COVID-19. Another 350,000 people died from the coronavirus by the fall of 2021, bringing the death total to 700,000 and counting (as of March 18, 2022 over 969k deaths are attributable to COVID).

When roughly that same number died over the four years of the Civil War, it had a widespread impact on American culture. Historians say changes included increased attention to cemeteries, the rise in the importance of family photographs, and rapid growth in the popularity of practices of spiritualism, a new religious movement that claimed to help people communicate with the dead.

What impact today’s pandemic deaths will have on American culture remains to be seen. But one shift is notable now: The percentage of people age 40 and older who say that religion is “very important” in the funeral of a loved one has gone up for the first time in a decade.

The importance of religion at funerals jumped 10 percentage points in 2020. It went up another 2 points in 2021. Most Americans still don’t think religion is important at funerals, but a growing number are feeling a new need for it.

Sarah Jones, an atheist raised in a strict evangelical home, wrote about this experience:

I could plant a flag for my grandfather . . . but the gesture feels thin. I don’t know what exactly I would want from a memorial—whether it’s catharsis or meaning or something else altogether. I thought several hundred times this year, Maybe I should go to church.