Happy Thanksgiving!

A lady went to the pet story looking for an animal to welcome into her home. She looked through all the different kinds of animals, but her heart was caught by a parrot. It was a beautiful bird and she knew immediately that this was the perfect pet. But when she told the clerk that she wanted to buy the bird he refused to sell it to her. “I’m sorry ma’am. But the bird use to belong to a sailor and he talks just like one. His language is terrible.” But the woman insisted that she take the bird home, and promised that she would be loving but firm and would be able to change the bird’s ways. Sure enough no sooner did they get home and the bird began to cuss up a storm. The woman put the cage in the freezer and said, “you will stay in there for ten minutes, and every time you talk that way, you will get ten minutes in the freezer.” When ten minutes was up she retrieved her shivering bird and he said, “Wow. Lady. I promise I will never do that again, but can you answer just one question for me? What did the turkey do?”

Thanksgiving. What a great day. What a great idea. I mean, I don’t know about you, but any day that is celebrated by getting together with friends and family, eating a whole bunch of food and then falling asleep on the couch watching football, well that is a pretty good day. Now I don’t want to get caught up in the controversy about when the first Thanksgiving was or where it was celebrated. I don’t want to just write it off as secular day that was signed into law in 1941. No matter how you feel about those things; taking time out to pause and give thanks for the many blessings that we have in our lives, well that is a good thing to do.

And indeed there is much to be thankful for. That is the amazing thing about life. It can be really hard and scary and challenging, and yet in the midst of all that, we can still be thankful for our God and the amazing ways that he works in our lives and for the awesome promises that he makes to us, and that we place our hope in.

Consider our Epistle lesson from Philippians. Just Two verses before Paul writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;” and then it gets into the beginning of our reading for tonight. “But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

Sometimes this is easier said than done. I mean when everything is working out the way that it should, and everything is going according to plan and all the pieces are falling into place, well then it is easy to rejoice. But when everything is not going according to plan, and the hits just keep coming and you find yourself in that place where you feel like every time you hit bottom some throws you shovel. Well, when you are there, it is much harder to rejoice. It is more difficult to give thanks.

You don’t need me to tell you the harsh reality of living in a world that is so broken and corrupted by sin. Where we deal with the effects of our own sins and the sins of others in our lives. Where there is pain and suffering and injustice on a daily basis. But it is in the face of, in the midst of these things that we give thanks. And not because we have to, but because we are able to.

This rejoicing is not just putting on a happy face and pretending that nothing is wrong. Neither is it something that we do in isolation, but we do it together. We rejoice with one another. Because even when life is at its worst, we still have a God who is with us, who forgives us our sins, who gives us life and salvation, who will never give up on us or abandon us. And who always gives us hope. We have something to hold on to. We know that God is faithful. We know of that future reality that awaits us, but we also know that we have a taste of it now. Right now we get a sample of it; it is a foretaste of the feast to come. Because these things are true for us, then no matter what we are facing we can rejoice, we can give thanks, and that is what we are doing this evening.

Paul is no stranger to suffering. He certainly had his fair share of it. At the time that he is writing this letter he is in prison. He is there because he is telling people about God’s love in Jesus. Now he could cry about how unfair this is. He could complain about the suffering that he endures. But he doesn’t. Instead he rejoices. He gives thanks. And again, not because he has to, but because he is able to.

Do you know how awesome it is to be able to rejoice and give thanks regardless of our circumstances? Do you know how powerful it is to be able to rejoice and give thanks even when there is no visible reason for it? Because as we do this we are saying there is more to life than just the things that are going on around us right now. And no matter how difficult they are, they do not define us and we are not bound by them.

You see, without our God, when we go through difficult times in life, there is nothing to hold on to. There is no guarantee that things will get better. There is no hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel. But that is not the case. Our rejoicing and thanksgiving is not proportionate to our trials or troubles. But our rejoicing and thanksgiving are there because of who our God is and the ways that he works in our lives. In other words, we don’t have to wait for life to get better to rejoice, because we have our God and he is with us and he works in marvelous ways in our lives.

This is a message that the world needs. In Jesus there is forgiveness, life and reconciliation with God and one another. In Jesus there is hope. And because we believe this and because we know this and because we experience this, we gather together to pray, and give thanks to praise and worship our God. So that we are persistent in our rejoicing and in our giving thanks.  The Lord is at hand. He is here. He is with us. And because this is the case when we pray, when we make requests, we can do so with thanksgiving. And as we do this, the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding will keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  

God works in incredible and awesome ways in our lives. He gives us many, many good gifts. So many that we can’t even number them. He gives them to us, not because we deserve them or have earned them, but because of who he is and how awesome, gracious and loving he is. And so we give thanks.

One of the ways that we see him working in our lives is through Holy Communion. The body and blood of Jesus are in, with and under the bread and wine. And when we receive these things we receive forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. For wherever there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation. By the way, do you know another name for communion? Eucharist. The word Eucharist comes from the Greek work and means give thanks. You hear this in our communion liturgy as we say, “Let us give thanks to the Lord or God,” and the congregation responds with “It is right to give him thanks and praise.” It is right to do so, because of all the awesome ways that God works in our lives.

And when we take that into account, we realize that there is indeed much to give thanks for. I thank God for you. For bringing us together. For your love and support. And for your partnership in ministry.  I am looking forward to this next year together, and to being able to work, study, serve, worship, give thanks and rejoice with you. Rejoice in the lord always; again I say rejoice. Amen.