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Thanksgiving Eve Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Tomorrow we and Americans throughout our land will be celebrating a major holiday, a day of Thanksgiving. It is a day for family gatherings, feasting on turkey and all the trimmings, perhaps watching some football or just plain relaxing. But most of all, the main purpose of this day is to thank God for all of his many blessings – and THAT is why we are gathered here together at worship this evening. Most of us know some of the basic history behind this celebration. Tradition has it that it began with the PILGRIMS, a group of Puritan separatists who came to the New World from England in order to avoid persecution. They came over on the ship MAYFLOWER and landed at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts in the Fall of 1620. Earlier during this service, I read The Mayflower Compact by which they pledged to govern their life together in this new land. That first winter was a very hard one for this band of Pilgrims, a very hard one indeed! Many of them died from starvation and exposure to the bitter cold. Possibly the only reason why the colony survived was due to the fact that the neighboring Indians brought them food during their hour of need. There were plenty of reasons for discouragement and despair during that first winter of 1620-21. But of course things began to get better. They had a good harvest that summer and they made it through the next winter in much better shape. And again in the summer following they had a very good harvest indeed. And so when the fall came with the harvest safely gathered in, the Pilgrims decided to hold a FEAST and they invited their Indian friends to join them. The purpose of this celebration was to give thanks to God for His having been with them during the terrible times AND for His being with them now in a time of plenty. Thus was celebrated the first Thanksgiving holiday in America. And as the years went on it became a tradition firmly established in our national heritage. Officially, it has been observed every year since 1863m when Abraham Lincoln made his Thanksgiving Proclamation that Pastor Shuma read earlier in this service. But what are WE here for this evening? Or to put it in another way, what are we thanking God for? Most of us when thinking about this would answer that we are thanking God for our MATERIAL POSSESSIONS….for blessings such as a good harvest, a free country, family and friends, and so forth. And we indeed should thank God for all of these blessings! But for me as a Christian, there is much more that we should thank God for than just material things! In this evening’s scripture reading from Philippians, the apostle Paul helps us to understand what true thanksgiving is really all about. Materially, he did not have much to be thankful for. He was in prison for the “crime” of being a Christian. He knew that he likely was about to be executed. We can imagine all of the emotional turmoil he could have been going through. But instead of dwelling on his problems with anguish and despair, Paul writes about rejoicing and thanksgiving! Listen again to what he wrote in his letter while thanking them for a gift they had sent to him during his imprisonment. Paul writes: “I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned for me, but had no opportunity to show it. Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:10-13) There are several points which can be brought out from this passage about the true meaning of Thanksgiving. First, we see that Paul knew how to accept gifts. He COULD have said something like “Oh, really! You shouldn’t have!” – and then gone on and on about how he did not deserve this, that he was not worthy, and so forth. Many people tend to exhibit this FALSE HUMILITY and thus deny to the giver the PLEASURE of giving! Or on the other hand he could have had an attitude of “Well, it’s about time! After all that I have done for you, it is about time that you finally remembered me!” Again, many people tend to exhibit this FALSE PRIDE and view gifts as being PAYMENTS for services rendered... and thus again deny to the giver the PLEASURE of giving! Paul took the best course by simply saying “Thank you!” He even gives praise to God for letting his imprisonment become an opportunity for the Philippians to express their love and concern for him in a concrete way. Perhaps we need to remember this. So often it seems that we do not know how to accept gifts and help gracefully. We are either ashamed of needed help or we sometimes have a “The world owes me a living!” kind of attitude. But may we be like Paul. He was a man who knew his own worth, and who knew that he had been of help to many people... and he gave thanks to God for being able to do that. But Paul ALSO knew that when he needed help he could give pleasure to those who were ministering to him by being a gracious receiver – and he gave thanks to God for that as well! Both as a giver AND as a receiver, Paul knew that he was serving God – and he gave thanks for being able to do that. A second point to be made about Paul in this evening's second lesson is that for him TRUE THANKSGIVING did not reside in material things. As he says: “I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.” Paul's thanksgiving did not reside in material things, but rather in his knowledge that God was always with him in any and all circumstances. Even in prison Paul knew that God still loved him and would always be with him. This knowledge... this faith... is what gave him peace and joy that the world could not give. How about us? This evening especially, we give thanks to God for all of the material blessings He has giving to us – for things like a good harvest, for food and clothing, home and family, daily work, a free country, and all that we need from day to day. It is right to give God our thanks and praise for all of these things, for continuing to provide us with “our daily bread.”. But may we remember that TRUE THANKSGIVING comes from our having a life with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our material blessings can pass away, but the love of God for us through Jesus Christ will remain forever. When we have a life with Christ, then our dependence upon needing material things in order to be happy is broken! Then we like Paul can also say that WE have learned to be content with whatever we have. We can thank God for being able to help others...and we can thank God for others being able to help us. Through Jesus Christ we can give thanks to God at all times – good and bad! Because no matter what, we believe that our Lord loves us and is ALWAYS with us! This is the CHRISTIAN MEANING of Thanksgiving, and it is the kind of thanksgiving that Paul had while writing his letter from prison. AND I believe that it is the kind of thanksgiving which the Pilgrims had when they celebrated that first feast at Plymouth Rock in the early 1620's. Even though they had been through some terrible times, their faith in God’s love had been strengthened rather than weakened. They had received help from their Indian neighbors when they were starving, and now they were glad to share their abundance with them! Their thanksgiving, as was St. Paul's, was not dependent upon material things. Their thanksgiving was based upon LOVE, specifically the love which God gave to them through Jesus Christ. This love changed their outlook upon life. Now they could, as St. Paul put it, be content with whatever they had. May we reflect upon these things during this Thanksgiving holiday. As we thank God for the harvest and other good things, may we always remember that the GREATEST BLESSING is the love He has given us through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord – and that this is a blessing that will never leave us. If we truly believe this, we will be filled with God's peace, love, and joy each and every day, and forever and ever. May it be so for us! HAPPY THANKSGIVING, everyone! And now may the Peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus! Amen! -------------------- George R. Karres, Pella Lutheran Church 418 W. Main Street Sidney, MT 59270
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