Sermon Illustrations for Thanksgiving (2021)
Illustration
Joel 2:21-27
America and the world may not be plagued with locusts, but nature is suffering from our ecological plagues. The planet is warming by one third of a degree Fahrenheit each year since 1981, and the hottest ten years on record have all transpired in the 21st century. Meanwhile, the ice caps have been melting so that global sea levels have risen by 2.2 millimeters in just months. Between 4.2 million and 7 million people die from air pollution worldwide per year. And yet we can still do something about this matter with God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2415) so profoundly describes what kind of change in attitude we need:
Man’s dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by the Creator is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, including generations to come; it requires a religious respect for the integrity of creation.
Human dominion over creation is about being a caretaker of this wonderful gift of God. The prophet calls for rejoicing over the new realities in creation with the plague ended, a fitting message for this day. Fitting we would give thanks for creation. It is as John Calvin wrote about this text:
But he [Joel] mentions gratitude; for it was an evidence of true repentance when they praised the name of God, whom they understood to be the giver of their abundance; for he had proved that the land was under his power... (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XIV/.1, p.87)
Give thanks that God continues to use creation for our abundance.
Mark E.
* * *
Psalm 126
The psalmist sings of the restoration of Zion, of the nation of God. When fortunes have been restored the people will sing with joy, will sing of their blessings, and being blessed. When we are blessed, we rejoice! The assumption is of course the inverse is also true. When we are loved by God in in right relationship with God, we are blessed with good fortune. That is not an accurate assumption. Just because we have good fortune does not mean we are blessed or that when we have not had good fortune that we are cursed. The correlation is not always true. Sometimes bad things happen, even to those of us who are faithful. Perhaps the secret is to see the joy and love of God in every circumstance, to know the presence of God in the good and the bad, in the loss and in the gain we experience. Offering thanksgiving in all things may be the best way to live our lives.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Psalm 126
St. Augustine understood this psalm of thanks to entail that we are to live for others:
In this life, which is full of tears, let us sow. What shall we sow? Good works... Your soil is the church; sow as much as ye can. (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.8, p.605)
Martin Luther claimed that giving thanks is the main thing we’ll want to do:
... for we cannot perform any greater or better work for God, nor can we render him a nobler service than thanking him. (What Luther Says, pp.1352-1353)
Mark E.
* * *
1 Timothy 2:1-7
Lots of things we use every day require electricity. I plug in my computer. I plug in my television set. I plug in a razor (especially if I have failed to charge it). I plug in my phone charger. While most of the time that is an easy task, there are times when it isn’t. Recently for a class, I had a three-pronged extension cord and a two-slot outlet. To access the electricity, I had to have an adapter. That adapter is the “go-between” that allows the power to flow.
In many ways, Jesus is our “go-between.” Sin separated us from God. Jesus is our mediator who gave himself for us so that we can have a relationship with the Father.
John MacArthur wrote of Jesus as the mediator, “The Messiah/mediator must then possess all the perfections, all the powers, all the prerogatives, all the attributes of the one true, living God. At the same time, he must possess all the attributes, all the powers, and all the features of humanity. He must be fully God and fully man. That is required of this mediator, this anointed one, the Messiah.”
Bill T.
* * *
1 Timothy 2:1-7
In 1939, the United States was still recovering from the Great Depression. Thanksgiving was typically the last Thursday of November, and in that year, it fell on the 30th. That meant the holiday buying season was going to be much shorter. Local businesses feared losing much of the buying that kept them afloat the rest of the year. As a result, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving one week earlier at the request of those businesses. He was roundly criticized. His political opponents renamed the holiday as “Franksgiving”, even though they themselves were in favor of small businesses. I’m sure those businesses were grateful for extending the buying season. This incident reminds me that regardless of who is in power, sometimes the opposition feels the need to automatically criticize everything they do, regardless of whether it’s something they secretly approve of. In this passage the apostle calls us to pray for those in authority. Regardless of our political beliefs, it can’t hurt to pray for those who are in authority. And we can offer thanks for every good idea, regardless of its source.
Frank R.
* * *
Matthew 6:25-33
In John Wesley’s view our text directs us to take a lesson from nature:
And thus instructed in the philosophy of our heavenly Master we will learn a lesson of faith and cheerfulness from every bird of the air and every flower of the field. (Commentary On the Bible, p.410)
What lessons are taught this way? Martin Luther offers a few observations about this text:
God cannot allow us to have another Lord besides himself... By this illustration the Lord again does not wish to have us cease to sew and work, but we should labor, spin and sew, and not be overanxious and worry. (Complete Sermons, Vol.3/1, pp.105,115)
Now the sum of this gospel is: Christians should not worry about what they are to eat; God provides for them before they think of their need... (Ibid., p.116)
God uses nature to teach Thanksgiving.
Mark E.
* * *
Matthew 6:25-33
We do worry. In my family we have sometimes dwelt on worry to the detriment of our health and our happiness. Worrying about what might happen, what could happen is really not helpful. Leo Buscaglia is quoted as saying, “Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.” Jesus is reminding those in his midst that worrying doesn’t add a day to our lives. Jesus reminds us to live as the sparrows, as the lilies of the field, to simply live as we are planted, experiencing everything in our lives in the moment that it occurs and not marring our experience by worrying about what might be. I suppose we are not to worry about what might have been, either. Living in the moment is difficult sometimes. Acknowledging our lives with hope and joy no matter what is going on, is a challenge. Yet, Jesus is always present with us. God is always here. That presence is a foundation and a hope on which we can count for each day of our lives.
Bonnie B.
America and the world may not be plagued with locusts, but nature is suffering from our ecological plagues. The planet is warming by one third of a degree Fahrenheit each year since 1981, and the hottest ten years on record have all transpired in the 21st century. Meanwhile, the ice caps have been melting so that global sea levels have risen by 2.2 millimeters in just months. Between 4.2 million and 7 million people die from air pollution worldwide per year. And yet we can still do something about this matter with God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2415) so profoundly describes what kind of change in attitude we need:
Man’s dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by the Creator is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, including generations to come; it requires a religious respect for the integrity of creation.
Human dominion over creation is about being a caretaker of this wonderful gift of God. The prophet calls for rejoicing over the new realities in creation with the plague ended, a fitting message for this day. Fitting we would give thanks for creation. It is as John Calvin wrote about this text:
But he [Joel] mentions gratitude; for it was an evidence of true repentance when they praised the name of God, whom they understood to be the giver of their abundance; for he had proved that the land was under his power... (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XIV/.1, p.87)
Give thanks that God continues to use creation for our abundance.
Mark E.
* * *
Psalm 126
The psalmist sings of the restoration of Zion, of the nation of God. When fortunes have been restored the people will sing with joy, will sing of their blessings, and being blessed. When we are blessed, we rejoice! The assumption is of course the inverse is also true. When we are loved by God in in right relationship with God, we are blessed with good fortune. That is not an accurate assumption. Just because we have good fortune does not mean we are blessed or that when we have not had good fortune that we are cursed. The correlation is not always true. Sometimes bad things happen, even to those of us who are faithful. Perhaps the secret is to see the joy and love of God in every circumstance, to know the presence of God in the good and the bad, in the loss and in the gain we experience. Offering thanksgiving in all things may be the best way to live our lives.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Psalm 126
St. Augustine understood this psalm of thanks to entail that we are to live for others:
In this life, which is full of tears, let us sow. What shall we sow? Good works... Your soil is the church; sow as much as ye can. (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.8, p.605)
Martin Luther claimed that giving thanks is the main thing we’ll want to do:
... for we cannot perform any greater or better work for God, nor can we render him a nobler service than thanking him. (What Luther Says, pp.1352-1353)
Mark E.
* * *
1 Timothy 2:1-7
Lots of things we use every day require electricity. I plug in my computer. I plug in my television set. I plug in a razor (especially if I have failed to charge it). I plug in my phone charger. While most of the time that is an easy task, there are times when it isn’t. Recently for a class, I had a three-pronged extension cord and a two-slot outlet. To access the electricity, I had to have an adapter. That adapter is the “go-between” that allows the power to flow.
In many ways, Jesus is our “go-between.” Sin separated us from God. Jesus is our mediator who gave himself for us so that we can have a relationship with the Father.
John MacArthur wrote of Jesus as the mediator, “The Messiah/mediator must then possess all the perfections, all the powers, all the prerogatives, all the attributes of the one true, living God. At the same time, he must possess all the attributes, all the powers, and all the features of humanity. He must be fully God and fully man. That is required of this mediator, this anointed one, the Messiah.”
Bill T.
* * *
1 Timothy 2:1-7
In 1939, the United States was still recovering from the Great Depression. Thanksgiving was typically the last Thursday of November, and in that year, it fell on the 30th. That meant the holiday buying season was going to be much shorter. Local businesses feared losing much of the buying that kept them afloat the rest of the year. As a result, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving one week earlier at the request of those businesses. He was roundly criticized. His political opponents renamed the holiday as “Franksgiving”, even though they themselves were in favor of small businesses. I’m sure those businesses were grateful for extending the buying season. This incident reminds me that regardless of who is in power, sometimes the opposition feels the need to automatically criticize everything they do, regardless of whether it’s something they secretly approve of. In this passage the apostle calls us to pray for those in authority. Regardless of our political beliefs, it can’t hurt to pray for those who are in authority. And we can offer thanks for every good idea, regardless of its source.
Frank R.
* * *
Matthew 6:25-33
In John Wesley’s view our text directs us to take a lesson from nature:
And thus instructed in the philosophy of our heavenly Master we will learn a lesson of faith and cheerfulness from every bird of the air and every flower of the field. (Commentary On the Bible, p.410)
What lessons are taught this way? Martin Luther offers a few observations about this text:
God cannot allow us to have another Lord besides himself... By this illustration the Lord again does not wish to have us cease to sew and work, but we should labor, spin and sew, and not be overanxious and worry. (Complete Sermons, Vol.3/1, pp.105,115)
Now the sum of this gospel is: Christians should not worry about what they are to eat; God provides for them before they think of their need... (Ibid., p.116)
God uses nature to teach Thanksgiving.
Mark E.
* * *
Matthew 6:25-33
We do worry. In my family we have sometimes dwelt on worry to the detriment of our health and our happiness. Worrying about what might happen, what could happen is really not helpful. Leo Buscaglia is quoted as saying, “Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.” Jesus is reminding those in his midst that worrying doesn’t add a day to our lives. Jesus reminds us to live as the sparrows, as the lilies of the field, to simply live as we are planted, experiencing everything in our lives in the moment that it occurs and not marring our experience by worrying about what might be. I suppose we are not to worry about what might have been, either. Living in the moment is difficult sometimes. Acknowledging our lives with hope and joy no matter what is going on, is a challenge. Yet, Jesus is always present with us. God is always here. That presence is a foundation and a hope on which we can count for each day of our lives.
Bonnie B.
