Thanksgiving Day
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series III, Cycle C
The Church Year Theological Clue
One recurring theological clue that comes from the liturgy of the church is that God's people respond to his goodness and grace by acts of penitence and thanksgiving. Repentance reveals that the faithful are aware that all of God's blessings, which they have wasted or destroyed, come as free and gracious gifts of the heavenly Father; believing in God's graciousness generates true humility in human hearts and minds. Thus, the way is open to repentance and renewed faith, and thanksgiving is a positive response of humble and grateful people, finding expression in the Sunday worship - the Eucharist, or thanksgiving - and every prayer or act of devotion that may be directed toward God. And so, Thanksgiving Day in both Canada and the United States of America isolates and elevates one area of God's grace - his provision for the sustenance and support of all life in his continuing work of creation - and it calls on people to respond to the knowledge of God's goodness by giving him public and private thanks for his blessings and benefits on this day. Such gratitude spills over into the liturgy of the people in the world they live in, expressing itself in service to other people and to God in the "care of the earth" and all life.
The Prayer Of The Day
The classic prayer, used in some of the older worship books of the churches for A Day of Thanksgiving, continues to be appropriate today. It reads: "Almighty God, our heavenly Father, whose mercies are new unto us every morning, and who, though we have in no way deserved thy goodness, dost abundantly provide for all our wants of body and soul: Give us, we pray thee, thy Holy Spirit, that we may heartily acknowledge thy merciful goodness toward us, give thanks for all thy benefits, and serve thee in willing obedience; through thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen."
One of the prayers for the "Stewardship of Creation" in The Lutheran Book Of Worship reflects a classic theological emphasis made in psalmody used on this day: "O merciful Creator, your hand is open wide to satisfy the needs of every living creature. Make us always thankful for your loving providence; and grant that we, remembering the account that we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of your good gifts; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
The Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 150 (Common Service Book) - In at least one older liturgy, the opening psalm/introit was rearranged so that worship began with the last versee of this last psalm in the Bible: "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Hallelujah (verse 6)!" Verse 2 followed: "Praise him for his mighty acts; praise him for his excellent greatness," and then came verse 1, "Hallelujah! Praise God in his holy temple; praise him in the firmament of his power." In this manner, the last of the "hallel" psalms was employed appropriately as a "call to worship" on Thanksgiving Day." Thanksgiving springs from an appreciation of God's loving and gracious actions in the world and finds expression in the praise of grateful persons: "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Hallelujah!"
Psalm prayer (150 - LBW) - "Lord God, unite our voices with the praise of all creation, that we may worthily magnify your excellent greatness; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever."
Psalms 145 and 103 - These two psalms were combined as a responsory to the first two readings for Thanksgiving Day (CSB). Psalm 145:16-17 made specific mention of God's provision for the sustenance and support of human life: "The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord, and you give them their food in due season. You open wide your hand and satisfy the needs of every living creature." Verses 1 and 2 of Psalm 103 called for the faithful to remember God's blessings and to bless him in return: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
(Note: Numerous psalms speak to the thanksgiving theme. This arrangement is often used in "table grace," as well as in public worship.)
Psalm prayer (103 - LB W) - "Lord, you have compassion for the sinner, as a father has compassion for his children. Heal the weakness of your people and save us from ever-lasting death, that with the saints and angels we may praise and glorify you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever."
The Readings
Deuteronomy 8:1-20 - In the first 10 verses of Deuteronomy, chapter 8, the author recounts the blessings of God to the people of Israel in their 40-year exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land, calling upon the people to remember and to express their thankfulness by obeying his commandments. God led them and fed them in the wilderness so that they might learn that human beings do "not live by bread alone, but ... by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of God." Verses 11 -20 contain a warning to the people of Israel not to think they have become successful and wealthy "on their own," but that God gave them the ability and power to achieve prosperity and a measure of wealth. They will virtually destroy themselves and the nation, if they fail to remember God's saving actions toward them in the exodus experience; he was making them into a new and grateful people, and wanted them to remain that way.
Isaiah 61:10-11 - "Third Isaiah" recounts the return from exile and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, plus the prosperity that will be known by God's people. He says that the whole world will know, because their blessings will be evident, that they are the people of God. The two verses of this text express the response of a person or a people who remembers what God has done for him, rejoices, and gives thanks to God in obedient and faithful service. The text will strike a responsive chord in Christians with "he has covered me with the robe of righteousness" in Christ Jesus, of course.
1 Timothy 2:1-8 - Comments on this reading (vv. 1-4) are included in the Lectionary Preaching Workbook III, Cycles A and B, as well as in comments for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Preaching Workbook III, Cycle C (2:3-14).
Acts 14:8-18 - Here is told the story of what happened when Paul healed the man who had been unable to walk since his birth; the people, who saw the miracle, believed that Paul and Barnabas were gods in the guise of human beings. Even the priest of Zeus wanted to join in and offer sacrifices to them, but the two missionaries had to assure them that they were humans, not gods, in order to dissuade them from their intentions. Luke reports that they were barely able to persuade the people of Lystra that they were ordinary people, not divine. The reading was selected because it pictures the sort of gratitude that people ought to have when they are aware of the blessings that God has given to them. (See, also, the comments on this reading for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, above.)
Matthew 6:25-33 - Several lectionaries - old and new - employ this selection as the Gospel for Thanksgiving Day. It is Jesus' exhortation to his disciples not to be "anxious" about food, drink, or clothing; God will provide all of these necessities for human beings, just as he does for birds and flowers. He is the Lord of all creation and, as such, takes care of that which he has created, including his people. Instead of spending all of one's energy on making a living and obtaining the necessities of life, a person needs to put matters in proper perspective: First, one should seek God's "kingdom and his righteousness" and, then, "all these things shall be yours as well." Jesus is calling upon his followers and us, too, to acknowledge what God does as Creator, and to trust and obviously, to thank him for his constant and gracious goodness.
Sermon Suggestions, Synopses, Sketches, Stories
Matthew 6:25-33 - "The Kingdom - God's Gift." - "The Care of the Earth" - as Joseph Sittler put it in a sermon (and the title of a sermon collection) - is primary to the business of being a genuine and concerned human being in today's world - people who are grateful for God's creation. Some people are beginning to recognize that concern for, and caring for, the earth, preserving it, combine into an act of thanksgiving, the response of grateful people to the ecological crisis. Connie Koenenn, in the Los Angeles Times, suggested "The top 10 simple steps to save the Earth." As a way to give thanks, they include:
1. Turn down your water heater (to save energy).
2. Place a plastic bottle in your toilet (to save water).
3. Install low-flow faucet aerators and shower heads.
4. Keep your car's tires properly inflated (to conserve gasoline and lower carbon dioxide emissions).
5. Bring your own shopping bag (to the store and to save trees).
6. Eliminate waste before you buy (buy cardboard rather than foam packages, glass not plastic).
7. Recycle cans, glass and paper.
8. Replace a regular (incandescent) light bulb with a fluorescent light bulb.
9. Buy rechargeable batteries for household use (to prevent toxic substances from leaking from landfills into the soil).
10. Set the blades higher on your lawn mower (to encourage deeper root growth and save water).
Hers is a very practical list of things people can do to "care for the earth" and as actions of thanksgiving.
1. The world we live in is one of the gifts of God - a gift of the kingdom - to human beings and all forms of life. At creation, God placed the people he made in his image "over the earth" to "care for it" not destroy it or consume its resources.
2. This is a time when people are beginning to realize that the "care of the earth" is not optional; everyone has to participate in the preservation of the earth, not simply the conservation of non-renewable resources. Failure to do this could mean the end of all life, as known now, on the earth. We live in a time of some anxiety about the future (the "greenhouse" effect, depletion of the ozone layer, pollution of earth and sea, among others).
3. The call to "seek first the kingdom and his (God's) righteousness" is critical in this time of anxiety. God has made human beings for himself, wants to save them for eternity, as well as sustain them in time. Those who seek him and his kingdom will be able to put matters in proper perspective and God will give them the insight and ability to do what needs to be done in the world.
4. So, the people of God thank him this day for the kingdom and its blessings, determined to save the earth and all that sustains life, while living in the promise and expectation of the new heaven and earth and eternal life held out to the world in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Deuteronomy 8:1-20 - "Lest We Forget...."
1. Thanksgiving is a day when we remember what God has provided for us in the world.
2. Thanksgiving is a frame of mind that expresses appreciation for God's blessings and benefits.
3. Thanksgiving is a reminder to "repay the earth" and God for the way we have been blessed in life, rather than "rob the world" of its resources in order to become "rich."
4. Thanksgiving is an opportunity to insure the future of the human race, as real children of God.
Isaiah 61:10-11 - "Joy And Thanksgiving."
1. The realization of the ways that God has blessed us is a source of rejoicing and appreciating life.
2. God literally "clothes us" and also "clothes us with the garments of salvation ... (and) the robe of righteousness" and this increases our joy.
3. Our joy has to spill over in spontaneous thanksgiving to God for the blessings of the earth and for his gifts in Christ and his church.
4. So we thank him joyfully for being a good, gracious, and generous God, for being a father to us in his concern and his loving gifts.
1 Timothy 2:1-8 - "The Call For Thanksgiving." - J. Ernest Rattenbury, in Festivals And Saints Days, might have been talking about Thanksgiving Day when he wrote about Lamas Day, August 1: "The day (Lamas Day) has rather become a date ... than a Christian festival." The same thing might be said of Thanksgiving, either in Canada or the United States; it is more holiday than holy day. But the call for thanksgiving continues to be sounded in the world, particularly today.
1. Thanksgiving finds expression in acts of prayer and devotion, private and public.
2. Thanksgiving calls for grateful and positive response to God's blessings, returning part of what he has given to him. Rattenbury tells us that the word "Lamas" was misread as "Lambs," when it "really means "Loaf Mass" and is derived from a natural contraction of the Anglo-Saxon word for "loaf" - "Hiaf" and Mass. It was the custom in very early times to make an offering of a loaf (of bread) to the church, made from wheat already gathered in, as a first-fruits thanksgiving to God. This is the true meaning of the feast ... and, most surely, part of the meaning of Thanksgiving Day.
3. But thanksgiving should spill over into all areas of life in which we have been blessed for Christ and his church, for families and friends, for leaders in all walks of life, for work and economic opportunity, for everyone and everything that give meaning and purpose to our lives.
4. That call to thanksgiving goes out and will sound and resound in the world, because it is not just Paul's desire that we should pray and give thanks to God, but that of God himself.
Acts 14:8-18 - "A Living God."
1. Sort of a strange reading for Thanksgiving Day, isn't it? But it is actually quite appropriate, because people and their priest were moved by a miracle to offer sacrifices - thanksgiving - to Paul and Barnabas, who had acted with the power of God to free a man from the imprisonment he knew in his infirmity.
2. The people of Lystra had to be put off; their thinking had to be reversed. Only the living God, not any human being, could heal a man who had been crippled since birth. And Paul told them so! He and Barnabas were ordinary people who were able to do an extraordinary thing through the power that had been made available to them through the risen Lord.
3. In our world, there is a tendency to elevate and idolize "miracle workers," who do wondrous things through scientific insights and knowledge, not only in the medical field, but in science and technology, manufacturing and agriculture. Yet it is the living God, the Creator of heaven and earth, whose power and will have made all of our "miracles" possible. And God's power hasn't diminished; he hasn't run out of miracles, as yet!
4. Our business, as Christians, is to thank God for the miracle of his grace in creation and Christ, not only by words and worship, but by using his power for good by applying it to the needs of the world. Perhaps the world will see new miracles and, as we tell them the story of God's grace, people will be moved to thank the living God for all he has done - the ordinary and the miraculous - to support and enrich our lives.
5. The bottom line is that we all live by grace, the goodness and love of the living God, which are totally undeserved. Such knowledge breeds humility and genuine thanksgiving. (Again, see the materials for the Sixth Sunday of Easter.)
One recurring theological clue that comes from the liturgy of the church is that God's people respond to his goodness and grace by acts of penitence and thanksgiving. Repentance reveals that the faithful are aware that all of God's blessings, which they have wasted or destroyed, come as free and gracious gifts of the heavenly Father; believing in God's graciousness generates true humility in human hearts and minds. Thus, the way is open to repentance and renewed faith, and thanksgiving is a positive response of humble and grateful people, finding expression in the Sunday worship - the Eucharist, or thanksgiving - and every prayer or act of devotion that may be directed toward God. And so, Thanksgiving Day in both Canada and the United States of America isolates and elevates one area of God's grace - his provision for the sustenance and support of all life in his continuing work of creation - and it calls on people to respond to the knowledge of God's goodness by giving him public and private thanks for his blessings and benefits on this day. Such gratitude spills over into the liturgy of the people in the world they live in, expressing itself in service to other people and to God in the "care of the earth" and all life.
The Prayer Of The Day
The classic prayer, used in some of the older worship books of the churches for A Day of Thanksgiving, continues to be appropriate today. It reads: "Almighty God, our heavenly Father, whose mercies are new unto us every morning, and who, though we have in no way deserved thy goodness, dost abundantly provide for all our wants of body and soul: Give us, we pray thee, thy Holy Spirit, that we may heartily acknowledge thy merciful goodness toward us, give thanks for all thy benefits, and serve thee in willing obedience; through thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen."
One of the prayers for the "Stewardship of Creation" in The Lutheran Book Of Worship reflects a classic theological emphasis made in psalmody used on this day: "O merciful Creator, your hand is open wide to satisfy the needs of every living creature. Make us always thankful for your loving providence; and grant that we, remembering the account that we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of your good gifts; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
The Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 150 (Common Service Book) - In at least one older liturgy, the opening psalm/introit was rearranged so that worship began with the last versee of this last psalm in the Bible: "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Hallelujah (verse 6)!" Verse 2 followed: "Praise him for his mighty acts; praise him for his excellent greatness," and then came verse 1, "Hallelujah! Praise God in his holy temple; praise him in the firmament of his power." In this manner, the last of the "hallel" psalms was employed appropriately as a "call to worship" on Thanksgiving Day." Thanksgiving springs from an appreciation of God's loving and gracious actions in the world and finds expression in the praise of grateful persons: "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Hallelujah!"
Psalm prayer (150 - LBW) - "Lord God, unite our voices with the praise of all creation, that we may worthily magnify your excellent greatness; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever."
Psalms 145 and 103 - These two psalms were combined as a responsory to the first two readings for Thanksgiving Day (CSB). Psalm 145:16-17 made specific mention of God's provision for the sustenance and support of human life: "The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord, and you give them their food in due season. You open wide your hand and satisfy the needs of every living creature." Verses 1 and 2 of Psalm 103 called for the faithful to remember God's blessings and to bless him in return: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
(Note: Numerous psalms speak to the thanksgiving theme. This arrangement is often used in "table grace," as well as in public worship.)
Psalm prayer (103 - LB W) - "Lord, you have compassion for the sinner, as a father has compassion for his children. Heal the weakness of your people and save us from ever-lasting death, that with the saints and angels we may praise and glorify you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever."
The Readings
Deuteronomy 8:1-20 - In the first 10 verses of Deuteronomy, chapter 8, the author recounts the blessings of God to the people of Israel in their 40-year exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land, calling upon the people to remember and to express their thankfulness by obeying his commandments. God led them and fed them in the wilderness so that they might learn that human beings do "not live by bread alone, but ... by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of God." Verses 11 -20 contain a warning to the people of Israel not to think they have become successful and wealthy "on their own," but that God gave them the ability and power to achieve prosperity and a measure of wealth. They will virtually destroy themselves and the nation, if they fail to remember God's saving actions toward them in the exodus experience; he was making them into a new and grateful people, and wanted them to remain that way.
Isaiah 61:10-11 - "Third Isaiah" recounts the return from exile and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, plus the prosperity that will be known by God's people. He says that the whole world will know, because their blessings will be evident, that they are the people of God. The two verses of this text express the response of a person or a people who remembers what God has done for him, rejoices, and gives thanks to God in obedient and faithful service. The text will strike a responsive chord in Christians with "he has covered me with the robe of righteousness" in Christ Jesus, of course.
1 Timothy 2:1-8 - Comments on this reading (vv. 1-4) are included in the Lectionary Preaching Workbook III, Cycles A and B, as well as in comments for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Preaching Workbook III, Cycle C (2:3-14).
Acts 14:8-18 - Here is told the story of what happened when Paul healed the man who had been unable to walk since his birth; the people, who saw the miracle, believed that Paul and Barnabas were gods in the guise of human beings. Even the priest of Zeus wanted to join in and offer sacrifices to them, but the two missionaries had to assure them that they were humans, not gods, in order to dissuade them from their intentions. Luke reports that they were barely able to persuade the people of Lystra that they were ordinary people, not divine. The reading was selected because it pictures the sort of gratitude that people ought to have when they are aware of the blessings that God has given to them. (See, also, the comments on this reading for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, above.)
Matthew 6:25-33 - Several lectionaries - old and new - employ this selection as the Gospel for Thanksgiving Day. It is Jesus' exhortation to his disciples not to be "anxious" about food, drink, or clothing; God will provide all of these necessities for human beings, just as he does for birds and flowers. He is the Lord of all creation and, as such, takes care of that which he has created, including his people. Instead of spending all of one's energy on making a living and obtaining the necessities of life, a person needs to put matters in proper perspective: First, one should seek God's "kingdom and his righteousness" and, then, "all these things shall be yours as well." Jesus is calling upon his followers and us, too, to acknowledge what God does as Creator, and to trust and obviously, to thank him for his constant and gracious goodness.
Sermon Suggestions, Synopses, Sketches, Stories
Matthew 6:25-33 - "The Kingdom - God's Gift." - "The Care of the Earth" - as Joseph Sittler put it in a sermon (and the title of a sermon collection) - is primary to the business of being a genuine and concerned human being in today's world - people who are grateful for God's creation. Some people are beginning to recognize that concern for, and caring for, the earth, preserving it, combine into an act of thanksgiving, the response of grateful people to the ecological crisis. Connie Koenenn, in the Los Angeles Times, suggested "The top 10 simple steps to save the Earth." As a way to give thanks, they include:
1. Turn down your water heater (to save energy).
2. Place a plastic bottle in your toilet (to save water).
3. Install low-flow faucet aerators and shower heads.
4. Keep your car's tires properly inflated (to conserve gasoline and lower carbon dioxide emissions).
5. Bring your own shopping bag (to the store and to save trees).
6. Eliminate waste before you buy (buy cardboard rather than foam packages, glass not plastic).
7. Recycle cans, glass and paper.
8. Replace a regular (incandescent) light bulb with a fluorescent light bulb.
9. Buy rechargeable batteries for household use (to prevent toxic substances from leaking from landfills into the soil).
10. Set the blades higher on your lawn mower (to encourage deeper root growth and save water).
Hers is a very practical list of things people can do to "care for the earth" and as actions of thanksgiving.
1. The world we live in is one of the gifts of God - a gift of the kingdom - to human beings and all forms of life. At creation, God placed the people he made in his image "over the earth" to "care for it" not destroy it or consume its resources.
2. This is a time when people are beginning to realize that the "care of the earth" is not optional; everyone has to participate in the preservation of the earth, not simply the conservation of non-renewable resources. Failure to do this could mean the end of all life, as known now, on the earth. We live in a time of some anxiety about the future (the "greenhouse" effect, depletion of the ozone layer, pollution of earth and sea, among others).
3. The call to "seek first the kingdom and his (God's) righteousness" is critical in this time of anxiety. God has made human beings for himself, wants to save them for eternity, as well as sustain them in time. Those who seek him and his kingdom will be able to put matters in proper perspective and God will give them the insight and ability to do what needs to be done in the world.
4. So, the people of God thank him this day for the kingdom and its blessings, determined to save the earth and all that sustains life, while living in the promise and expectation of the new heaven and earth and eternal life held out to the world in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Deuteronomy 8:1-20 - "Lest We Forget...."
1. Thanksgiving is a day when we remember what God has provided for us in the world.
2. Thanksgiving is a frame of mind that expresses appreciation for God's blessings and benefits.
3. Thanksgiving is a reminder to "repay the earth" and God for the way we have been blessed in life, rather than "rob the world" of its resources in order to become "rich."
4. Thanksgiving is an opportunity to insure the future of the human race, as real children of God.
Isaiah 61:10-11 - "Joy And Thanksgiving."
1. The realization of the ways that God has blessed us is a source of rejoicing and appreciating life.
2. God literally "clothes us" and also "clothes us with the garments of salvation ... (and) the robe of righteousness" and this increases our joy.
3. Our joy has to spill over in spontaneous thanksgiving to God for the blessings of the earth and for his gifts in Christ and his church.
4. So we thank him joyfully for being a good, gracious, and generous God, for being a father to us in his concern and his loving gifts.
1 Timothy 2:1-8 - "The Call For Thanksgiving." - J. Ernest Rattenbury, in Festivals And Saints Days, might have been talking about Thanksgiving Day when he wrote about Lamas Day, August 1: "The day (Lamas Day) has rather become a date ... than a Christian festival." The same thing might be said of Thanksgiving, either in Canada or the United States; it is more holiday than holy day. But the call for thanksgiving continues to be sounded in the world, particularly today.
1. Thanksgiving finds expression in acts of prayer and devotion, private and public.
2. Thanksgiving calls for grateful and positive response to God's blessings, returning part of what he has given to him. Rattenbury tells us that the word "Lamas" was misread as "Lambs," when it "really means "Loaf Mass" and is derived from a natural contraction of the Anglo-Saxon word for "loaf" - "Hiaf" and Mass. It was the custom in very early times to make an offering of a loaf (of bread) to the church, made from wheat already gathered in, as a first-fruits thanksgiving to God. This is the true meaning of the feast ... and, most surely, part of the meaning of Thanksgiving Day.
3. But thanksgiving should spill over into all areas of life in which we have been blessed for Christ and his church, for families and friends, for leaders in all walks of life, for work and economic opportunity, for everyone and everything that give meaning and purpose to our lives.
4. That call to thanksgiving goes out and will sound and resound in the world, because it is not just Paul's desire that we should pray and give thanks to God, but that of God himself.
Acts 14:8-18 - "A Living God."
1. Sort of a strange reading for Thanksgiving Day, isn't it? But it is actually quite appropriate, because people and their priest were moved by a miracle to offer sacrifices - thanksgiving - to Paul and Barnabas, who had acted with the power of God to free a man from the imprisonment he knew in his infirmity.
2. The people of Lystra had to be put off; their thinking had to be reversed. Only the living God, not any human being, could heal a man who had been crippled since birth. And Paul told them so! He and Barnabas were ordinary people who were able to do an extraordinary thing through the power that had been made available to them through the risen Lord.
3. In our world, there is a tendency to elevate and idolize "miracle workers," who do wondrous things through scientific insights and knowledge, not only in the medical field, but in science and technology, manufacturing and agriculture. Yet it is the living God, the Creator of heaven and earth, whose power and will have made all of our "miracles" possible. And God's power hasn't diminished; he hasn't run out of miracles, as yet!
4. Our business, as Christians, is to thank God for the miracle of his grace in creation and Christ, not only by words and worship, but by using his power for good by applying it to the needs of the world. Perhaps the world will see new miracles and, as we tell them the story of God's grace, people will be moved to thank the living God for all he has done - the ordinary and the miraculous - to support and enrich our lives.
5. The bottom line is that we all live by grace, the goodness and love of the living God, which are totally undeserved. Such knowledge breeds humility and genuine thanksgiving. (Again, see the materials for the Sixth Sunday of Easter.)
