Thanksgivings to Remember
Sermon
Walking With God
Cycle A First Lesson Sermons for Proper 23 through Thanksgiving
Joan sat on the sofa reflecting on the Thanksgiving Day holiday that she and her children had enjoyed together. Her children and their spouses seemed to enjoy the meal she had prepared, and she couldn't have been happier in the kitchen with them stirring around in the living room and helping out in the kitchen. Most of all, she delighted in having all of her family at home and at her dinner table one more time. Even though her grandchildren seemed to be a little fidgety at times, she was grateful they sat at the table with their parents, and of course, their grandmother.
At Thanksgiving, she missed her husband most. He always looked forward to Thanksgiving, and he planned family things to do all day long so they could make memories. An advocate of crafting memories in the hearts and minds of children that would encourage them when they got older, he took seriously every opportunity to create a memorable moment. What he didn't know was that being with him was memorable enough for Joan and the children. She held back a tear or two as she thought about how he still existed in the memories of the people gathered around the table.
As the day drifted along, Joan noticed something that bothered her as she observed her family. Before the meal, everyone gathered in the living room and drifted to the kitchen to see if they could help with the preparation of the meal. However, if they weren't in the kitchen helping her, they were spending most their time watching a ball game on television, playing computer games, or just talking with each other. After everyone had finished eating, they returned to the same set of activities.
The day before Thanksgiving, she had gone through her normal routine that included reading the morning newspaper while she sipped her morning coffee. An article about Thanksgiving caught her attention. She had read an article like it before. In fact, almost every Thanksgiving edition had a story about how the holiday was born. In the article, she read about a historic presidential decree that called on Americans to set aside a day to offer sincere and humble thanks to God. The detail in the article about thanking God caught Joan's attention. As she reflected on what she had read, she observed her family spending Thanksgiving doing everything but thanking God for his goodness and grace. While they enjoyed what Thanksgiving gave them as a family, they seemed to have forgotten the reason for the holiday.
Moses looked with concern on the people of Israel as they prepared to make their way into the promised land. He knew them well. He had led them for four decades, and he had come to understand how they could rise to the occasion and serve God. He also knew they could shirk their responsibility and forego their relationship with God. As they ventured into the land God would give to them, they needed to be reminded of the conduct God expected of them. In his message in Deuteronomy 8, Moses wanted them to remember how God had blessed them by giving them the land. If they didn't take time to remember and thank God for his blessings, they would forget about what he had done and give themselves the credit for their achievements.
In his message, he followed the simple line of thought. If God's people remembered him, they would bless him and reap the reward that came with expressing their gratitude. However, if they forgot about God, they would suffer the consequences that would always accompany being ungrateful.
Moses' message to God's people then helps us now as we focus our attention on Thanksgiving Day. Like Joan, we may be concerned about our children and grandchildren growing up and forgetting the value of expressing gratitude. We worry about the outcome of an ungrateful family, an ungrateful community, and an ungrateful society. Like Moses, we can see how gratitude can be nurtured and how it can be overlooked.
Like Moses said, gratitude to God can be nurtured by remembering what he has done for us (vv. 7-10). In Moses' day, the people of Israel faced a glorious opportunity as they stood at the border of the land God would give to them. When they made the promised land their home, they would enjoy lots of good benefits. They would have plenty of water in the springs and fountains flowing in the hills and valleys. They would have plenty to eat. Grain fields, fruit orchards, and vegetable gardens would abound. They would discover more than enough copper and iron to be mined. Their discoveries would lead them to lack for nothing. Plenty of benefits indeed! Moses insisted that they should take time to remember that God had given the land to them and blessed him for what he had done.
Likewise, God has been good to us. Our nation continues to be a beacon of liberty to all other nations. Our community faces challenges, but we have also been given a number of blessings. Our church has been the beneficiary of God's blessings as well. While we enjoy the blessings God has given us, we should remember to thank him. It's the least we can do in light of his great blessings to us.
As Moses also pointed out, an ungrateful attitude can be fostered by forgetting what God has done for us (vv. 1118). Notice that Moses warned God's people that forgetting him would have shameful consequences. If they forgot to take God seriously, then they would be on the path of forgetfulness. In time, they would enjoy the blessings God provided without thinking about him at all. They would grow proud and arrogant by deluding themselves that God had nothing to do with the blessings they enjoyed. They would begin to pat themselves on the back. In so doing, they would forget about God's leadership in their lives, his provision for them, and his attention to them while they traveled in the desert. They would forget that God made it possible for them to enjoy the plentiful bounty that he had set before them. In their arrogance, they would set themselves up for the shame that always comes when we forget God.
How can we grow in gratitude so we won't forget God on Thanksgiving Day? Kim may be able to help us. Her experience provides a way forward for us to enjoy what Thanksgiving is all about for Christians.
The semester had already been long enough for Kim. Being a freshman had been tough for her. Adjusting her study habits, coming to terms with professors who didn't know her name and didn't care to learn it, and getting used to dorm life seemed to pale in comparison to her almost constant bouts with homesickness. At night she would cry herself to sleep, thinking about her bed at home and her parents. She even missed her little brother, who had been nothing but a pest to her as far back as she could remember.
Now nothing sounded as good to her as going home. She could hardly wait for Thanksgiving break so she could return to her home for an entire week. That's why her heart sank to the floor after she found out that a trip home at that time would probably not be possible. Term papers at school and a change in plans at home left her with only one option: to drive up to her uncle's home for Thanksgiving Day. The rest of her time would be spent at school in the library or in front of her computer, and in either case, all by herself.
In her anger over what she considered to be unfair treatment, she emailed her mother about the family's change in plans and what it would mean for her situation at school. Kim blamed her for being insensitive and thoughtless. She went on to remind her mother of the favored treatment her little brother had received all of his life, adding that had he been away at school, such a change in plans wouldn't have been considered at all!
Kim pressed the send button and sat there in her dorm room with the late afternoon sun casting a sad glow over her sullen face and showing the streaks the tears made as they made tracks of sadness on her cheeks. She waited for a minute and wondered if she had done the right thing. After all, her mom couldn't do anything about the change of plans. Her husband (and Kim's dad) wanted to visit his dad who had been sick for a long time. In fact, the doctors agreed that the past couple of birthdays had not been good to the old gentleman and that no medicine could be prescribed that would stretch out his days. Kim's dad didn't want to live in regret over not making one more visit, and Kim's mom understood completely. That's why she made arrangements for Kim to spend Thanksgiving with her brother and his wife, an uncle and aunt whom Kim loved dearly.
At the moment Kim didn't think about her dad's need to see his dad. She could only think about her agony over needing to see her folks and the home she missed so much.
Two hours had passed before Kim noticed that her mother had replied. She read, "Sweet Kim, I knew that not being home at Thanksgiving would break your heart. And I understand why you are mad at me. But keep in mind that Thanksgiving is about being grateful for what you have, not angry over what you don't have. Try to understand that your dad needs to say good-bye to his dad. Enjoy being with your uncle. They look forward to seeing you. And remember what Thanksgiving Day is all about!"
Kim went to her uncle's home for Thanksgiving, dutifully but not joyfully. The night before Thanksgiving, he invited Kim to join the family in worship at church. Kim reluctantly agreed, but she didn't anticipate anything good would come from the worship experience.
As she sat in the service, she was pleasantly surprised by what the minister said in his sermon. He read Psalm 107, and he invited the congregation to imagine themselves at a worship service in which people gather from all over the world for the sole purpose of thanking God for his goodness and grace.
At this point, consider yourself invited to join Kim and to participate in that worship service too. Yes, imagine people coming from everywhere to thank God for what he had done in their lives. Imagine the worship leader standing at the platform in the worship service and leading the vast congregation to sing joyful songs of thanksgiving. Then, moving the direction of the service toward testimonies, the worship leader asks, "Who would be willing to express your gratitude to God? If the Lord's been good to you, stand up and say so!"
Picture someone in the congregation standing up and talking about the time he and his friends wandered in the wilderness for a long time. In time, their hunger and thirst got the best of them. And despair overwhelmed them. With nowhere else to go, they cried out to God. He came to their rescue and showed them the way home.
A wilderness doesn't have to be literal in order to be awful. You may remember the agony of wandering in a spiritual desert because you lost your way. Then God showed you the way home when you finally turned to him. You owe God a debt of gratitude because he put you on the right path. How do you show him that you are thankful?
In the imaginary worship service created by Psalm 107, turn your attention to some people who had languished in prison because of their own bad choices. They had defied God, and they paid the price for their disobedience by doing time. The misery of their punishment made them beg God for help.
God could have left us in the spiritual prison we built with our disobedience. He could have forgotten about us when we suffered in our slavery to sin. But he didn't. He set us free by paying the price for our liberty with the life of his Son. How do you express your gratitude to him for the freedom you have in Christ?
Next in the worship service came the testimony of some people who had been healed from serious diseases. They were called on next to testify. They had made some foolish choices that showed a deliberate disregard for God's ways. They suffered for their foolishness by putting them at death's door. That's when they turned to the Lord, and he spared them. He restored them to good health and to a life no longer bent on self-destruction.
You may remember a time when you know that God spared your life. The split second that saved you came from God's hand, and you know it. You have never forgotten how your life has been different because God restored your life to you. What have you done to demonstrate to God how grateful you are to him for giving your life back to you?
As the service continued, picture some seafarers who spoke up next. They had seen God's great power in the middle of a fierce storm at sea. Over and over God lifted their ship up high onto the top of a mountain of water. Then God dropped it deep into the yawning valley between the giant swells. Terrified, they cried out to the Lord. That's when they beheld his great mercy. He calmed the storm and led their ship to a safe harbor.
Storms come in different shapes and sizes. Some of them may be literal, and others may be relational, financial, or medical. All of them share one common feature: They scare us nearly to death. No matter how hard we try, we can't stop them. Helpless, all we can do is cry out to God for help. You probably recall when you begged God for help, and he protected you. He calmed your storm and guided you to safety. How have you shown him your gratitude?
Think about the attention of the congregation turning now to you. It's your turn to stand up and testify about God's grace to you in Christ Jesus. If God has reached into your life and made an eternal difference, then express your gratitude to him. If the Lord has redeemed you, then say so.
As Kim listened, she thought about her own testimony of gratitude, and she thanked God for his goodness to her in ways that she had almost forgotten. She thanked him for the unlikely blessing that came from a botched Thanksgiving holiday plan. Otherwise, she may have forgotten the reason for Thanksgiving Day.
We've listened to Joan's story and to Kim's story. What's your story? Is it a story about remembering and being grateful? Let's hope so. Amen.
At Thanksgiving, she missed her husband most. He always looked forward to Thanksgiving, and he planned family things to do all day long so they could make memories. An advocate of crafting memories in the hearts and minds of children that would encourage them when they got older, he took seriously every opportunity to create a memorable moment. What he didn't know was that being with him was memorable enough for Joan and the children. She held back a tear or two as she thought about how he still existed in the memories of the people gathered around the table.
As the day drifted along, Joan noticed something that bothered her as she observed her family. Before the meal, everyone gathered in the living room and drifted to the kitchen to see if they could help with the preparation of the meal. However, if they weren't in the kitchen helping her, they were spending most their time watching a ball game on television, playing computer games, or just talking with each other. After everyone had finished eating, they returned to the same set of activities.
The day before Thanksgiving, she had gone through her normal routine that included reading the morning newspaper while she sipped her morning coffee. An article about Thanksgiving caught her attention. She had read an article like it before. In fact, almost every Thanksgiving edition had a story about how the holiday was born. In the article, she read about a historic presidential decree that called on Americans to set aside a day to offer sincere and humble thanks to God. The detail in the article about thanking God caught Joan's attention. As she reflected on what she had read, she observed her family spending Thanksgiving doing everything but thanking God for his goodness and grace. While they enjoyed what Thanksgiving gave them as a family, they seemed to have forgotten the reason for the holiday.
Moses looked with concern on the people of Israel as they prepared to make their way into the promised land. He knew them well. He had led them for four decades, and he had come to understand how they could rise to the occasion and serve God. He also knew they could shirk their responsibility and forego their relationship with God. As they ventured into the land God would give to them, they needed to be reminded of the conduct God expected of them. In his message in Deuteronomy 8, Moses wanted them to remember how God had blessed them by giving them the land. If they didn't take time to remember and thank God for his blessings, they would forget about what he had done and give themselves the credit for their achievements.
In his message, he followed the simple line of thought. If God's people remembered him, they would bless him and reap the reward that came with expressing their gratitude. However, if they forgot about God, they would suffer the consequences that would always accompany being ungrateful.
Moses' message to God's people then helps us now as we focus our attention on Thanksgiving Day. Like Joan, we may be concerned about our children and grandchildren growing up and forgetting the value of expressing gratitude. We worry about the outcome of an ungrateful family, an ungrateful community, and an ungrateful society. Like Moses, we can see how gratitude can be nurtured and how it can be overlooked.
Like Moses said, gratitude to God can be nurtured by remembering what he has done for us (vv. 7-10). In Moses' day, the people of Israel faced a glorious opportunity as they stood at the border of the land God would give to them. When they made the promised land their home, they would enjoy lots of good benefits. They would have plenty of water in the springs and fountains flowing in the hills and valleys. They would have plenty to eat. Grain fields, fruit orchards, and vegetable gardens would abound. They would discover more than enough copper and iron to be mined. Their discoveries would lead them to lack for nothing. Plenty of benefits indeed! Moses insisted that they should take time to remember that God had given the land to them and blessed him for what he had done.
Likewise, God has been good to us. Our nation continues to be a beacon of liberty to all other nations. Our community faces challenges, but we have also been given a number of blessings. Our church has been the beneficiary of God's blessings as well. While we enjoy the blessings God has given us, we should remember to thank him. It's the least we can do in light of his great blessings to us.
As Moses also pointed out, an ungrateful attitude can be fostered by forgetting what God has done for us (vv. 1118). Notice that Moses warned God's people that forgetting him would have shameful consequences. If they forgot to take God seriously, then they would be on the path of forgetfulness. In time, they would enjoy the blessings God provided without thinking about him at all. They would grow proud and arrogant by deluding themselves that God had nothing to do with the blessings they enjoyed. They would begin to pat themselves on the back. In so doing, they would forget about God's leadership in their lives, his provision for them, and his attention to them while they traveled in the desert. They would forget that God made it possible for them to enjoy the plentiful bounty that he had set before them. In their arrogance, they would set themselves up for the shame that always comes when we forget God.
How can we grow in gratitude so we won't forget God on Thanksgiving Day? Kim may be able to help us. Her experience provides a way forward for us to enjoy what Thanksgiving is all about for Christians.
The semester had already been long enough for Kim. Being a freshman had been tough for her. Adjusting her study habits, coming to terms with professors who didn't know her name and didn't care to learn it, and getting used to dorm life seemed to pale in comparison to her almost constant bouts with homesickness. At night she would cry herself to sleep, thinking about her bed at home and her parents. She even missed her little brother, who had been nothing but a pest to her as far back as she could remember.
Now nothing sounded as good to her as going home. She could hardly wait for Thanksgiving break so she could return to her home for an entire week. That's why her heart sank to the floor after she found out that a trip home at that time would probably not be possible. Term papers at school and a change in plans at home left her with only one option: to drive up to her uncle's home for Thanksgiving Day. The rest of her time would be spent at school in the library or in front of her computer, and in either case, all by herself.
In her anger over what she considered to be unfair treatment, she emailed her mother about the family's change in plans and what it would mean for her situation at school. Kim blamed her for being insensitive and thoughtless. She went on to remind her mother of the favored treatment her little brother had received all of his life, adding that had he been away at school, such a change in plans wouldn't have been considered at all!
Kim pressed the send button and sat there in her dorm room with the late afternoon sun casting a sad glow over her sullen face and showing the streaks the tears made as they made tracks of sadness on her cheeks. She waited for a minute and wondered if she had done the right thing. After all, her mom couldn't do anything about the change of plans. Her husband (and Kim's dad) wanted to visit his dad who had been sick for a long time. In fact, the doctors agreed that the past couple of birthdays had not been good to the old gentleman and that no medicine could be prescribed that would stretch out his days. Kim's dad didn't want to live in regret over not making one more visit, and Kim's mom understood completely. That's why she made arrangements for Kim to spend Thanksgiving with her brother and his wife, an uncle and aunt whom Kim loved dearly.
At the moment Kim didn't think about her dad's need to see his dad. She could only think about her agony over needing to see her folks and the home she missed so much.
Two hours had passed before Kim noticed that her mother had replied. She read, "Sweet Kim, I knew that not being home at Thanksgiving would break your heart. And I understand why you are mad at me. But keep in mind that Thanksgiving is about being grateful for what you have, not angry over what you don't have. Try to understand that your dad needs to say good-bye to his dad. Enjoy being with your uncle. They look forward to seeing you. And remember what Thanksgiving Day is all about!"
Kim went to her uncle's home for Thanksgiving, dutifully but not joyfully. The night before Thanksgiving, he invited Kim to join the family in worship at church. Kim reluctantly agreed, but she didn't anticipate anything good would come from the worship experience.
As she sat in the service, she was pleasantly surprised by what the minister said in his sermon. He read Psalm 107, and he invited the congregation to imagine themselves at a worship service in which people gather from all over the world for the sole purpose of thanking God for his goodness and grace.
At this point, consider yourself invited to join Kim and to participate in that worship service too. Yes, imagine people coming from everywhere to thank God for what he had done in their lives. Imagine the worship leader standing at the platform in the worship service and leading the vast congregation to sing joyful songs of thanksgiving. Then, moving the direction of the service toward testimonies, the worship leader asks, "Who would be willing to express your gratitude to God? If the Lord's been good to you, stand up and say so!"
Picture someone in the congregation standing up and talking about the time he and his friends wandered in the wilderness for a long time. In time, their hunger and thirst got the best of them. And despair overwhelmed them. With nowhere else to go, they cried out to God. He came to their rescue and showed them the way home.
A wilderness doesn't have to be literal in order to be awful. You may remember the agony of wandering in a spiritual desert because you lost your way. Then God showed you the way home when you finally turned to him. You owe God a debt of gratitude because he put you on the right path. How do you show him that you are thankful?
In the imaginary worship service created by Psalm 107, turn your attention to some people who had languished in prison because of their own bad choices. They had defied God, and they paid the price for their disobedience by doing time. The misery of their punishment made them beg God for help.
God could have left us in the spiritual prison we built with our disobedience. He could have forgotten about us when we suffered in our slavery to sin. But he didn't. He set us free by paying the price for our liberty with the life of his Son. How do you express your gratitude to him for the freedom you have in Christ?
Next in the worship service came the testimony of some people who had been healed from serious diseases. They were called on next to testify. They had made some foolish choices that showed a deliberate disregard for God's ways. They suffered for their foolishness by putting them at death's door. That's when they turned to the Lord, and he spared them. He restored them to good health and to a life no longer bent on self-destruction.
You may remember a time when you know that God spared your life. The split second that saved you came from God's hand, and you know it. You have never forgotten how your life has been different because God restored your life to you. What have you done to demonstrate to God how grateful you are to him for giving your life back to you?
As the service continued, picture some seafarers who spoke up next. They had seen God's great power in the middle of a fierce storm at sea. Over and over God lifted their ship up high onto the top of a mountain of water. Then God dropped it deep into the yawning valley between the giant swells. Terrified, they cried out to the Lord. That's when they beheld his great mercy. He calmed the storm and led their ship to a safe harbor.
Storms come in different shapes and sizes. Some of them may be literal, and others may be relational, financial, or medical. All of them share one common feature: They scare us nearly to death. No matter how hard we try, we can't stop them. Helpless, all we can do is cry out to God for help. You probably recall when you begged God for help, and he protected you. He calmed your storm and guided you to safety. How have you shown him your gratitude?
Think about the attention of the congregation turning now to you. It's your turn to stand up and testify about God's grace to you in Christ Jesus. If God has reached into your life and made an eternal difference, then express your gratitude to him. If the Lord has redeemed you, then say so.
As Kim listened, she thought about her own testimony of gratitude, and she thanked God for his goodness to her in ways that she had almost forgotten. She thanked him for the unlikely blessing that came from a botched Thanksgiving holiday plan. Otherwise, she may have forgotten the reason for Thanksgiving Day.
We've listened to Joan's story and to Kim's story. What's your story? Is it a story about remembering and being grateful? Let's hope so. Amen.
