Thursday, November 24, 2022

Thanksgiving Service

 

 Thanksgiving Day Service – 1 Tim 2 and Luke 17

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
    What does it mean to be thankful?  I ask this question, because our society today really doesn't know what it means to be thankful.  And no, I'm not going off on a rant about how people are spoiled and ungrateful – rather this; what does it mean to be thankful?  What does it mean to be full of thanks?

    Too often, we use “gratitude” and “thankfulness” as though they are exactly the same thing.  I can have gratitude inside me, I can be very grateful for something just in my thoughts.  But thanks, thanks have to be said.  Thanks have to be given.  Thankfulness is never silent, but rather thankfulness is always spoken, shouted, or sung. Or written out on a card.  Or conveyed.  We get so caught up today in our feelings and emotions – “you better think about what you are thankful for today” - well, what good is that if you never actually give thanks?

    This is why Paul instructs Timothy and us as follows: First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people.  The first thing on Timothy's to do list as a pastor, the priority for the church under his care is this: pray.  And there are a variety of prayers that Paul encourages Timothy and us unto.  There are supplications – where you ask God for something.  Heavenly Father, bless our homes and families.  Supplications are the requesting of a benefit, asking God for His favor.  Then there are “prayers” - and this is the word for the normal prayers of worship.  In peace let us pray to the Lord – Lord have mercy.  Ask for blessings, worship God, and then a third sort of prayer: Intercession.  To intercede is specifically to get between God and another person and ask God to not smite them even though they deserve it.  It's the prayers for mercy that we pray for those outside the church – to turn the heart of our enemies, to do good to our enemies.  We know the impact of sin, we know what evil does – Lord, defend our neighbors, forgive them for they know not what they do.

    And then, at the end, after all of these other sorts of prayer, Paul brings up thanksgivings.  We are to pray to God for kings and all in high position, we are to pray that we might have a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified – and we are to give thanks to God for the fact that we have had such peace and quiet in our lives.  We are able to gather here today in safety.  Even in the midst of turmoil and economic stress that we've not seen in decades we are able to celebrate and feast with our friends and families this day.  And while the world might be all messed up, at least we are still allowed to carry on in godly dignity here – this is a wonderful thing.  And indeed, we should give great and wondrous thanks to God who has preserved us in the face of so many strange and various dangers and oddities.  So yes, we are this day going to give thanks to God for all these wondrous 1st article blessings that He has preserved for us.

    Thinking on this – I use that phrase “1st Article Blessings” perhaps a little too often, it's a comfortable short hand, but to be specific, when I say “1st Article Blessings” I am referring to the explanation of the 1st Article of the Creed in the Small Catechism.  And just in case you can't just rattle it off on demand, let me refresh your memory: I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.

    You have that long list – and the focus is that it is all given by God.  And then, at the end there is that tie between thanks and praise – it is my duty to thank and praise.  That's what we hear in our Gospel – when the 1 leper returns and gives Jesus thanks, Jesus says, Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?  Do you see that tie there between thanks and praise.  They go hand in hand.  If you are thanking someone for something, you are at the same time praising their actions.  This is why praise, why proclaiming what God has done, is always part of our worship – in the liturgy, in the creed, in the hymns.  We proclaim what God has done, thanking and praising Him.

    But I don't want this day to just be a first article day.  We aren't merely focused on temporal, physical blessings.  God has done far more.  Christ Jesus has come and with His death and resurrection He has won you forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation.  He has won you your body not just for a few decades until the grave swallows you, but but this body that He has given you, He will raise and have you keep it.  He will restore it unto eternity.  This is why He says to the healed leper – Rise and go your way, your faith has” - made you well is a bit soft of a translation.  The word there is sesoken se – has saved you.  It's the same word that is the root of the word Savior.  It's the same word as in 1 Tim 2 – This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved.  Christ Jesus is your Savior, and He has brought this salvation to you, He does so today in His Word, in His Supper where He gives you His own Body and Blood.

    And that's the cycle, the pattern of worship – God's love and our response.  God gives, and we receive while returning thanks and praise.  This is why in a few minutes I'm going to say, “Let us give thanks unto the LORD.”  In fact, one of the earliest and even still a common name for the Lord's Supper is the “Eucharist” - which is just the Greek word for Thanksgiving.  We see what God has done for us, the blessings of body and soul, and we come to His house, we ask for mercy, for continued physical blessings, we give thanks for what God has done, we hear His Word (thanks be to God), we taste and see that the Lord is good and then we thank the Lord and sing His praise.  Thanksgiving, my friends, isn't mere gratitude – it is prayer, it is praise, it is worship, it is receiving again the good gifts of God that Christ Jesus has won for you and proclaiming again His death and resurrection, His victory over sin and death.  This is why Paul tells Timothy – tend to the prayers – tend to the worship – because the rulers need our prayers so that our lives can be peaceful and quiet enough for us to gather for worship to hear the Word of God, to come to the knowledge of our salvation again hearing that Word and preaching, that we might give thanks to Jesus as He gives Himself to us in His Supper.

    Every time you enter this house for worship and praise, it is truly thanksgiving.  A blessed thanksgiving day to you in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

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