THANKSGIVING IN FOUR STEPS

By Dr. Eric C. Stumpf, Senior Pastor

St. Paul’s Ev. Lutheran Church – Munster, IN

1 Tim. 2:1-8 + National Day of Thanksgiving + 22 Nov 2007

             Our National Day of Thanksgiving has a rich heritage in American history.  The important element that strikes most people as odd is that our greatest times of national thanksgiving have been our darkest times in a national history.  You would think it would be the opposite – our greatest out pouring of thanks at our richest, happiest, most successful moments.

            Consider the first Thanksgiving, traditionally thought to have started with the Pilgrims.  It was not celebrated when the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts in 1620, but after suffering a horrible winter where nearly 50% of the people died!  The fragile village buried the dead in unmarked graves for fear that the Indians would know how weak they were.  It was after that winter and from the generosity of  the feared Indians who provided food, the whole company gave thanks to God.

            Consider General George Washington who declared a day of Thanksgiving.  It was not to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence or the final defeat of the British at Yorktown, but it came out of the Valley Forge experience.  Valley Forge was the darkest hour of the American Revolution.  That winter the remnant of the Army, only 11,000, sought shelter for the winter.  About 25% died that winter from disease.  Washington faced conspiracies against him, desertions of his troops, and even mutiny.  But in the spring he gave a General Order for a Thanksgiving to thank the Almighty God.

             Consider our present tradition to celebrate Thanksgiving in November.  This came about from Lincoln’s Proclamation, not to celebrate final victory and preservation of the Union, but after a dark year of horrendous loss of human life in 1864.  Over a half a million American young men died on the battle fields in just that year alone.  On the home front people faced food shortage, money was scarce, and families were displaced by the thousands.  Yet, Lincoln called for a National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving.

            Today may not be a dark time nor the Golden Age of our country.  We do face difficulties – high energy prices, a declining dollar, a volatile stock market, an unsure housing market, and we are in the midst of a war;  yet, we enjoy a standard of living that would have been seen a luxurious just a generation ago.

            This evening/morning I would like to lead you through four steps in giving thanks.

 Four Steps

            Since it is not a natural part of our lives to be thankful – remember how your parents often had to remind you to thanks Grandma and Grandpa, or your Aunt and Uncle, for your Christmas presents?  Indeed our sinful nature often rebels at the idea of giving thanks.  Often there is something inside us that resents thanking anyone or acknowledge that we are need to others for what we have.  The old sinner in us, Satan’s temptation to think of ourselves so highly, and the world’s influence that makes us think we are the center of the universe have their affects on us.  Instructed by God’s Word we take our first step.

            First, we acknowledge all we have comes from God.  God is the creator of all things, including us and all that sustains this body and life.  We confess it in the Apostles Creed – I believe in God the Father, Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.   We pray it when we say in the Lord’s Prayer, give us this day our daily bread.  The sinful attitude in our life resents giving thanks and for this we need to repent and ask for forgiveness.  Indeed, God who provides all, even gives us a spirit of repentance and richly forgives our sins through his Son Jesus Christ.  This is most certainly and truly the greatest gift of all.

            Second, God’s gifts are often taken for granted and we are tempted to value them little, but they should be appreciated.  A young German girl going to the University was trying to furnish her room at school on a shoestring.  She very carefully bought some used furniture at a flea market.  One of those items was a sofa bed, which she hoped would serve two purposes and save her some money.  When she opened it she discovered a small painting, which at first glance seemed insignificant, it was less than a square foot.  But there was something about it that caused her to have it appraised.  A few weeks ago in a Hamburg Art auction it sold for $27,000.  God daily gives us treasures that we could easily take for granted, but think how our lives would be so much the poorer with out God’s good gifts.

            Third, Thanksgiving has for many become a contest of conspicuous consumption and an orgy of material goods.  Dear friends, we are not cattle being herded into pens to be fatten up for the slaughter, then lets not act like it.  Thanksgiving should be a time to thank God for the turkey on the table but also thank him for the spiritual blessings he so richly gives us.  Peter had that in mind when moved by the Holy Spirit wrote for us the following:  But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9)  There are four spiritual gifts God gives to you – a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.  These gifts cause us to praise god, acknowledge God as the giver of these gifts, to raise us above the cattle in the pen stuffing themselves, to see this as an opportunity to give thanks and praise.

            Finally, and most importantly, we can not give thanks without God’s help.  O Lord open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise. (Ps. 51:15)  In many ways we are like actors we have often seen.  An actor on stage on in the movies might appear to be larger than life, wittier than anyone we have ever known, wiser than the greatest minds.  Then we see the very same person on a talk show where he or she speaks his or her own minds and we are shocked and amazed at what rubbish comes out of their mouths.  Perhaps an actor understood this insight when he said To be an actor, you have to be, in a sense, out of control.  (Johnny Depp)  I take that to mean that the impressive words, the witty words, the wise insightful words, are the words of others that are just spoken.  I think preachers are very much the same – no one gives a snap what I have to say, but what God wants them to know. 

            This thanksgiving think of what God has done – created and given us all we have, including the spiritual gifts we need and even the thanks we utter for all his tender mercies.  Amen.

SDG