The preacher came over to visit unexpectedly. (Aren’t you glad your preacher doesn’t do that?) Wanting to make a good impression, the lady of the house instructed her little daughter, “Please run and get that good book we all love so much and bring it here.” The daughter tottered off and then returned in a minute with triumph on her face and the J.C. Penney catalogue in her hands!
The biggest Thanksgiving killer, is the day after when Christmas shopping begins in earnest and we stop thinking about what we have and start thinking about what we want. Many of us like to flip through the pages of the Christmas catalogue looking at all the neat stuff we want when we ought to be doing spending more time looking at the neat stuff we already have.
Our problem is that we have allowed Christmas to kill Thanksgiving. Have you noticed? In the stores we went right from Halloween to Christmas. In fact, in many stores Halloween and Christmas were up together in September. How many Thanksgiving Specials have you seen on TV? I believe tonight is the first and only thanksgiving special. Have you tried to buy any thanksgiving decorations? They don’t exist! I take that back I was able to find those little pilgrim salt and pepper shakers at Publix you know the ones from their commercial. However, I am not so sure that is about Thanksgiving as much as it is about selling their store.
The hustle and bustle of the secularization of Christmas has encroached upon the sanctity of Thanksgiving. Christmas is not a time of peace and joy but of chaos and frantic futility. Now I know what you must be thinking – were is she going with this – Christmas is a celebration of Christ’s birth – as a preacher surely she wants us to celebrate Christmas. I am not suggesting that we don’t have Christmas what I am suggesting is that we cannot truly experience the real spirit of Christmas without first celebrating Thanksgiving.
If you had been a Pilgrim, would you have given thanks? Consider what they had been through, the men and women who broke bread together on that first Thanksgiving in 1621.
They had uprooted themselves and sailed for America, an endeavor so hazardous that published guides advised travelers to the New World, “First, make thy will.” The crossing was very rough and the Mayflower was blowing off course. Instead of reaching Virginia where Englishmen and settled 13 years earlier, the Pilgrims ended up in the wilds of Massachusetts. By the time they found a place to make their new home, Plymouth, they called it – winter had set in.
The storms were frightful. Shelter was rudimentary. There was little food. Within weeks, nearly all the settlers were sick. “That which was most sad and lamentable,” Governor William Bradford later recalled, “was that in two or three months’ time, half of their company died, especially in January and February, being the depth of winter, and wanting houses and other comforts; being infected with scurvy and other diseases…There died sometimes two or three of them a day.”
When spring came, Indians showed them how to plant corn, but their first crops were dismal. Supplies ran out, but their sponsors in London refused to send more. The first time the Pilgrims sent a shipment of good to see in England, it was stole by pirates.
If you had been there in 1621 – if you had seen half your friends die, if you had suffered through famine, malnutrition, and sickness, if you had endured a year of heartbreak and tragedy- would you have felt grateful? (Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe Staff 11/23/2000).
Thursday we will eat a meal that people in most parts of the world could only dream of having. We each live a life of incredible ease and luxury even though we may not think so. You would think that all these blessings would make us the most grateful people on earth. But often all this affluence does is really just make us more and more discontented and ungrateful. Often the by-product of having so much is a desire for more. Millionaire John D. Rockefeller was once asked, "How much money does it take to satisfy a man." And he responded, "Just a little more (than what he already has)."
In our text today Paul is writing to Timothy at Ephesus. The church there has gotten a little off tract they have forgotten the real meaning of worship, the real purpose of church, the real celebration of Christ and Paul is instructing Timothy on how to get things back on track. And he says, FIRST, first of all requests, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving need to be made for everyone.
As a society, as the church, we have gotten off tract when comes to the real meaning of Christmas. We need to learn to celebrate Christmas with peace and godliness, we need to stop and First of all make requests, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving for everyone.
Those four words, requests, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving are hard to differentiate. But, I believe they are encapsulated in the last word, thanksgiving. The Greek word is ‘eucharisteo.’ The very word from which we get the eucharist, Holy Communion, Lord’s Supper. It is giving thanks to God for all that he has given and done for us. This includes the provision of food and drink, family, friends, home, health and the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ as found in verses 5 and 6. Thanksgiving is a continuing reminder to us of God’s love and provision for us. It is a reminder of all the prayers and needs God has already met and it drives us to our knees in intercession and prayer for others, for all men, including the leaders of our country.
Thanksgiving opens our heart and eyes to the power and grace of God pushing us to seek it ever more through prayer. Thanksgiving calms are restless spirits, calms the chaos of the marketing world of consumerism and prepares us to truly celebrate and recognize the gift of Christmas. VERSE 2 “That we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”
I am reminded of that wonderful children’s holiday classic, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” It was released a couple of years back starring Jim Carrey as the Grinch. As you may recall in the story the Grinch is a grumbly, humbug of a sort, who hates Christmas and all the joy that goes with it. So he plots and schemes to steal Christmas. And then on Christmas Eve he slithers and snakes his way into all the homes in Whoville by way of their chimneys disguised as Santa Claus. He takes all the presents – “Pop guns, bicycles, roller skates, drums. Checkerboards, Tricycles, Popcorn, and plums.” He takes the Who’s pudding and the Who roast beast. He cleans out the icebox and every morsel of food including the lox. He took their lights and gadgets and gadzoozles, their Christmas trees, stockings, wrappings, tags, tinsel, trimmings and trappings. Three thousand feet up the side of Mount Cumpit ready to dump it. When what to his wandering ears did he hear – not the cries and wailings he had expected to hear. Instead what he hears surprises him – for every Who down in Whoville, the tall and the small was singing without any presents at all. He hadn’t stopped Christmas from coming. It came. Somehow or other, it came just the same. Why? He asks. And he learns Christmas resides not things but in the heart which is thankful. He could not steal gadzooles but not their gratitude.
If you have sometimes become like the Grinch ready to get rid of Xmas because of all the tinsel, trimmings and trappings. Grumbling and mumbling, not really wanting to celebrate Christmas because of the consumerism they I challenge to recapture the real Spirit of Christmas by preparing the way this year by celebrating Thanksgiving. Start celebrating thanksgiving today – how’s your list coming? Is it growing? Are you surprised at how much you have to be thankful for. This morning I have asked Joel to play some music for us that we might bring our list, not of wants and wishes, but of prayers and petitions, thanksgiving and love, to the altar and offer them to God
Thanksgiving Prepares the Way for Christmas with prayer and thanks giving for ourselves and others first
Thanksgiving Prepares the way for others to enjoy the blessedness of Christmas - evangelism
Thanking God and Looking to the Future. Thanksgiving Day is a time for both acknowledgement and hope. Surviving the year was once regarded a major miracle. Unfortunately, illusory mastery over microbes and human meanness has clouded our vision. Instead of thanking God for another blessed year, we occasionally thank science, or the human spirit, or something else when the credit belongs to God. Thanksgiving Day is a time to affirm and acknowledge publicly that had it not been for the mercies of the Lord, we would all have been consumed by the challenges of this past year (see Lamentations 3:22, Bible in Basic English or King James Version).
On Thanksgiving Day, we also dare to express hope. We live with the hope that those we love will be on the pews with us again next year. We timidly embrace hope that temporal things will indeed filter their way through to a solution (Matthew 6:25-33). We live with the hope that the world will become a better place to live for our children and grandchildren. We live with hope and with expectation of better times when the Day of the Lord finally does come to set all of creation aright (Joel 2:21-27).
o Is God aware of your needs?
o Can you trust God to care for you?
The apostle Paul gives us some specific things we can do to bless America. They are:
1- We must pray unceasingly (1-2)
2- We must live righteously (2)
3- We must evangelize fervently (3-4)
We must pray. We must pray for everyone who means anything at all to us and for some who don’t mean anything to us. We must pray for our mates, for our children, for our family members, for our ministers, for our church members, for our church leaders, and for our country’s leaders.
We must pray at home! We must pray at church! We must pray at prayer meetings! We must pray while driving our cars, while doing our laundry, while cleaning our houses, while doing our chores! We must pray when we get up in the morning and when we go to bed at night! We must pray every chance we get if we want to see some good things happen to America and in our own lives!
It does not mean that this was to be the first thing in public worship in the order of time, but that it was to be regarded as a duty of primary importance. —Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament
It is not entirely easy to mark the difference in the meaning of the words used here, and it is not essential. They all relate to prayer, and refer only to the different parts of prayer, or to distinct classes of thought and desire which come before the mind in pleading for others. On the difference between the words supplications and prayers,—Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament
That is, in behalf of others. We ought to give thanks for the mercy of God to ourselves; it is right and proper also that we should give thanks for the goodness of God to others. We should render praise that there is a way of salvation provided; that no one is excluded from the offer of mercy; and that God is using so many means to call lost sinners to himself.
For all men. Prayers should be made for all men--for all need the grace and mercy of God; thanks should be rendered for all, for all may be saved. Does not this direction imply that Christ died for all mankind? How could we give thanks in their behalf if there were no mercy for them, and no way had been provided by which they could be saved? It may be observed here, that the direction to pray and to give thanks for all men, showed the large and catholic nature of Christianity. It was opposed entirely to the narrow and bigoted feelings of the Jews, who regarded the whole Gentile world as excluded from covenant mercies, and as having no offer of life. Christianity threw down all these barriers, and all men are on a level; and since Christ has died for all, there is ample ground for thanksgiving and praise in behalf of the whole human race.
—Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament
third attitude that keeps us from being grateful is carelessness. Someone once said that if the stars only came out once a year, we would stay out all night to watch them. But
they are there every night and we have grown a costumed to them
God appreciates our thanksgiving. It lifts Him up and it glorifies Him. And thanksgiving endears him to us. It draws us closer. If we are not grateful, if we do not express our thanksgiving, then it can have the opposite affect. In Rom. 1:21 Paul says, "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened."
And it is very hard isn’t it, to be grateful when we cannot learn to be happy with what we already have.
Christmas killed thanksgiving but we need thanksgiving to really have Christmas
Paul begins by teaching that prayer must be a first response rather than a last resort.
Richard Dehaan tells of a soldier who was doing sentry duty on the front?line in WW1. After being relieved of duty, as a Christian, he wanted to pray, to thank God for protecting him, & to ask for His continued protection. But the enemy lines were very close, & he couldn’t go far, so he just walked a little ways away from where he had been standing guard, & began to pray aloud.
The sentry who replaced him heard his voice & thought he was speaking to someone in the enemy lines. So he reported him. The officer in charge said, "You’ve been accused of revealing secrets to the enemy. How do you respond?" The soldier said, "It’s not true. I wasn’t doing that." The officer replied, "Then what were you doing when you were standing out there facing the enemy & talking?" He said, "I was praying."
"You were praying out loud?" "Yes, I was." The officer said, "Show me. Pray right now." So the young man got down on his knees & prayed. And when he finished the officer dismissed the charges. "Because," he said, "nobody can pray like that unless he has been practicing."
In his book FOLK PSALMS OF FAITH, Ray Stedman tells of an experience H.A. Ironside had in a crowded restaurant. Just as Ironside was about to begin his meal, a man approached and asked if he could join him. Ironside invited his to have a seat. Then, as was his custom, Ironside bowed his head in prayer. When he opened his eyes, the other man asked, "Do you have a headache?" Ironside replied, "No, I don’t." The other man asked, "Well, is there something wrong with your food?" Ironside replied, "No, I was simply thanking God as I always do before I eat."
The man said, "Oh, you’re one of those, are you? Well, I want you to know I never give thanks. I earn my money by the sweat of my brow and I don’t have to give thanks to anybody when I eat. I just start right in!"
Ironside said, "Yes, you’re just like my dog. That’s what he does too!"
Ray Stedman, Folk Psalms of Faith.
am thankful for
The mess to clean after a party because it means I have been surrounded by friends.
The taxes I pay because it means that I’m employed.
The clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.
My shadow who watches me work, because it means I am out in the sunshine.
A lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.
All the complaining I hear about our government because it means we have freedom of speech.
The space I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking.
My huge heating bill, because it means I am warm.
The lady behind me in church who sings off key because it means that I can hear.
The piles of laundry and ironing because it means I have clothes to wear.
Weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been productive.
The alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means that I’m alive.
Thanksgiving isn’t about telling anybody we are thankful
Closing Blessing may you not just express your thanks to God, may you not just turkey, may you live thanksgiving. May you show thanksgiving.
1 The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. 2 Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. 3 This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.
4 He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned: 5 that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us— Jesus, 6 who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out. 7 This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth.
8 Since prayer is at the bottom of all this, what I want mostly is for men to pray— not shaking angry fists at enemies but raising holy hands to God.
1 Tim 2:1-8 (Message)
Almighty and everlasting God, we bow before you today with adoration and hearts full of thanksgiving. We are thankful for: Help during times of trouble, Grace during times of need, Healing during times of sickness, Guidance during times of confusion. Throughout the year You have guarded and guided us even when we were unaware of Your presence. Thank You! We lift up before You those who are sick, homeless and destitute. We remember before You families who have lost loved ones. Be mindful of our family and friends who are away from us today. Bring them blessings, comfort, and cheerful hearts in this season of Thanksgiving. This year help us become better neighbors, more responsible members of our communities, and active participants in this our church home. Amen.
