Thanksgiving Sermon
Matthew 6:25-33
"Thankfulness"
25 ¶ "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
27 And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?
28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin;
29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ’What shall we eat?’ or ’What shall we drink?’ or ’What shall we wear?’
32 For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.RSV
Grace and Peace to you from Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
It was a cold, clear Wednesday night in the big city. The night before Thanksgiving. He was pushing an old, beat up shopping cart along a back alley. It was filled with discarded clothes, old newspapers, and a couple of cans of food. He didn’t look any better. He wore several layers of clothes, all of them filthy and full of holes. His hair was long and matted, he had a scraggly beard, and what little you could see of his face was covered in dirt and grease.
Nobody knew his name, but the kids had started calling him "Hobo Bob." He would wander through the streets digging through trash cans, begging the odd quarter off of strangers. He didn’t bother anyone, so people didn’t bother him.
That cold, clear night before thanksgiving, "Hobo Bob" was just wandering through the alleys, looking for a corner he could sleep in that would shelter him from the cold. He had no interest in celebrating Thanksgiving. He had nothing to be Thankful for, and no God to give thanks too. How could he believe in God, when God had let this happen to him.
But then, floating on the air, came the faint strains of a Pipe Organ playing a hymn that was familiar to him. He slowly pushed his cart toward the sound, and found himself standing in front of a church. On the sign out in front of the church it said, "Community Thanksgiving Service, Wednesday Night, 7:30 p.m. Everyone Welcome." "Hobo Bob" just stood their transfixed by the music.
The Office was quiet. The lights were off. Except for a desk lamp glaring brightly in one cubicle. You could hear the quiet hum of the cooling fan in a computer, the clickety-clack of a keyboard. Everyone had gone home for the Thanksgiving Holiday, except for Maria. She knew her boss wouldn’t be back until Monday, but if she could finish this report and personally hand it to him first thing Monday morning, maybe she could win that promotion she’d been competing for.
The strain on Maria’s eyes was getting to her, her fingers were cramping. She decided to go outside and take a walk in the cool November air before she finished the report. As the door to the office closed behind her, the phone rang. A child’s voice came over the answering machine. "Mommy, when are you coming home? You promised we could have dinner with Grandma tonight."
As Maria walked along the street in front of her office building, she too heard the faint strains of a Pipe Organ playing a hymn she knew from her childhood. Slowly she walked toward the sound till she came to a church. The sign out front read, "Community Thanksgiving Service, Wednesday Night, 7:30 p.m. Everyone Welcome." She just stood there next to "Hobo Bob," transfixed by the music.
Mai Ling had been raised a Buddhist and she was very faithful to it’s teachings and traditions. But her parents had also taught her to tolerate and respect people of other religions. Even so, when she moved to America with her husband, she had a hard time respecting the Christian religion. In a country that was supposed to be founded on Christian principles, people didn’t seem to take their religion seriously. Here it was Thanksgiving, a holiday that was supposed to honor God for all his blessings. And yet her co-workers called it Turkey Day. They bragged about how they would stuff themselves with food and then sit in front of a T.V. and watch parades or football. How could she respect a religion that had commercialized it’s Holy Days? She had no interest in celebrating Thanksgiving.
But as she was walking home from the subway station, she heard the faint sounds of music in the air. It sounded like a pipe organ. The tune was beautiful, but unfamiliar to her. Curiosity got the best of her and she started to walk toward the sound. She came to the front of a Christian Church. Out in front was a sign that read, "Community Thanksgiving Service, Wednesday Night, 7:30 p.m. Everyone Welcome." And she stood there, along with Maria and "Hobo Bob," transfixed by the music coming from within.
As the tune began to repeat, the music swelled. Maria recognized that the song was coming to an end. The three looked at each other, then back at the open door of the church. Slowly they climbed the stairs together. An usher was still standing at the door. He looked them over for a moment, took a second look at "Hobo Bob," then shrugged, smiled, and handed each of them a bulletin. He lead them down the aisle to an empty pew where they could sit together. And for the next hour they listened as the congregation sang and prayed, as the scriptures were read and preached.
"Hobo Bob" began to think seriously about the God he had been trying to ignore. He didn’t understand why he lost his job, and family, and home. He didn’t understand why God had left him to fend for himself out on the streets. And yet, he could see how God had been present with him over the years. He thought about the shelters he had stayed in on the coldest nights, the hot meals people sometimes prepared for the homeless. He thought about the little girl who had shoved a dollar bill in his hand and said "God Bless You" as she ran back to her horrified parents. He had sneered at her then. But now, as he worshiped with this congregation, he began to think that maybe God was greater than his poverty, and maybe he did have something to be thankful for on this night.
Maria’s thoughts went back to the God of her childhood. Her parents had taken her to church faithfully, but lately she had been to busy to think about God. She had been serving other gods, the gods of success and power and promotion. And yet the one true God had been there all along. He had richly blessed her with a wonderful son. A son who deserved more of her time and who should be raised to know God too. As Maria worshiped with that congregation, God became her God once again.
Mai Ling was deep in thought. She could sense the love and devotion these people had for their God. Maybe there was more to this holiday than the commercialization. But what caught her attention most was the story of a God who loved all people, no matter how they were raised or what country they were from. A God who loved us so much he sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins, so that we might turn back to God. As Mai Ling worshiped with that congregation, she realized that this was truly something to be thankful for.1
Which one of these people could you relate to?
"Hobo Bob" who was angry with God and thought God had forsaken him?
Maria who worshiped other gods, the gods of wealth, success and power?
Mai Ling who found that the God of Thanksgiving was the Father of Jesus Christ who came to save the sinners of the world?
Our lesson says do not be anxious about your life, because God will provide. God will take care of us.
He will come to "Hobo Bob" and in some way explain that He was always with him, even when ’Hobo Bob" did not feel his presence around him. God would be with him in his anger, in his despair about life. So this Thanksgiving, if you feel angry with God because of the circumstances of your life, or if you have lost a loved one, and are having a difficult time in your grieving, God will come to your anxious life and give you peace.
Turn your anger over to God and in turn he will give you the peace that passes all human understanding.
Or if you could relate to Maria, the person who found other gods, the gods of power and success. God will come to your anxious life and help you to find what is important and what is not. God will come and say, "look if I can care for the birds of the air, the flowers, can’t I care for you?" Turn your anxious live over to God, turn your worries, your cares about providing for live over to God and he will help you to find peace.
Turn over your anxiousness about life, turn over to God your desire for success and power and He will give you the peace that passes all human understanding.
Or if you could relate to Mai Ling, the person who found the Christ in Thanksgiving. Maybe you have lost sight of Christ, the Saviour in your life. Maybe you have lost sight of the promise of the resurrection, the Easter promise of the one who was crucified and then rose so that we might rise too. Maybe it is time to see beyond all the commercialism of Christianity to the Christ of the cross and the Lord of the resurrection.
If you have felt that the real message of Christianity has left you behind, then see the power of the cross and the hope of the resurrection in your Thanksgiving. Give Thanks for the Son who died and rose for you.
Turn over your hopelessness about life to God and he will show you the power of the cross and the hope of the Easter Resurrection.
do not be anxious about your life
Amen
1 from a sermon by Graham Fowler
