Thank You For The Turkey

We probably all know Bart Simpson’s famous thanksgiving prayer: “Dear God, we paid for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing.” Well, we know better. In fact, I got to thinking about that. If Bart could have a prayer like that, what kind of prayer should we have over our turkey’s, if we were really to acknowledge the great giver of all gifts. So for our message tonight, I offer up this prayer:

Dear God, thank you for this turkey. I thank you for the wings and the breast and the legs and the neck and the gizzards.

I Thank you for this congregation who called me to be it’s spiritual shepherd, who also understands that the “laborer is worthy of his hire,” therefore they have lovingly paid me a wage with which I was able to buy this turkey and use it as an illustration tonight.

Lord, I thank you for my wife, who has agreed to cook this turkey and who will surround it with many other good things to eat. Lord, you know she’s a great cook and a great person and you know I don’t deserve her, but in your grace you matched us up and I am so grateful.

Thank you for the great kids you gave to us who will help us eat this turkey. Thank you that they won’t quarrel or demand the biggest piece while they are eating it.

Thank you Lord for the oven that will cook this turkey. It was given to us by Bill and Kathy McCarty and we are very grateful for it and for them and for the natural gas that You have abundantly supplied all over this world that provides us with a clean and safe way to bake this bird until it is a beautiful golden brown and it’s juices are flowing.

Thank you O Lord, for my body which will digest this Turkey. Thank you for the 10,000 taste buds you have given me on my tongue, under my tongue, on the inside of my cheeks, on the roof of my mouth and even on my lips. They will make eating this turkey a sheer delight, and joy. Thank you for the tryptophan in this turkey that will help my body produce the B-vitamin niacin, which, in turn, will help my body produce serotonin, which will have a calming effect on my brain and help me endure watching the Lion’s play in tomorrow’s game.

Lord, thank you for one of the most amazing inventions in my lifetime, one that we use every day and take for granted, but that is so important in our busy lives, the microwave oven. The microwave oven will make it possible to reheat this turkey – many times and serve it in a great variety of ways until it is completely consumed – to Your glory.

Lord I thank you for the car that took us to the store to buy this turkey. I thank you for the workers who put it together piece by piece and the industry and technology that makes it possible. Oh Lord, that industry is suffering right now in Michigan, so we pray for the workers whose jobs and livelihood are threatened. Lord, help them to find their way when there seems to be no way. Lord I pray that the car that took us to buy this turkey will also take us safely to the other side of the state tonight as we go to celebrate Thanksgiving with Joni’s family. I do miss my parents at this time, but I am very grateful that I have loving inlaws and Grandparents for my children with whom we can celebrate and praise Your name. And we pray that you would keep all the weary travelers safe in dangerous weather as they go back and forth to celebrate with family and friends and as they go forth to worship You and give You thanks.

Lord, I thank you for Family Fare, where we bought this turkey. I thank you for the employer and for all of the employees, the person who unloaded the turkey, the person who stocked the turkey, the person who inventoried the turkey, the person who scanned the turkey, the person who bagged the turkey. I thank you that you placed them all in their worthy occupations to serve us and make our Thanksgiving brighter.

Lord, I thank you for the truck driver who drove this turkey to Family Fare. I thank you for his truck. I thank you for our nation’s system of roads and bridges. We like to complain about their condition at times, yet they are the envy of the world.

I thank you for the fuel that went into the truck to power it to the store and ultimately to bring this turkey here. Again, we complain about prices, but what a blessing to be able to travel in these vehicles with that fuel farther in mere hours than our forefathers could travel in months.