Sermon for Thanksgiving Eve

Grace and peace to you, my sisters and brothers in the name of God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am grateful to be in your presence this night. This time last year I was preparing to move here. It is a blessing to be in your midst.
Tomorrow we journey to our older daughter, Catherine’s apartment- she is cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. She is, I assure you, not listening to the gospel. She is indeed fussing about the table, considering the bird and concerned about appearances. At least based upon the many conversations we have had. And between now and next September we have a lot of wedding planning to do. These words feel very different in this season of our lives and  of busy ness and preparations for Thanksgiving into Christmas and  beyond. It could be easy time as a  frenzied slide of days and expectations. Perhaps some of us here tonight are thinking about all those preparations in our own lives. In the midst of whatever is filling your head, rest assured I will not preach as long as Jesus did the day he uttered these words. In the midst of the sermon on the Mount where he talked long enough people probably were  wondering about dinner.
We gather here on this eve of the holiday in our country called THANKSGIVING. And I can’t help but think it is misnamed. In part because I think it frequently is framed in the category- of thanking God for lots of food,  where we roll out the door of homes and restaurants, stuffed. Our thank you at times feels perfunctory- or just the expected thing to say. “Thanks!” can be superficial. I hope what we really approach God with is gratitude.
I was reading this past week, what someone wrote- “I believe gratitude doesn’t come to the front door all dressed up and bearing Thanksgiving pies- rather, it slips in through the kitchen door like the plumber did when the pipes were clogged just before my daughter’s  wedding that was to happen at our home... You never know what gratitude the sound of a flushing toilet can bring until you’ve seen one overflow three times during the week of your daughter’s wedding.” That plumber was a life changer.  An agent of gratitude.

“ My deeper  point is that gratitude is not the same thing as giving thanks (for us in our culture). It comes from a deeper place that knows the story could have ended up differently, and often does. Gratitude is surviving the worst thing you can imagine  and realizing that you are still standing.”
Many of us with more than a few miles on the car in our lives have had these moments. The ones where we get out of our head and what we consider our worries, because we have seen the profound place of gratitude. Where we can stop, pay attention, and deliberately behold and appreciate what comes to us only as gift and grace from God.
Given the history of those Pilgrims who were devastated by winter, disease, famine, conflicts and shock, being alive was not just about
 “ thankful,”  it was about gratitude.  Overshadowed by economic development,  a day of Thanksgiving was not a national day until, after years of petitioning Sarah Josepha Hale, at age 74, convinced then President Lincoln, in the midst of the Civil War, to declare a National day of Thanksgiving. A day to recognize blessings in aftermath of a bloody battle at Gettysburg and the despair that the war raged on.

In October of 1863, Lincoln issued a proclamation beginning with these words:
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields ad healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God…” he goes on to list blessings in the midst of adversity.
To speak these words in the midst of turmoil and fears,  is indeed a statement of gratitude. Yes there was turmoil and unrest, but look at blessings still.  The prophet Joel has just finished speaking to people who are asking where God is in their distress, only to hear in the midst of it, don’t be afraid- the Lord has done great things. And what they hear is that pastures will become green, trees will bear fruit, and life will have richness, not because it looks that way in its fullness today, but because the Lord who has been faithful and provided, will continue to do so.
While personally and in our world, we may have worries, it is right to stop and give thanks and behold moments of gratitude first to praise God for them. Those things that only God could have brought forth, and we remember them so that when we are tempted to worry we are reassured of who God is with us and for us and will be. A God who not only provides material things, but shows us more. Both in the the love and  grace and mercy of Christ. And in the things brought forth by God through the gift of community- in both celebration and consolation.
Tomorrow regardless of the world's worries or the state of the mashed potatoes, I will be grateful that after a year of travel abroad, our younger daughter is back in the States, my husband is recovered from significant surgery and our older daughter is making her way in the world. Joys indeed amidst life changing stories.
 And yet Christ, in the gospel, wants to draw us deeper. Into remembering that the God who provides these moments, is so trustworthy, that we can devote our energy not to worry, but to living lives of praise. Being people  whom God uses to bring moments of gratitude and life changing stories for  others. Right before this part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has told the people they cannot serve two masters- they cannot put their wants first  and place God first. It is here that he tells them not to worry- since God will provide, seek God’s kingdom first. We can’t tend the relationships with God and others when worries distract us. Don’t worry-  Show love and  grace and mercy to others. Show the gift of community to others. This is the kingdom that God desires for all God’s children.
 At the beginning of  his sermon, Jesus said that the downhearted would experience God’s kingdom; the mourners would be comforted; the meek would have a place; the hungry would be filled. Mercy would be shown, God would be made known and the peace would be lifted up.
At the beginning of my message, I said that “Gratitude comes from a deeper place that knows the story could have ended up differently, and often does.” Gratitude for God’s blessings hopefully leads us to know that the story can end up differently and should for those who are struggling.

 It doesn’t have to be grand, just come from the heart- It can be offering a word of encouragement; a phone call to someone you haven’t talked to or seen in awhile;  feeding the hungry with good things; making peace with someone, maybe simply giving time to really be present with someone and thank them for what they mean to you.
As one new to the community here this past year, I am grateful to God  for you and pray that  God bless you this day and always. As you gather in  gratitude for the immeasurable blessings we are shown by God’s hand,  I encourage you to pause and reflect on how God has been at work in your story. Then  ask God to show you how you can be an agent of gratitude so others can experience the kingdom- God’s life changing story.