POSITIVE WRITTEN SERMON - Thanksgiving
Time Sensitivity: In America, Sunday before Thanksgiving
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The preacher placed two identical jars on the table next to the pulpit. He quoted 1 Samuel 16:7, “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. A human looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
“These jars came from the same factory, were made of the same materials, and can hold the same amount, but they are different,” he explained.
Then he upset one and it oozed out honey. He turned over the other, and vinegar spilled out. “When a jar is upset, whatever is in it comes out. Until the jars were upset, they looked alike. The difference was within, and could not be seen. When they were upset, their contents were revealed.
“Until we are upset, we put on a good front. But when we are upset, we reveal our innermost thoughts and attitudes for ‘out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.’ Luke 6:45”
What if someone “tipped you over” today? What would flow out? Would you reveal the “honey” of grace and patience and overwhelming gratitude to God, or the “vinegar” of anger and sarcasm? Above all, love each other deeply, because “love covers over a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8 This week, through Thanksgiving and gratitude, we will restore the interior of each of us, from bitterness to sweetness.
Allow me to share this inscription that appears on the Plymouth Rock Monument in Massachusetts: “This monument marks the first burying ground in Plymouth of the passengers of the Mayflower. Here, under cover of darkness, the fast dwindling company laid their dead, leveling the earth above them lest the Indians should learn how many were in the graves. History records no nobler venture for faith and freedom than of this Pilgrim band. In weariness and painfulness, in watching often in hunger and cold, they laid the foundation of a state wherein every human through countless ages should have liberty to worship God in his or her own way. May their example inspire thee to do thy part in perpetuating and spreading the lofty ideals of our republic throughout the world.”
This Thursday, we are going to celebrate the greatness of God’s good. It will begin Thursday morning, as we notice the wonderful smell of a turkey in the oven, wafting out from the kitchen. There is no smell like that in the world. Right now, we can smell it – the aroma of the turkey browning and the spices cooking through it seems to fill the air. Some of you will have a mother, a grandmother, a wife, or a husband who will be in the kitchen. This wonderful aroma, floating through the air, seems to lift everyone in the household.
There are other smells too. I love the smell of cooking candied yams. Often, everyone is in such a good mood because of the smells, that there is singing going on in the kitchen. It seems like no matter how small the kitchen is, everyone is gathering there. Other large rooms are standing empty, but everyone is in the kitchen because they want to breathe in all this good that God has created.
As you are celebrating and smelling all these wonderful smells on Thursday, will you stop to think why Thanksgiving is on Thursday? What an odd day of the week on which to celebrate Thanksgiving. Why not celebrate Thanksgiving on a Sunday? Why would it be in the middle of the week? Who would have picked Thursday? If you are going to have it on a weekday, maybe Monday or Friday would be better? Why not celebrate on Saturday, when the majority of people are off of work for the weekend?
I want you to think about something else, also. Not only is it on a Thursday, but it is in November. Why is it in November? If we are celebrating the harvest, it was months ago. Why do we have this one day in November when we are celebrate and give thanks to God for all that God has done?
Let me share with you the story. In recent history, Christmas is always on December 25th. Valentine’s Day is always on February 14th. The Fourth of July is always on July 4th. So why cannot Thanksgiving just choose a specific date and stop roving up and down the calendar?
Why is Thanksgiving on a Thursday, and why is it in late November? The answer to these questions revolves around fish–something that we never eat for Thanksgiving – says James Baker, the historian at a museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Elizabeth 1, who was the Queen of England, wanted to bolster the fishing industry in England, so she decreed that people could not eat meat on Mondays, Wednesdays, or Fridays. The market day, when everyone seemed to come alive, was on Thursday. Many people would go to the market half-starved because they would have fasted the other days. At the market, they would get turkeys, the fatted goose, and all sorts of delectable things to eat; things that, when cooked, would fill the house with wonderful smells. That is why a day of thanksgiving was declared to be on a Thursday.
Did you know that Thanksgiving Day was not always in November? For a long time it was held on December 18th. The reason it was held on December 18th, in this country, was because it was towards the end of the year, but it was a little ahead of Christmas. It was a celebration of all God had done during the year.
Thanksgiving was not officially declared to be held in November until Franklin Delano Roosevelt decreed that it would be. Why did he move it back to the third Thursday in November? He moved it back during the Depression, so there would be a longer Christmas shopping season. We all know that will begin with the biggest shopping day of the year – the Friday after Thanksgiving.
The symbol of Thanksgiving is the fatted bird – the turkey.
“Birds of a Feather.” That is a saying in this country. I do not know how old the saying is, but “birds of a feather” means things, or people, of like mind or like activities. We are all going to do basically the same thing on Thanksgiving. We may eat turkey or we may not, but we will all be doing the same thing – at some point, during that day, we will take a moment and realize (more than we do ordinarily) how good God has been to us, and how wonderful it is to be healthy and alive.
Thanksgiving is a day to recognize God in our lives, and we will feel good. We will express our gratitude to God through praise, and we are going to see the good everywhere. We will know that God will provide, and everything will be fine.
I share a story with you that takes place in Bethany. This particular day was hot, dry, and dusty, with a hot wind blowing. I do not know of anything more miserable to the human spirit than a hot, dusty wind. You are all clean, you go outside, and a hot, dusty wind hits you in the face. The air seems so thick with dust that it is difficult to breathe. You feel down because of the environment.
A group of people were really feeling down. They were grieving. They were clinging together as grieving people often do. They were weeping and mourning outside a cave in Bethany that was serving as a tomb for Lazarus (the brother of Martha and Mary). He had been dead for four days. Those in the grieving group were talking as Jesus approached. They were saying things like, “If He had come earlier, this might not have happened. He could have healed our brother, and everything would have been okay. But look, He comes now when Lazarus has been dead for four days.”
Then the group is absolutely dumbfounded as they see Jesus kneel down, and with a smile on His face He begins to give thanks to God. Can you imagine? Imagine if I was performing a funeral service for someone you loved, and instead of grieving with you, I had a huge smile on my face and gave thanks to God. Can you imagine how dumbfounded, and possibly angry you would be?
I want to share this story with you from John 11:38-44: “Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.'”
I imagine the people standing around were no longer a crowd, but were now a mob. I imagine they were getting more and more angry at Jesus.
When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
A man is lying dead, and his friend is giving thanks. Everybody just looked at Jesus. Then, with His next breath, Jesus called out, “Lazarus, come out!” At this point, you can imagine how the atmosphere is electric. I am sure time was such that a few seconds seemed like an hour.
The “dead” man came out to them. What did that crowd feel? There was joy, shock, fear, and disbelief. But He gave thanks, and that set the miracle into motion.
A man was telling about an Alcoholics Anonymous group he attended where a man told his story. The man said, “God caused me to be raised from the dead.” This meant he had the power to give up drinking. Then he looked at all his friends – birds of a feather, people of like mind – and then with tears in his eyes he said to them, “You are unbinding me. Do not leave bound what God has unbound.”
God is constantly unbinding us. God is constantly telling us to come forth. If, after looking back at the past and what God has done in our lives, we hold that in our minds, we will have the incredible intelligence in human mind to give thanks in advance. We know, no matter what we face today, that God is with us. No matter how difficult it is in the moment, we can say, “Thank You, God. I know I am connected with You. I am not separate. I know that when I work with You as a partner, everything will work out all right.”
And I ask God to give me the power to unbind myself – not holding myself bound by the thoughts of the past – and I ask that my family and my friends will not bind me, either, and I will have the power to go on.
During this Thanksgiving week, we need to ignite that feeling. Yes, we are thankful for the harvest, and we are thankful for what God has done in our lives in the past. But we are also thankful for the things that we have not seen as of yet. We are thankful because we know we have a God who responds. We know that everything will be fine. No matter how great our mountain, or how great our difficulty, God is a God who answers our present challenges, instantly, in a way that is beyond anything we can imagine.
Because this is Jesus’ way of prayer, a woman in need of her own healing placed a chair opposite her with a picture of Jesus Christ on it. Then she started to give thanks to God and to every part of her God-created body, starting at the top of her head.
She was in pain. Things were not going well. Our human reaction is to curse the things that are not quite right. Instead, this lady gave thanks to the body parts, for God working in the body parts, and brought them into new life, regenerated in the God-Truth that was already prepared for her. We can do the same with any situation in our lives. She gave thanks and unbound herself.
I want to give you a practical technique to use this week. I am going to ask that you get seven 3″x5″ index cards, or take seven sheets of paper. On them you are going to write what you are thankful for as if it were ALREADY true. Take seven different areas in your life that you care about, and each day this week give thanks in advance for and dwell on that one particular thing for which you are thankful. Of course, you will do the usual things at Thanksgiving. As you do this, realize that a thankful mind draws thankfulness to it. You are going to think of the past and how good God has been to you, but you are also going to go beyond with your faith in the Jesus Christ way – telling the things that are within the tomb to come forth. You are going to unbind yourself and others. You are going to know that, through God, working through you, you have a new, wonderful life.
Remember the seven index cards. Here is an example: “I GIVE THANKS TO GOD FOR PERFECT HEALTH MANIFESTED RIGHT NOW IN MY VITALLY ALIVE BODY.”
I may not feel good in that moment, but I am thanking God because I know God is with me, so I will feel good again. And in that day, I am going to give thanks for the individual body centers and organs that are working perfectly under God’s divine plan.
Another day you might say:
“I GIVE THANKS FOR THE FULL, UNRESTRAINED LOVE OF GOD NOW PRESENT IN ALL MY RELATIONSHIPS.”
That may not be true in your home right now, but you are thanking God and unbinding yourself and your spouse of what might have happened before.
“THANK YOU GOD THAT MY EVERY NEED IS MET. I AM NOW UNBOUND AND FREE.”
Right now, you are thanking God, in advance, holding to that, all day, and giving thanks for the blessings that are going to come from God. You will be a magnet for your good to come to you.
Remember, one card a day for seven days – seven cards. And work with it all that day with great faith.
I have a piece of poetry I want to read to you. I know it will bring back memories of your childhood, too. It is called “Thanksgiving Day.”
THANKSGIVING DAY
by Lydia Child
1802 – 1880
Over the river and through the wood,
To Grandfather’s house we go;
The horse knows the way
To carry the sleigh
Through the white and drifted snow.
Over the river and through the wood –
Oh how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes
Bites the nose
As over the ground we go.
Over the river and through the wood,
To have a first-rate play
Hear the bells ring,
“Ting-a-ling ding!”
Hooray for Thanksgiving Day!
Over the river and through the wood,
Trot fast my dapple gray!
Spring over the ground,
Like a hunting hound!
For this is Thanksgiving Day.
Over the river and through the wood,
And straight through the barnyard gate.
We seem to go
Extremely slow –
It’s so hard to wait!
Over the river and through the wood–
Now Grandmother’s cap I spy!
Hooray for the fun!
Is the pudding done?
Hooray for the pumpkin pie!
I am going to close with scripture from Romans. As you read your cards this week, I ask you to remember this:
“In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Romans 8:37-38].
Let us pray:
Thank You, dear, wonderful God, for my week of thanksgiving. Thank You for bringing joy to my heart and helping me to recall all the things to be thankful for. And thank You, in advance, for all the things I cannot yet see with my physical eyes, but that I know, through faith, Your blessings will come forth. I thank You in advance and will do so all week.
In Jesus Christ’s name … Amen.
PRAYER / MEDITATION_____________________________
I ask you to rest in the glorious presence of God. Close your eyes, and enter into a time of deep rest. Prepare for this week of thanksgiving inside yourself.
We give thanks for this day.
Dear God, we give thanks for the past, for even the difficult things the past has brought us to in this moment in time. Thank You, dear God, for our many blessings.
Thank You for the good in our lives and the good in the lives of others around us. Thank You for a human mind that has the power to explore; therefore, we have the power to get to know You better, dear God. Thank You for your never-ending, unjudging, and unfailing love. Thank You for watching over us, and through us; walking ahead of us on life’s path.
Thank You for Your light that surrounds us. Thank You for Your love that enfolds us. Thank You for Your power that constantly protects us. Thank You for Your presence that watches over us. Thank You for Your presence, that wherever we are, You are. Thank You for walking ahead of us on life’s path, and being everywhere present in our lives, and in the lives of our dear ones.
Rest in the silence of prayer …
Thank You, God, for this nation in which we all live, freely. Our Pilgrim fathers sought to be free, and we enjoy that freedom today. We thank You for them.
Thank You, God, for the opportunities that every man, woman, and child has in this great land. God may our flag always fly free, and may we always be able to worship in our own way at the church of our choice. May the values continue that made this nation great.
Thank You for Your all-powerfulness that works for good and only good. Thank you for leading us to people who will be our teachers along life’s path. Thank You, God, for life’s path. Thank You for the ups, as well as the downs, for each has molded our character and created a more God-like human.
Rest in the silence of prayer …
Thank You for the ability to communicate ideas. Thank You for the many hours we spend together in glorious prayer and meditation, when our awareness grows and we feel even closer to you. We know that we are always close to You.
Thank You for this week in which we dedicate ourselves to praise and thanksgiving. Dear God, I make a covenant with You, now. I will not say one, idle word of criticism or condemnation. I will not allow my words to be wasted. I will make the words and thoughts, within my own head, thoughts of thankfulness and praise.
I uplift everyone I am with this week. And God, I will continually thank You. I will continue to look around, and with my human eyes, I will perceive good; I will give thanks for that good. Now, in this moment of silence, I invite everyone to have a personal moment with God, and give thanks for your life and all the good in your life …
Rest in the silence of prayer …
God is in every cell of your body and mind. You are not separate from God, but one. God is with you, this very minute. Every part of you–every atom – is filled with the presence of God. Through the power of the spoken word, I decree, in Jesus Christ’s name, that this feeling will stay with you all week long.
Your spiritual experience will be moment-by-moment, as you touch more of the Divine, as you feel more awareness of God in your human mind. This is the week where the Divine infills your awareness. You are filled with thankfulness.
In Jesus Christ’s name, Thank You, God … Amen.
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