Gloria Dei Lutheran Church | Urbandale, Iowa

Thanksgiving Service-Thankful in all Circumstances

Pastor Meyer’s Sermon

Thanksgiving Service, November 25, 2008

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our heavenly Father and from our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus. Amen.

In 1971, after finishing the movie, Diamonds are Forever, the actor Sean Connery told his wife that he would never play the character James Bond again. However, twelve years later in 1983, Sean Connery decides to reprise the role of James Bond in a coming movie. Upon telling his wife that he was, once again, going to play the famous character in a movie role, his wife’s answer became the title of the movie, Never Say Never Again.

Now we all understand that, don’t we? We’ve been taught there are certain words that are extreme words that we do not use or we are careful of using. For instance, being careful to say “never,” being careful to say “always,” or to be careful to say “greatest” because, you see, we never know what’s going to happen in the future and it may be that we might end up just like Sean Connery, eating our own words.

And so we take time out tonight to gather together to celebrate Thanksgiving. And we do so as we hear the words of Paul from 1 Thessalonians 5 where he says, “Be joyful always, to pray continually and to give thanks in all circumstances.” And frankly, when I hear these words, I can’t help but be troubled by them because, you see, these words are words that we’ve been taught to be careful in saying. They are extreme words. And sure, it’s easy for us to be joyful when things are going well in our lives, when the turkey is on the table and it’s nice and juicy, when you have just enough room for that piece of pie that you’ve been looking forward to before you go to sit and watch the football game or you have friends and family around that you haven’t seen in a while and everybody’s enjoying each other’s company and they’re having a good time. Or maybe paging through the shopping catalog, the store catalogs, trying to get a lead on what we’re going to look for on Black Friday. Yeah, those are certainly joyful times.

But to tell you the truth, I don’t know about you, but I am not always joyful. Just ask my wife. If the turkey comes out too crisp and dry, I’m not a happy man. If I do not get my Thanksgiving afternoon nap, I’ve been known to be grumpy. Driving in holiday traffic, dealing with going to the grocery store when there are so many people and I’m in a hurry, it tests my patience. So to be joyful always, seriously, that’s a tough one for me.

What about to pray continually? I mean there’s nothing wrong with prayer. We should be praying often, every day, in fact, to pray for our families, to pray for our meals, to pray in worship, to pray when we feel alone or when we feel joyful, to pray often but to pray continually? We’d never get anything done. How would we ever do anything besides praying? There are times when I just don’t feel like praying to God. I can pray often but that’s the best I can do.

Give thanks in all circumstances? Now that’s a tough one for me. Sure, okay, yeah, I’m thankful for my wife. I’m thankful for my family. I’m thankful for those friends that I have, of being in this community. I’m thankful for being able to serve in this congregation but am I thankful in all circumstances? It’s hard to be thankful when you have two people at the Thanksgiving table who haven’t talked to each other in the last three months. It’s hard to be thankful when you’re worried about your job, being, at best, uncertain because the stock market keeps going up and down like a yo-yo. Or the in-laws are coming in for the rest of the week. It’s hard being thankful in those situations. No, it’s way far down the list.

Well, there you have it. I’m not joyful always. I don’t pray continually and it’s hard to give thanks in all circumstances. That’s three and out; it’s time for me to punt. And if you take time out and truly look in your own lives, you, too, would say that you’re faced with the same challenge. But to make matters worse, Paul doesn’t just stop there. No, Paul continues on in these verses with this little phrase, “For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” This is God’s will for me? Wow, Paul, you might as well just give me a paper cut and pour lemon juice on it. I mean, come on, this is God’s will for me? This is God’s will for you? Paul, what are you trying to do to us? How can Paul use these words “always” and “continually” and “all” and expect us to follow through with them? Paul, you must have been grumpy some morning. Paul, you certainly must have had times when you were not too happy. But really, come on now, do you really know what’s going on in my life compared to today? Paul, you don’t have a clue as to what’s going on. It’s easy for you to say to be thankful in all circumstances. What does he know about job insecurities or what does he know about having to live on a senior citizen’s fixed income?

You know, it turns out that Paul actually does know a little bit about the challenges that we all face. Writing to the Church in Corinth, Paul gave a litany of difficulties that he had encountered. He said, “Five times I received 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned and three times, I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was adrift at sea.” He said he had been in danger from rivers, in danger from robbers, in danger from Jews and Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the wilderness, at sea and from false prophets, that he had gone many nights without sleep, lived through hunger and thirst and cold and exposure. And in spite of it all, Paul could still encourage to be joyful always, to pray continually, to give thanks in all circumstances. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. Why? Because the last verse from our reading for tonight says, “The one who called you is faithful and He will do it.”

You see, Paul uses those words “always” and “continually” and “all” because, in his days of thanksgiving, they were not based on the stuff that most of us find desirable. Paul was not joyful because he had food on the table. Paul didn’t say to give thanks in all circumstances because He was in the midst of friends that he hadn’t seen in a while. He wasn’t joyful always because all of the churches were getting along and enjoyed each other’s company. No, the thanksgiving Paul had was in his heart because his God, our heavenly Father, is faithful when He uses those very same extreme words when He says, “I am with you always. I will never forsake you. I forgive you all of your sins.” And Paul urges us to give thanks in all circumstances because it is the will of God in Christ Jesus.

Now he wasn’t giving thanks for the beatings he received. He wasn’t giving thanks for the shipwreck that he dealt with, with the stoning and with the starvation and the cold or loneliness or any of the other terrible things that he had to endure. No, Paul was giving thanks that he had followed a Savior who was there with him all the time, that he had followed a Savior who had supported him, who had delivered him and, one day, would take him to heaven.

And, my friends, tonight, Paul is not encouraging to give thanks for job security. He’s not encouraging us to give thanks for children who are misbehaving, for a spouse who is uncaring, for a boss who is unfair. Paul is not encouraging us to give thanks when the stuffing just doesn’t turn out right or the pecan pie ends up getting burnt. He’s not telling us to give thanks when we gather around the table at Thanksgiving and realize that a very dear family member is not going to be at that table anymore. Because, you see, Jesus didn’t give thanks for the cup of suffering he had to drink to bring about our forgiveness.

No, Paul is encouraging us to give thanks that we are in a world who has a God, a loving and unbelievably gracious God who, knowing we would suffer, sent His Son to do everything, everything that was needed so we could in one way or another be delivered from the heartache that we feel, to be delivered from the difficulty we face, from that personal challenge we have to deal with, with that personal private problem that keeps us up at nights. Yes, there’s a Savior who has carried our sins and has bore our sorrows and, on this Thanksgiving holiday, let’s take time out to give thanks to the Lord for having given His Son so that we might, no, better yet, that we would give thanks in all circumstances because this is God’s will for you and this is God’s will for me to rejoice no matter what because God promises that He is with us always, that He is with us continually and at all times. That, my friends, is what we can be thankful for, not just on Thanksgiving Day but every day. Amen.