On giving thanks
Rev. Norbert Tegtmeier
Friday, November 13, 2009
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His love endures forever.” Psalm 136:1 (NIV)
In just a couple of weeks, we as a nation will gather together with family and friends to celebrate our national holiday of Thanksgiving. I’m sure that dinner tables will be spread with the finest of foods, turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, all our favorite vegetables, salads, and most of all, those special deserts.
Maybe your family has a tradition of a special food that is prepared for the family Thanksgiving dinner. For many years now, families in this great nation have gathered together on this day to give thanks and praise for the blessings of the past year.
As I thought about this, I began to wonder how many families will once again gather to give thanks this year? Many families are struggling. Maybe someone in their family has been laid off and is no longer working. Maybe someone in the family has become ill and has needed some care in the hospital. The lives of other families may have been disrupted and torn apart by divorce or other difficulties.
In the midst of all of those hardships in life, what about the Psalmist words, “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever”? Are they still true? Is there reason to thank this great and awesome God?
Let me share just a few thoughts with you.
This week we again had the privilege of saying “Thank you” to our veterans. What a blessing, what a gift they are to this nation, to you and to me. These men and women gave of themselves, sacrificed so that you and I might enjoy the freedoms that we have in this great nation. We praise God for them.
Those men and women who are serving in our armed forces today are special people. They continue to give of themselves to protect us. As you gather around your table on Thanksgiving Day, thank God for them.
In St. Mary’s Church at Cambridge, England, there is a kneeling cushion with these words embroidered on it: “Think — Thank.” If we are going to be truly thankful to our God and say so, we will first of all have to be “thinkful.”
So often, it is much easier to see the negative in our lives than the positive. We concentrate much more on all the things that have gone wrong than the things that are right. Many of us spend our time grumbling about what we don’t have. Instead of taking responsibility for our actions, we tend to blame others, the government, our boss or co-worker, our teacher for the situations that we are in.
What would happen, if every time — before we started grumbling — we would think about the blessings that we have received? What would happen if every time we wanted to blame someone else, we took responsibility for our own actions? Would this world be any different? Would our lives be any different? Would our attitudes be any different?
I would encourage you to sit down and seriously think about all the blessings that you enjoy. In fact, make it a tradition in your family to sit down on Thanksgiving Day and together list all the blessings that you have received throughout the past year. You might be surprised!
The Pslamist says, God’s “love endures forever.” As Christians we know and believe that God’s love for us in the gift of His Son, Jesus, the Christ, does not fail.
He comes into our lives day after day to forgive us for the times that we have messed up and sinned against Him and other people in our lives.
He daily comes into our lives and assures us that even though we go through some tough times, He is there to comfort us, to pick us up and carry us when we can’t go on our own.
If everything else in this world should fail us, the promise of our gracious God is that His love endures forever. I pray that you know and have experienced that love of God in your life. Filled with the love of Jesus, may you and I be compelled to love the people He brings into our lives, and daily give thanks for the privilege of serving Him.
F “Sunday Sermon” is a forum for Emporia area ministers to share their sermons, thoughts and observations. This week’s sermon is from the Rev. Norbert Tegtmeier, pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church.