May we all find things to be thankful for, and may our thankfulness last long after our meals are over.

 

Psalm 90

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 3 You turn us back to dust, and say, “Turn back, you mortals.” 4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night. 5 You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning; 6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. 7 For we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed. 8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance. 9 For all our days pass away under your wrath; our years come to an end like a sigh. 10 The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. 11 Who considers the power of your anger? Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you. 12 So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. 13 Turn, O Lord! How long? Have compassion on your servants! 14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil. 16 Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. 17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands— O prosper the work of our hands!

1Thessalonians 5:1-11

1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you.2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! 4 But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; 5 for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. 6 So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; 7 for those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.

 

Spoken words for “A Message for Thanksgiving” by Rev KellyAnn Donahue

 

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O God, our strength and our redeemer. I took down my Halloween pumpkin man this week. I put my carved pumpkins out to compost. It seemed the right time to do it. The pumpkins were getting mushy and some snow was predicted. The Indian corn on my front door can stay until it is time for the evergreen Christmas wreath. That colorful corn is just for decoration. I can’t or eat it, pop it or leave it for the birds. It has no practical use.

 

The Indian corn is colorful in a season with less color. My leaves are all down. The grass is dying. The snow has not stuck around. I smile when I see the corn on my door, as I head into the house and to the work that awaits me. I need that smile as I listen to the news, adding another event to our prayer list. I need that smile as I notice the shorter days. I need that smile as I add another person to our prayer list. Sometimes trouble is all I see, is all I feel. Maybe you feel that way, too. The writer of our Psalm certainly felt that way. In verse ten we heard, “The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.”

 

Time and events push on us, on our ability to smile and feel joy. And if the events are big ones, like earthquakes, shootings or the loss of a loved one, we may feel more than pushed, we may feel almost crushed. In the apostle Paul’s time, the church folk at Thessalonica were feeling crushed by thoughts of the future. There was talk of the Day of the Lord, in which Jesus would return to them. Some of his words, and words of the prophets, spoke of bringing in the Kingdom of God with fire and destruction, and of woe to those left behind. Paul wanted to change their focus. He wanted them to focus on being ready for it, not on exactly when it might happen. He wanted them to live as Jesus taught. Paul said to them, “But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.” He used those words “faith, love and hope” as if they could defend against foes, as if they were physical armor to protect us. And so they can be, as an outlook or attitude we use to keep going in the face of troubles, or discord, or whatever is thrown at us. Leander Keck said “A life of faith, hope and love…will be the best preparation for a future that cannot be known in advance.”

 

We do not know how much time we have in this life. Can we value the days we have, even the ones we label bad days? I think that is what is meant by verse 12 of Psalm 90, “So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.” My Jewish Study Bible said, “to count our days rightly”. Easier said than done. Easier on some days than on others.

 

That is what Thanksgiving Day is, a day to pause and give thanks even if we can’t find something to be thankful for. It is a day to count rightly. It is a day we count our blessings. Verse fifteen of the Psalm said, “Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil.” Some of our nation’s first Thanksgiving days were not just for counting blessings; they were to thank God for deliverance from religious persecution, harsh winters, and from the spread of war. We know of the Thanksgiving celebrated in Plymouth MA in 1621. There was one in Virginia in 1607. I had not heard about early Thanksgivings in Texas and Florida. Wikipedia says, “Other claims include an earlier religious service by Spanish explorers in Texas at San Elizario in 1598. Robyn Gioia and Michael Gannon of the University of Florida argue that the earliest Thanksgiving service in what is now the United States was celebrated by the Spanish on September 8, 1565, in current Saint Augustine, Florida.” The first national Thanksgiving Day was proclaimed by George Washington on November 26, 1789, “as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God.”

 

I was particularly taken by a section of President Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1863, written by William H. Seward, “And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.” The idea of a national Thanksgiving Day was so important to Sarah Josepha Hale, born in Newport N.H., that she lobbied President Lincoln and others for 17 years to get passed.

 

There are other verses in today’s scripture passages which have thanksgiving themes. Psalm 90 verse 17 said, “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands— O prosper the work of our hands!” In this verse I see the work of our hands as the ability to feed ourselves and all others. Meals are a big part of Thanksgiving. And so today we will assemble and deliver thanksgiving food and baked goods to families and individuals. Verse 11 of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians said, “Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.” Perhaps we can encourage those we have Thanksgiving Dinner with, in spite of a desire to tear down or criticize them. Perhaps our presence with family and friends will build them up, will put a smile on their faces. I always smile when I see that people are in our pews on Sunday morning. And lastly from our scripture readings, I want to mention verses 9 and 10 from Paul. “For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.” That is the hope that helps me handle the bad news and the bad days. It is a hope we can share, the same way we share our food. I hope everyone has company for thanksgiving, and that no one is alone. May we all find things to be thankful for, and may our thankfulness last long after our meals are over.

 

© Rev KellyAnn Donahue