Seeing and Seeking the Kingdom of Fearlessness

For those of you who have made requests, here is my sermon from Thanksgiving.

Introduction: Thanksgiving Grace

Happy Thanksgiving! I have so much to be thankful for today and in my life and I hope you know that you do, too; for we are a people who have been blessed by God. We have been blessed by God to be part of this Christian community. That cares for one another and is on a mission to know God in Jesus Christ and to make Christ known; we have been blessed by God to live in a nation of great opportunity; we have been blessed by God to have family and friends; we have been blessed by God with the gift of life itself; and today, we give thanks.

I love this day, I love Thanksgiving Day, among all our national days and Holy Days, because it’s the one day when we as a nation and, frankly, when we as Christians, come closest to getting it right. Thanksgiving, though a civic holiday is the one day in the year when we come closest to getting our priorities and our focus in the right place as we set aside an entire day to give thanks to someone or something — usually God in some way — to thank one another for the many gifts t we have been given in our everyday lives.

In some sense, it’s both profound and strange that we would set aside only one day in a year to offer thanks. Profound because our nation and our way of life come to a virtual standstill for a few hours, as people of all sorts gather around some table to eat, to offer thanks, and to share the gift of life. Strange, because for some of us, it’s the only time when we feel comfortable enough, even encouraged enough, to count our blessings; to say thank you to God and to say thank you to one another for gifts great and small.

I know around our Thanksgiving table this afternoon, I’ll ask everyone to share at least one thing that they’re thankful for.  It’s a tradition my parents instilled in me and it’s always a lovely moment during the meal to talk about the people and the things and the events that have touched our hearts in some way.

           

When this moment comes, you can sense a change in the energy around the table. Oh, there’s some performance anxiety as people wonder what they’re going to say and whether it will measure up to what others may say. But after that little worry passes and thanks are being shared people’s faces soften; worry lines fade; smiles emerge and broaden; and eyes twinkle as the trivial and silly gifts of life are revealed; or as major events, sometimes hard moments, are spoken of in quieter tones, drawing us all too briefly into the poignant moments of grace and transformation of life.

I think sometimes that Thanksgiving—that this moment of sharing our thanks is the most nourishing part of the meal. For in offering our thanks, our souls are fed, our fears released and we are changed. In offering our thanks, for gifts great and small, we come closest to seeing God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness in our midst, as we remember that all we are and all that we have come to us as gifts from God. And if you and I can learn to live every day in thanksgiving to God and one another then we’ll come much closer to getting it right beyond Thanksgiving Day, and we’ll come much closer to having our life in the right order. And our worries and fears will become the passing problems they really are as we’re drawn closer to the presence and the peace of God and God’s kingdom.

The Gospel and Days of Thanksgiving

I think Jesus would like this part of Thanksgiving Day, the part that includes giving thanks and focusing on what’s truly important, the importance of finding a place for everyone around the table and listening to people waking up to the blessings in their lives. You see Jesus, knows that we worry about life. Jesus knows that it’s easy for us to focus on the things of life, on what we’ll eat, what we’ll drink, what we’ll wear, instead of focusing on the source of life. Jesus knows that we can so easily focus on the created and not the Creator.

And Jesus knows that we worry about what’s coming next in our lives, Jesus knows that we’re afraid and that our fears can shove aside our trust in God and God’s plan for our lives and cause us to put the things of life first because they help us through some of our struggles.

                                   

Jesus knows because He walked among us and lived as one of us. He lived in a family, spent time with friends, worked at a job, loved and was loved, wxperienced all that we experience in this life. And Jesus wants us to have a spiritual strategy and a life’s focus that frees us from worrying about the things of life and what’s coming next so that we may more fully enjoy the goodness and the blessings of each day and know that God walks before us and behind us.

So, Jesus says, strip it all down and see life for the gift that it is; see that God has given life to you because He loves you; understand that God is caring for you, though you may know nothing about it. And then give God thanks and seek after this Giver of gifts, so that you can know life’s blessings and God’s love for you every moment.

Thanksgiving is the way to enter into life more fully; it’s the beginning of prayer. It’s the beginning of getting a balanced perspective on your life it’s the beginning of setting aside your fears and trusting in God; it’s the doorway into the kingdom of God. Thanksgiving acknowledges God’s greatness and love for each one of us and allows us to face the triumphs and trials of this life as the passing moments they are and find it in our hearts to teach others to say thanks, by the way we share our gifts with them.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving Day has become a particularly special day for me as you and I started our ministry together sixteen years ago today and the life and love and mission and ministry that we have shared have been beyond my wildest imaginings for our life together. And as I reflected on our ministry together, I was reminded of a Thanksgiving moment that happened in my first year of ordained ministry, in Roanoke, Virginia.

Part of our ministry there was to lead worship services each Wednesday at the various retirement and nursing homes. And on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I was responsible for leading the service at one of the poorer homes, a home where people who had very little lived out their last days in a simple, but dignified facility.

Struggling to come up with an appropriate way to acknowledge Thanksgiving Day, I invited them to share what they were thankful for before we started the service. For the next thirty minutes, these men and women, who had very little by the world’s standards gave thanks to God in the most eloquent way:

Thank you for another year;

Thank you for having something to eat every day;

Thank you that I’m not living on the street any more;

Thank you for my new teeth that allow me to chew my food again;

Thank you for my son;

Thank you for my daughter coming to visit this afternoon;

Thank you that I will be going to my sister’s house tomorrow for dinner;

Thank you for my husband of 47 years;

Thank you that the cancer is all gone;

Thank you for my new great granddaughter;

Thank you for Jesus.

It was like waves of grace washing over the room as these children of God gave their thanks and laughed a little and cried a little over all their blessings.

That was pretty much the whole service for that Wednesday before Thanksgiving; we sang a hymn and left each other with smiles and a few hugs, changed by the moment of magnificent thanksgiving. It’s so easy to forget how much God has given us, so easy to get caught up in wanting and needing something more. So easy to let worry and distractions rule our hearts and take for granted the inventory of gifts that make up our lives.

And so today I invite you to take some time to count your blessings, to make an inventory of all that you have and all that you are; take some real time to give thanks to God for all that you’ve been given, for what you’ll be eating and drinking and wearing, for family and friends here with you and those gone into glory, for this parish community, for the beauty of creation and the wonder and mystery of life, and especially for God’s saving grace in His Son, Jesus.

And then do it again tomorrow and the next day and the next. You may not want to eat as much, but if you want to feed your soul again and again, and lead a fearless, hope-filled life in the kingdom of God, Give thanks to God; and let others know the power of God’s kingdom at work in you by sharing your thanks and your gifts with them, too.

Amen.