The Great Thanksgiving
Sermon
Sermons on the Second Readings
Series III, Cycle B
Object:
It is not only Thanksgiving Day, but a day of thanksgiving. It is a day set apart in the life of this nation in which we offer thanks for all the blessings bestowed upon us. I was not raised in this land and therefore I am not a native here. Thanksgiving Day as a special day set apart was not something that I grew up with for the first thirty years of my life. Even though I have now lived in the United States for almost as long, I still find it strange at times to celebrate this holiday of thanksgiving. It is not that I am opposed to giving thanks, you understand. Saying thank you was something that the nuns who helped raise me insisted upon. We do say thanks. We do give thanks for all the little things that bless us every day.
There are many times when we do offer thanks for those special gifts that come our way:
• thanks for good friends with whom we can spend times of recreation;
• thanks for a loving spouse who greets us at the door after a long day at work;
• thanks for children who share with us the art projects they did at school and of which they are so proud;
• thanks for the blessings of a solid and fulfilling job that gives us a sense of real accomplishment in contributing something of worth to this world; and
• thanks for the joy of an extended family that we can spend these precious holidays with, laughing and sharing the warmth that only such families can give.
On this day of thanksgiving, many also come to give thanks for the material blessings that we have been given -- for food on our tables, for plenty in our pantries, for a roof over our heads, and a warm bed to sleep in -- blessings for which we offer thanks knowing that there are many around us who do not have even these simple things in life.
There is another thanksgiving that is an essential part of our lives, a thanksgiving that we spend our lives singing and saying. As a Christian, my life, your life, our life of thanksgiving is centered upon that one Lord and God who has created us in his own image, redeemed us with the precious blood of his Son, and sustains us day after day through the gift of his Holy Spirit. Because our lives are literally grounded in our God, we come here week after week and on other occasions such as this to lift our hands in prayer and praise. We are a people called together into a life of worship, a people called together into a life of praise and thanks to the one God who is Lord of all, a people brought into being by the Holy Spirit and sustained by that same Spirit not only for our own lives but for the life of this community of faith.
We come to raise our hands in supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings as Paul sings out at the start of this letter to Timothy. The life of any community of faith is centered upon public prayer and worship. The faithful are called upon to make requests to God for all those things they need for daily life. They are to plead humbly with God for whatever is beneficial for them. They are to offer petitions or requests to God for other in their needs. Finally, they give thanks to God for blessings received, and it is just such a giving of thanks that particularly grounds us here now.
We are nothing less than a community of faith that centers itself in the very act of giving thanks. At the heart of our worship tonight, indeed at the heart of our very identity each and every time we gather, is the Eucharist, that Greek word for holy communion that literally means to give thanks. We come and gather around this table to give thanks, to be a part of "The Great Thanksgiving." We hear the words spoken addressed to God, "It is indeed right and salutary that we should at all times and in all places offer thanks and praise to you O Lord, Holy Father, through Christ our Lord." We sing out our songs of thanks and praise in the Sanctus; we sing it in the great acclamation at the end of the eucharistic prayer; and we sing it again in the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God.
We are a people gathered and grounded, sustained and nourished, fed and renewed through our sharing in this Great Thanksgiving. We give thanks for all that God has done for us throughout salvation history. We give thanks for what he has done for all of us in and through the death of his Son Jesus Christ for our salvation. We give thanks for all the graces and blessings that are bestowed upon us, not the least of which is new life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are a eucharistic people, a people of thanksgiving, a people called to give thanks, a people who share a Great Thanksgiving, a foretaste of the feast to come.
Because we are such a people of thanksgiving, we see that the focus of our thanks is not particular, it is not about me or you alone. Rather, our thanks are universal because the sacrifice of the Son was offered for all. Prayer is urged for all not just for some. Prayer is offered not only for the needs of the believing community but for all humanity. There is but one God over all and God desires all to be saved because the cross was for all. That is why such prayers are offered for kings and all those who are in high places.
Writing to Timothy, Paul knows that it would be easy for such rulers to cause disruption in the life of the community, as they often did with their persecutions and unjust laws against the Christian community. Having been offered the great gift of salvation and having come to share in the Great Thanksgiving for Christ's own body and blood, the holy people of God are now urged to pray even for those who would be their enemies. Such prayer is never easy, especially as we think of our enemies who seem determined to continue their attacks against us and who fight our sons and daughters as they serve in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. But we are a eucharistic people. We are a people called to pray even for our enemies in gratitude to the Lord of all who gave his all in his Son.
We thank the one who gives us the gift and the way we say thank you says a lot about how we see both the gift and the giver. That Greek word, Eucharist, or "giving thanks," has a sense of being a cause for delight and rejoicing in a shared good. It is similar to the Jewish idea of blessing, which often takes a prayerful expression. Praising the gift giver for his or her kindness is, in effect, a gift exchanged. Our thanksgiving can also take on another form of sharing. For if a gift inspires us to go beyond offering just verbal thanks, then our response becomes even more creative. When we have experienced an injustice which then moves us to work for justice in our world, we reflect the justice that God seeks for all. When we celebrate thanksgiving with praise and blessing and then also reach out to express care for others in soup kitchens, in a Habitat for Humanity project, or in a mission trip, then our thanks reflect God's care for the poor, the needy, the destitute. Thanksgiving is at the heart of our Christian life because it is at the heart of discipleship itself.
Which brings us back to the Eucharist, that pre-eminent offering of thanks to God through Christ our redeemer. The Eucharist has always been that time of receiving, responding, and being called into new life far beyond the act of celebration itself. It is in this time of grace that we see most clearly how we are to offer thanks to our God, a thanksgiving beyond all days of thanksgiving. It is this day of remembrance, called Thanksgiving, that calls us to something far greater than just family gatherings or an abundance of food. Instead, it calls us into a new life where we will not just to say thank you, but rather live as a holy people of God in eucharistic praise and thanksgiving seeking to serve all of God's people in an outpouring of prayer, gratitude, and love. Amen.
There are many times when we do offer thanks for those special gifts that come our way:
• thanks for good friends with whom we can spend times of recreation;
• thanks for a loving spouse who greets us at the door after a long day at work;
• thanks for children who share with us the art projects they did at school and of which they are so proud;
• thanks for the blessings of a solid and fulfilling job that gives us a sense of real accomplishment in contributing something of worth to this world; and
• thanks for the joy of an extended family that we can spend these precious holidays with, laughing and sharing the warmth that only such families can give.
On this day of thanksgiving, many also come to give thanks for the material blessings that we have been given -- for food on our tables, for plenty in our pantries, for a roof over our heads, and a warm bed to sleep in -- blessings for which we offer thanks knowing that there are many around us who do not have even these simple things in life.
There is another thanksgiving that is an essential part of our lives, a thanksgiving that we spend our lives singing and saying. As a Christian, my life, your life, our life of thanksgiving is centered upon that one Lord and God who has created us in his own image, redeemed us with the precious blood of his Son, and sustains us day after day through the gift of his Holy Spirit. Because our lives are literally grounded in our God, we come here week after week and on other occasions such as this to lift our hands in prayer and praise. We are a people called together into a life of worship, a people called together into a life of praise and thanks to the one God who is Lord of all, a people brought into being by the Holy Spirit and sustained by that same Spirit not only for our own lives but for the life of this community of faith.
We come to raise our hands in supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings as Paul sings out at the start of this letter to Timothy. The life of any community of faith is centered upon public prayer and worship. The faithful are called upon to make requests to God for all those things they need for daily life. They are to plead humbly with God for whatever is beneficial for them. They are to offer petitions or requests to God for other in their needs. Finally, they give thanks to God for blessings received, and it is just such a giving of thanks that particularly grounds us here now.
We are nothing less than a community of faith that centers itself in the very act of giving thanks. At the heart of our worship tonight, indeed at the heart of our very identity each and every time we gather, is the Eucharist, that Greek word for holy communion that literally means to give thanks. We come and gather around this table to give thanks, to be a part of "The Great Thanksgiving." We hear the words spoken addressed to God, "It is indeed right and salutary that we should at all times and in all places offer thanks and praise to you O Lord, Holy Father, through Christ our Lord." We sing out our songs of thanks and praise in the Sanctus; we sing it in the great acclamation at the end of the eucharistic prayer; and we sing it again in the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God.
We are a people gathered and grounded, sustained and nourished, fed and renewed through our sharing in this Great Thanksgiving. We give thanks for all that God has done for us throughout salvation history. We give thanks for what he has done for all of us in and through the death of his Son Jesus Christ for our salvation. We give thanks for all the graces and blessings that are bestowed upon us, not the least of which is new life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are a eucharistic people, a people of thanksgiving, a people called to give thanks, a people who share a Great Thanksgiving, a foretaste of the feast to come.
Because we are such a people of thanksgiving, we see that the focus of our thanks is not particular, it is not about me or you alone. Rather, our thanks are universal because the sacrifice of the Son was offered for all. Prayer is urged for all not just for some. Prayer is offered not only for the needs of the believing community but for all humanity. There is but one God over all and God desires all to be saved because the cross was for all. That is why such prayers are offered for kings and all those who are in high places.
Writing to Timothy, Paul knows that it would be easy for such rulers to cause disruption in the life of the community, as they often did with their persecutions and unjust laws against the Christian community. Having been offered the great gift of salvation and having come to share in the Great Thanksgiving for Christ's own body and blood, the holy people of God are now urged to pray even for those who would be their enemies. Such prayer is never easy, especially as we think of our enemies who seem determined to continue their attacks against us and who fight our sons and daughters as they serve in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. But we are a eucharistic people. We are a people called to pray even for our enemies in gratitude to the Lord of all who gave his all in his Son.
We thank the one who gives us the gift and the way we say thank you says a lot about how we see both the gift and the giver. That Greek word, Eucharist, or "giving thanks," has a sense of being a cause for delight and rejoicing in a shared good. It is similar to the Jewish idea of blessing, which often takes a prayerful expression. Praising the gift giver for his or her kindness is, in effect, a gift exchanged. Our thanksgiving can also take on another form of sharing. For if a gift inspires us to go beyond offering just verbal thanks, then our response becomes even more creative. When we have experienced an injustice which then moves us to work for justice in our world, we reflect the justice that God seeks for all. When we celebrate thanksgiving with praise and blessing and then also reach out to express care for others in soup kitchens, in a Habitat for Humanity project, or in a mission trip, then our thanks reflect God's care for the poor, the needy, the destitute. Thanksgiving is at the heart of our Christian life because it is at the heart of discipleship itself.
Which brings us back to the Eucharist, that pre-eminent offering of thanks to God through Christ our redeemer. The Eucharist has always been that time of receiving, responding, and being called into new life far beyond the act of celebration itself. It is in this time of grace that we see most clearly how we are to offer thanks to our God, a thanksgiving beyond all days of thanksgiving. It is this day of remembrance, called Thanksgiving, that calls us to something far greater than just family gatherings or an abundance of food. Instead, it calls us into a new life where we will not just to say thank you, but rather live as a holy people of God in eucharistic praise and thanksgiving seeking to serve all of God's people in an outpouring of prayer, gratitude, and love. Amen.
