Matthew 6:25-33

Jesus says "Don't worry about how you will live." Hakuna Matata! You know what that means. The phrase was popularized by the Disney movie "The Lion King." Hakuna matata is a Swahili phrase that is commonly translated as "no worries" but literally translated as "There are no worries here". In the movie the hero adopts this carefree philosophy of life. Jesus says Hakuna Matata: "no worries." "Don't worry, be happy." "Here's a little song I wrote, You might want to sing it note for note, Don't worry, be happy �"

Time out! Does Jesus really say "Don't worry, be happy?" How unrealistic is that! I don't know about you but I have plenty to worry about. I have two daughters growing up in a world that is increasingly hostile to Christian values. How am I going to send them to college on a preacher's salary? Then there are things like nuclear proliferation, global warming, the ozone layer, global destroying meteors� Hakuna Matata?! Is it really wise to take on a "no worries" attitude in our world?

Jesus is not saying that we should just take on a Pollyannic attitude that ignores the very real problems and dangers of our world. However he does tell us not to worry. At the same time he tells us not to worry for a reason. He gives some very good reasons. Let's take a look at them

So what reasons do Christians have for not worrying? One is that life is more than food and the body more than clothing. We know that there is something greater than this material world. We know that there is spiritual reality that is deeper and more meaningful than these things. We know that things like love and faith and hope are more basic to human existence than mere food and clothing. So we don't ignore the dangers that we may lose the physical things we need. Rather we look beyond those physical needs to more basic things.

We also know that there is a life beyond this one. I can't imagine how people who don't believe in an after life face death. To them the prospect of starvation must always loom over them. If the world were to come to end by nuclear war or natural disaster, to them that would be the end of their existence. But we know that there is more to life than this mortal existence. There is an eternity of life after this body turns to dust.

Don't worry. What is the worst that can happen? The world economy falls apart and we starve. But we know that the source of love and hope and faith, Jesus Christ, is not dependant upon things as fragile as the environment. God will always be there for us. And when we die, whether by violence, natural disaster or extreme old age, we have an eternity of peace and light waiting for us. That sounds like a good reason not to worry!

Jesus gives us another good reason not to worry. In fact he seems to make the same point twice in this passage. First he says, "Look at the birds. They don't worry about their next paycheck and yet they have plenty to eat." God takes care of them. If God is going to go to the trouble of feeding the birds that are a dime a dozen, isn't He going to care for us? Then he says, "Look at the wild flowers. They don't read fashion magazines or run to the mall all the time; they don't get chemical peels and face lifts and tummy tucks, but they are more beautifully clothed than all the movies stars in Hollywood." God made them beautiful. If God goes to the trouble of making mere grass beautiful how much more will he cloth you in beauty?

The point is: God will provide. God made you. He will provide for the material things you need. You may not have all the luxury items that the world likes. But what God provides will be more beautiful and meaning in its simplicity.

Now let's be realistic. Christians do occasionally starve to death or die of exposure. It has happened in the past and will happen in the future and is probably happening somewhere as we speak. It would appear that God didn't provide for them! But remember the first point: life is more than the body. God provides the needs of our bodies while we live, and then he provides eternal life and glory when we die. Either way living or dying God provides!

Then Jesus gives us his last and most practical reason for not worrying. He said, "Who my worrying can live longer?" Worrying often accomplishes nothing. In fact it just seems to make matters worse. If you worry about being sick you will make yourself sick. If you worry that your life will not have meaning or good quality, you will rob yourself of quality and meaning in life. Worry is useless.

Now I think this is a good time to make a distinction between worry and concern. There are definitely things to be concerned about. We should be concerned about what we eat and how we will eat and have clothing and shelter. But if we have concerns we should act on these concerns and do something about it. The problem is we often have concerns about things that we can't control, like rouge nations or the global environment or economy. And so we worry about those things.

If you can do something about a concern then do it. Buy insurance, eat healthy, get involved with the youth in your community. If you have a concern and you can't do anything about it, then give it to the Lord. He is bigger than any problem you are worried about. He can handle global warming, nuclear proliferation and the hole in the ozone layer before breakfast. Do what you can about the small things with God's help, and let God worry about the big things.

Hakuna Matata "no worries": as irresponsible and unrealistic as it sounds this can be a Christian attitude. If we put life in the proper perspective, we have every reason and right to not worry. After all the material things we most often worry about are not ultimately what's important. Faith, hope, peace, love � and all those other intangibles are what really make life worth living. And God has provided for us so far, why should be doubt that he will care for us tomorrow or the next day. And in the end what good does worrying do. If you can do something about it then do it, if not then worrying will only make matters worse.

So "Don't worry, be happy." Not because you ignore the realities of this troubled world. But because you have faith in the one who made the world. Not because there are not things to be concerned about in the life. But because the author of life is your God and He can handle the big stuff for you; and the little things too!

So this Thanksgiving, don't worry. Even thought the world seems to be tearing itself apart. Even if your turkey is as dry as the Sahara. Even if your relatives fight over the remote. Even if your dressing turns into a brick. Give thanks, for God has provided for you. So just say, "Hakuna Matata": "There are no worries here," because your God is bigger than all your problems!

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

We are a nation of immigrants. We all came from somewhere else. Some like the pilgrims crossed the Atlantic Ocean on ships seeking freedom and a new life. Some came across the Pacific Ocean seeking opportunity farther east in the American West. Some were taken captive and brought over against their will on slave ships. Even the Native Americans' ancestors walked here from Siberia.

My own Family came here from Europe. Some branches of my mother's family go back to the Revolution and had immigrated from France and Britain. But my father's family came more recently. Both my paternal grandparents came from Scotland in the early 1900's On my 13th birthday my grandfather told me how he went to work in the coalmines of Scotland when he was 13. When he finally had the means he came to America looking for opportunity.

As a nation of immigrants, Thanksgiving is truly our unique American holiday. It recalls our immigrant roots. It retells the story of a group of immigrants in a new and strange land fighting to survive. It memorializes their struggle for freedom and symbolizes our ongoing struggles for liberty, hope, and a better future. It also acknowledges God as the source of help in the mist of a difficult, cold, and drastically changing world.

Thanksgiving, in its American form, is uniquely American, but setting aside a day for giving thanks is not as unique as one might think. You see Israel had a very similar Thanksgiving Day. Like us Israel was a nation of immigrants. For 400 years they had been slaves in Egypt before they immigrated for 40 years to the Promised Land seeking freedom. Like American immigrants, they found a land flowing with milk and honey but also filled with new dangers. Even Abraham and Sarah, who were the first to receive the promise of the land, had been immigrants from Ur.

Before Israel entered the land, God told them to set aside a day to give thanks. It was a festival of the first fruits. It would have been earlier in the year than our Thanksgiving but the idea was the same. God told them to bring the first fruits and offer them to God in thanksgiving for the blessings he had given them.

And as part of this they were told to give a specific response. It starts, "A wandering Aramean was my ancestor." It then goes on to recall the exodus and the gift of the Promised Land. It all ends with guess what? A feast! They might not have had turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie, but like the pilgrims, and us they feasted.

"A wandering Aramean was my ancestor." That is true of us today. Maybe as we all gather at the Thanksgiving table this week we should all recite this passage before saying grace. We have traveled a long way to get where we are. It has been an exodus through a wilderness of dangers and pitfalls. All for the shining hope of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Americans have fought for centuries to realize freedom. The pilgrims fought disease and the elements to find religious freedom. As a nation we fought for our independence and the right to govern ourselves. In the 1860's we fought so that the statement "All men are created equal" could be applied to men of color. Then we struggled so that the working class would have rights and so that "All men are created equal" could apply to women. We fought 2 world wars to free the world of violence and tyranny. We fought a cold war to remain free from communism. And now we are fighting to be free from terrorism and mass murder.

Our ancestors were wanderers in the world seeking the promised land of freedom. We didn't arrive at this place on our own. Generations of others took risks, even gave their lives, so that we could live in this promised land of the United States. "A wandering Aramean was my ancestor." Whether your ancestors arrived on ocean liners, slave ships, land bridges, or more recently jet planes; we all owe a debt to the sacrifices of the past. And we owe thanks to God for allowing us to live here in this time.

"A wandering Aramean was my ancestor." We have wanders quite a ways in just this last year. We have gone from economic growth to the edge of recession. We have gone from as sense of national security to being victims of terrorism. We have gone from a state of peace to a state of war. We have gone from not knowing who would be the president to having a president with record setting approval ratings.

But, despite the troubles, we have much to be thankful for. Fortunes, jobs, our sense of security and even lives have been lost in the past year. But God was with us through it all. Just as God was with our ancestors through their trials. Just as God was with the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. God is with us now.

So let us give thanks. Let us all join with the ancient Israelites and say, "A wandering Aramean was my ancestor. He lived in slavery in Egypt and was brought out to freedom by your holy power. And so we gather here to offer the first fruits of our lives in gratitude and thanksgiving!"

We have a lot to be thankful for. The clothes on our backs that keep us warm, the food in our cupboards that keeps us fed, the houses we live in as well as the homes that nurture and protect us. In this country we are blessed with a wealth of material and political blessings that people in other countries only dream of. By third world standards even the poor in America are rich. And we take for granted liberties that are revolutionary in some places. And we are healthy enough to gather here and for that we give thanks.

I personally have a lot to be thankful for. I have a family that is a source of strength of daily life. As difficult as raising two teenagers is it is also rewarding. My work is rewarding and challenging.

Recently I have been reminded of something else I can be thankful for. I am a child of the nuclear age. I grew up with the constant threat of a nuclear war. I can remember the movies about the aftermath of a nuclear war. I also had "nuclear dreams" as a child. You know the dreams in which there is a nuclear war and everything is destroyed. Even as a child the fear of nuclear war was so much a part of my psyche that it invaded my dreams. Recently I was watching an old movie that was depicting the results of a nuclear war. And it seemed so unlikely and unreal to me. Yet I can remember in college how real and inevitable it had seemed to me. Then it hit me like a bolt out of the blue. It has been years since I have had a nuclear dream. That constant fear is no longer a part of my life. We no longer live in a world that is constantly on the verge of blowing itself up. That is not to say some terrorist will not blow up a city. But the world is no longer controlled by mutually assured destruction.

We have a lot to be thankful for!

We certainly do have a lot to be thankful for, but too often we forget all these blessing in the midst of our worries. Instead of seeing that the glass is half full we worry that it is half empty. We worry about having new and nicer clothes, or better food. We are distraught because our economy is not doing as well as we like. We focus on our physical pains and disabilities instead of seeing what we can do.

I think it is good that we set one day a year aside to intentionally give thanks. We need to periodically remind ourselves that we are blessed. Remember the pilgrims. They were in a strange land with an unsure future. Famine and disease could strike at any time. But they decided to give thanks. They established this holiday. In the midst of troubles they took time to thank God for the food that would ward off famine for at least one year. And they celebrated with their new found friends the Indians. I give thanks that they did that because we, who are much more blessed than they, need this holiday to remember our blessings.

We follow the example of the pilgrims but they were simply following the example of Israel in the Bible. God had brought the children of Israel through hundreds of years of slavery and they were about to embark on settling a new land. But God told them to always give the first fruits to God as an offering of thanksgiving. God knew that the Israelites needed to have a day set aside to give thanks. The pilgrims realized that they also needed to set aside a day to give thanks even in the face of their hard lives. And so we need to set aside time to give thanks to God.

We have a lot to be thankful for: Food, clothing, material needs security family. But if we stop there we will miss the greater part of the blessings we have. That is what Jesus' followers did. Jesus had recently fed the crowd of 5,000. The disciples who had nothing were greatly blessed by it. Their empty stomachs were filled. So the next morning they come back to Jesus seeking more bread.

The disciples were probably thankful for the bread that filled their stomachs, but they failed to see the greater blessing that was present. Jesus was revealing more to them in the breaking of the bread than just free food. He was revealing the source of eternal life.

So Jesus told them: Don't waste you time on food which perishes. When you eat earthly bread your stomach aches for more before long. It is a temporary satisfaction. Look up to heaven for the food which God's Son will give you. That food will nourish your soul to eternal life.

We have a treasure trove of spiritual blessings to be thankful for. Just consider the Bible. Today is Bible Sunday. How may of you brought your Bible's? Some have said that the Bible is the least read best seller of all time. Most people own several Bibles, but how many have read them. Here is a treasure chest full of inspiring stories of God and people of faith. We call it "God's Word" but do we pay attention to it.

And what about the gift of salvation. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten so that whosoever believes in him shall have eternal life. That the God of the universe would love me enough to die in my place. I wonder how much I need to pay him for such a sacrifice. But it's a free gift all we need to do is trust him and we are forgiven.

And then there is the gift of assurance. "Blessed assurance Jesus is mine. Oh what a foretaste of Glory divine." What a blessing to know for sure in your heart that Jesus is yours and that you are his and that your eternal destination is assured. Sometimes when you ask people if they are going to heaven they say, "I hope so." There are some who will say that means they aren't going to heaven. Let me tell you that is not necessarily so. Many times I have found that "I hope so" is really a way of expressing a respect for God's greatness. What these people are really saying sometimes is "Whether I go the heaven is God's decision and who am I to read God's mind." I deeply respect that because we can't read God's mind, but to say "I hope so" instead of "I know so" misses a very important point. God told us through Jesus that we can be certain. Jesus clearly said, "Whosoever believeth in me shall not perish but have eternal life. God could have left us in the dark always wondering, but instead he sent His Son to tell us clearly. What a blessing: to be able to know for sure that we are saved.

I could go on and on with all the spiritual blessing God has given us: peace, strength, guidance, ministry, to be children of God� We have much to be thankful for.

-Take time this Thanksgiving to give thanks for the spiritual blessings we have in Christ. Jesus said "I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." God gives us eternal life. God also give us food and clothing and all the necessities of life. We should give thanks for these material blessing and use them to bless others. But let's not overlook the heavenly food that God gives.

Take stock this Thanksgiving of all that God has given you. Don't let Thanksgiving be just a chance to eat a lot and watch football. But remember that we have the opportunity to feast every day on the blessings of eternal life. Because we know Christ we shall never hunger or thirst for heavenly bread. Thank God!

Deuteronomy 8:7-18

I�m ready for Thanksgiving! How about you? I have the Turkey in the ice box. The cranberry sauce is chilling. The corn bread is ready to make the dressing. I have some family coming up from the lowcountry. I have placed an extra leaf in the dining room table. And I have new batteries in the remote so I can switch between parades and games.

But is that all there is to Thanksgiving? Is it just about food and fun? For most people that is exactly what Thanksgiving day is all about. It means gathering with family to eat too much and then fall asleep while watching a football game.

Many people have forgotten who they should be thankful to.

This is nothing new. Let me share with you a passage from Deuteronomy 8:7-18.

�For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Take heed lest you forget the LORD your God, by not keeping his commandments and his ordinances and his statutes, which I command you this day: lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.' You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth; that he may confirm his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day.�

Here Moses is warning the people not to forget that all they have was given to them by God. He was warning them not to get so comfortable with the prosperity that God was sending them that they forgot it�s source. God knew that it is human nature to take credit for the good and blame someone else for the bad. So God as telling them ahead of time not to take their blessings for granted and forget who gave them.

We are comfortable here in the Untied States. Most of us have enough to eat and a warm place to sleep. Consumer confidence is up and the stock market is rising. We are as secure from outside threats as we have ever been. We are the last remaining superpower!

But sometimes we have become too comfortable. We have said, �Look what American ingenuity has done.� Look what we have created. And we have forgotten God.

Don�t forget God in your Thanksgiving preparations. The name of the day is Thanksgiving. But it is not a day to thank turkey farmers or football players. It is a day to thank God.

You cannot be truly ready for Thanksgiving unless you have remembered who we should be thankful to. I am ready for Thanksgiving because that God has given me all that I am thankful for. I�m ready for thanksgiving! How about you?

Deuteronomy 8:7-18

We Americans are powerful. In a world where the communist block is falling apart and the Soviet union is more of a disunity. We may be the last superpower in existence. Despite droughts and the failure of farms we still produce more food than we as a country need.

It is surprising to think that less than 400 years before that the pilgrims landed at Plymouth. That first winter half of the people died. But that ragtag group of settlers were joined by others and have become the greatest country in the world.

In our text from Deuteronomy we find the children of Israel in a similar situation. Only 40 years before they were just a group of escaped slaves heading out toward the desert. They left Egypt fleeing from the Egyptian army. Now they were a group to be contended with. They had defeated mighty armies and were ready to go take the promised land.

Even though Israel was powerful it was in great danger. There was a danger of pride. They might forget that it was God who brought them to where they were. They might look around at their fine houses and great flocks and vineyards and say to themselves, "We have made ourselves a great nation." They might forget who it was who brought them out of slavery and through the desert. They might let pride come between them and their Lord.

So they were given a warning. They are told not to forget who brought them to the promised land that they were possessing. They are told that when they are living in fine houses with great flocks that they should remember who brought them there and they should not exalt themselves. It says, "Do not say to yourself, 'My power and the might of my own wealth have gotten me this wealth.' But remember that the Lord your God, for it is God who gives you power to get wealth."

As we gather round our thanksgiving turkeys, And think of how far this land has come since that first thanksgiving, let us realize that we did not get ourselves to this place. God chooses the powerless to shame the powerful. One person described the U.S. as a country made out of those who had been thrown out of every other descent country in the world. And they were probably right.

Lets not say to ourselves, "We made ourselves great." Because if there is anything great in America it is a gift from God. So on thanksgiving let us remember the Lord our God and give thanks.

Luke 17:11-19

Thanksgiving is a religious holiday. The first Thanksgiving was a religious event. The pilgrims who first had a harvest feast were very devout people. They considered themselves the people of God. They were called Puritans because they tried to purify the church of Christ of all worldly influences. When they sat down for that first thanksgiving meal, their thoughts were of God. Half of the colonists had died the first winter, but with the help of the Native Americans they had an abundance of food to keep them through the second winter.

I am sure they would be surprised at what has become of their feast of giving thanks. In many ways Thanksgiving is now celebrated as national holiday. It is seen as a day to celebrate the great wealth of our nation. But it is also an opportunity to look back at our national heritage and celebrate how far we have come. Our nation began as small groups of people who wished to be able to live their own lives freely. They were not rich or powerful. They were the ones that the other countries of the world didn't mind sending to the new world to die. And the truth is that many of them did die. But 380+ years after that look how far we have come. Those tattered groups of settlers who barely hung on from year to year have become the greatest county on earth; a country where people can speak their minds. We are not perfect but a person has more opportunity to breath free here than any other place.

But in all this national celebration we need to be careful that we don't lose sight of the original intent of Thanksgiving. It began as a way of celebrating what God had done. God had given the pilgrims an abundant harvest. So they established a feast for giving thanks to God.

Our Scripture reading from Luke today is an appropriate one for the occasion of Thanksgiving. In it Jesus and the Disciples are on their way to Jerusalem and they are passing between Samaria and Galilee. Peter, at this point, had already said that Jesus was the Messiah the Son of the living God. So the disciples knew that Jesus was the Messiah, but I doubt they fully understood what that meant. They also knew that they were going to Jerusalem, but they probably had no idea that Jesus was actually going to die there. O yes, Jesus had warned them that he would be killed and that he would rise on the third day. But even Peter, who was the first to acknowledge him as the Messiah, couldn't accept it. So they obediently followed their Master as he made his way to the cross.

At this point in their journey the disciples were probably more concerned about their present location than their final destination. They were probably concerned about which side of the border they were on between Samaria and Galilee. As they entered each village they wanted to know if it was a Samaritan or a Galilean village. You see Samaritans and Jews just didn't mix. The Jews considered the Samaritans to be the opposite of themselves. The Jews were the chosen people of God. The Samaritans were just another nation of unchosen people.

As the disciples were concerned about limiting their contact with any Samaritans they missed the significance of where they were. They knew that the Messiah had come to save the children of Israel. But what they didn't know was that the Christ had come to save the Gentiles too. Christ came first to that Chosen nation of Israel but only as a way to get to the rest of the world. So there they were. Headed for Jerusalem and the cross of Christ. On the one side were the children of Israel, the people of God, who would reject their king. And on the other side were the lost nations of the world who would be offered salvation from God through what a Son of David was about to do.

As Jesus and the disciples traveled this road to the cross, they came to a village. As they approached this town, a group of ten people called to Jesus from a distance because they were lepers. We have all heard from Bible studies and sermons how lepers in the ancient world were required to stay away from towns. They were forbidden to enter lest people come into contact with their uncleanness. They were isolated from society and were required to beg for their food because they could not carry on a trade of their own. As if the ravages of their awful disease were not bad enough they were also isolated from their family and friends and way of life. They couldn't carry on a trade. They couldn't even go home for thanksgiving.

But there is something interesting about this group other than the fact that they are lepers. This group of lepers included both Jews and Samaritans. It must certainly be true that misery loves company. Samaritans and Jews as a rule had nothing to do with one another. This group was excluded from both sides of the border, so they roamed around together keeping one another company.

Somehow this group of lepers knew that Jesus was in the area. And they knew that he was a healer. Maybe they had heard how he had healed lepers in the past. They hoped that Jesus could heal them too. Then they could return to their families. And start their lives over again. So they went to see him and they raised their voices together and cried, "Jesus, Teacher, have mercy on us."

In other instances when Jesus healed lepers, he actually touched them and healed them on the spot. This group obviously didn't want to impose of the good teacher by coming too close, but they probably did expect him to heal them right then and there. Instead Jesus told them to go to the temple to be examined by the priests.

They probably wondered what in the world Jesus was doing. I imagine they even wondered if Jesus was playing a dirty trick on them. What if they went all the way to the temple just to be told once again that they were unclean? That would he awful. But they left for Jerusalem anyway.

I imagine that it was a surprise to them when it happened. There they were on their way to Jerusalem and all of a sudden they were healed. Some of the group probably pinched themselves to see if it was a dream. Eventually most of them probably started running to Jerusalem so that they could be declared clean by the priests and could return to their families and their lives. But one turned around and ran back to Jesus.

The one who turned back was a Samaritan. When Jesus saw this he said, "Weren't there ten of you who were cleansed? But only one has returned. Where are the other nine. How come none of God's people wanted to return and give thanks?"

We have good reason to give thanks. If we were to count all our blessings we might surprise ourselves. As Americans we enjoy freedoms that people in other parts of the world can only dream of. As Christians we are recipients of forgiveness of our sins. And of course there is the abundance of the harvest. We live in a world where enough food is grown that none need go hungry. And after all isn't that the very thing that the Pilgrims gave thanks for at the first Thanksgiving.

But we have something else to be thankful for. Like the Samaritans, we were once separated from God's people by our sin. And like the lepers we were unclean. But one day, as Jesus was on the way to die on the cross, he stopped at a village on the border between God's people and those outside, and he healed some lepers. And one day Jesus stood on the border, which separates us from his glory, and when we asked for mercy he showed it. Jesus healed us of our uncleanness and made us part of Christ's holy church. But amazingly enough only one out of ten who were cleansed came back to give thanks. And that one was an outsider, not one of those who had been brought up worshipping God.

I believe the picture this story paints is true. Too often we humans fail to give credit were credit is due. We are not the authors of our salvation. We are not the creators of our wealth. Yet only one out of ten of us remembers to give thanks to God who gave us all these things. And often times it is not a Worshipper of God but someone from outside the church. And Jesus says, "Was no one found to give praise to God except this foreigner?"

As we gather around the dinning room tables this week, and look at the fine China and silver. As we begin to cut into that large bird in the middle of the table as we smell the aromas of all the casseroles and side dishes that cover the Thanksgiving board. Let us, the Church, the believers in God, be the first to give praise to God, instead of the last.

Deuteronomy 8:7-19

The nation of Israel had come a long way to get to the Promised Land. If you remember the story of the Exodus from Sunday School you know that is true. Their journey to the Promised Land began in slavery. God heard their cries and called Moses to tell old Pharaoh, "Let my people go!" But Pharaoh just made their work harder.

Ten plagues later Pharaoh let them go. Then he decided to kill them all instead. But God made a way for Israel through the sea. God parted the sea and destroyed their enemies.

That was only the beginning. The rest of the journey took 40 years. For 40 years God fed the people bread from heaven. For 40 years God gave them water in the desert. For 40 years God taught Israel what it means to be God's people.

When they finally reached the Promised Land, God reminded them to give credit where credit was due. They would soon enter and posses the land. And it was a good land. A land flowing with milk and honey. A land with abundant water and crops. And the people would prosper in that land.

They would build big cities. They would construct houses and communities. They would built presses for wine and olives, and produce products. They would trade their goods with far away empires and become rich. They would change from a wandering band of escaped slaves into a major power in the world as they knew it.

So God said, "When this happens don't forget who made it all possible." "When you live in fine houses instead of tents, when your herds cover the land and you make profits from pelts and meat, when you eat off the land and have plenty left over, when your standard of living gets steadily better, don't say to yourself, 'Look what good I have done.' Don't give thanks to your own ability or hard work or intelligence. Remember that it was God who brought you here and made all of these good things possible. Honor God, keep the commandments, and be faithful to the covenant."

That's what Thanksgiving is all about: giving credit to God for the blessings we have. The pilgrims who founded this thanksgiving feast came a long way to get to America. They started in religious oppression. In the Europe of state run churches dissention was paramount to rebellion. People who worshipped or believed differently were in constant danger.

So the pilgrims set out across the sea. And God made a way for them through the sea. Despite getting lost and even landing in the wrong place, they made it.

But the place they landed was a wilderness. This was not a promised land by Biblical standards. It was rich, but it was also rugged. But they were blessed with freedom. And with the help of their Native American neighbors they learned to cultivate the land.

But on the threshold of that new nation, they stopped and said thanks. They acknowledged from the beginning that it was God who had made their freedom possible. And it was God who had blessed them with food to see them through the winter. And by doing so they set an example for all who came after them to follow.

The nation of the United States of America has come a long way since then. After the pilgrims, many others came seeking religious freedom. Many came seeking economic opportunity. Some fled famine. Some fled war. Some fled persecution. Some were brought over against their will.

The nation we have become is much different from those humble pilgrim/colonist/slave beginnings. When America started we just had enough food to see us from one season to the next. Now our surplus grain feeds the hungry of the world. America started as a bunch of poor colonies. Now we are the richest and most powerful nation in the world.

We've come a long way. From oppressed people to a moral influence in the world. From colony to superpower. From wilderness to industrial giant. We have built cities and factories and fine houses. We have come to expect our standard of living to rise.

And many years after our forebears set foot on this continent, we hear God's word. And it tells us not to forget who made all these blessings possible. "When you have built fine houses and lived in them, when you have comfort and wealth, when you enjoy freedom and safety, don't give yourself credit. Give God the credit."

So we have a feast day of giving thanks. But Thanksgiving Day should be just the beginning. God's says, "Therefore, keep the commandments of the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and fearing him."(Deut. 8:6) Praying and feasting are fine, but righteousness and mercy are more important. God had commanded that we believers be a holy people. If we are really thankful, we should do justice, love kindness, and seek mercy. We should care for the widow, the orphan, the homeless, the unborn. We should show hospitality to the stranger. We should love our neighbors.

Are you thankful for what God had given you? If you are then give thanks to God. Bow your head and pray and enjoy on the blessings God has covered your table with. But then serve God in the way you live. God has blessed you immeasurably, but there are those who don't know the blessings you do. There are people in this community who don't know the freedoms you do. There are people who don't have the love and support of the community that you do. Do justice. Love kindness. Seek mercy. That is what giving thanks is all about.

Luke 17:11-19

Giving thanks is learned behavior. It is not something that comes naturally. I have two small children: girls ages 3 and 6. We have tried hard to tech them to say thank you. Like most parents we have striven to give them everything they need and many of the things they want. And Children become used to that and take to for granted.

I guess because we have been so good to them they have grown to expect the many good gifts we give them. As a result it would never occur to them to say "Thank you." So we remind them. If someone gives one of our girls something, no matter how small or how large we say, "Now, say thank you." If we pass them the butter at the table we say, "Now say thank you." Our hopes are that they will grow used to hearing that reminder and will begin reminding themselves.

Sometimes all this training and hard work pays off. And suddenly without any prompting one of our little girls says "thank you." Those unsolicited thank yous more than make up for all the unspoken thank yous we never received.

Somewhere in history there was Samaritan mother or father that did their job well - at least where saying thank you is concerned. The Bible tells us that after being healed of leprosy a Samaritan returned to say thanks to Jesus. At first he had run along rejoicing. But I imagine that he heard is parents' voices in his head saying, "Now say thank you - say thank you." So he returned and gave thanks to Jesus.

But wait a minuet. Weren't there ten lepers who were healed not one. What happened to the other nine. I guess they just took Jesus' gift for granted.

But without being asked one did give thanks.

That is why we need a national day of thanksgiving. To be a parental voice saying to all America, "Now say thank you." As Christians we know that in our minds that all blessings are gifts from God. And God gave us so much! Like a good parent God is always giving us all we need and much of what we want.

But we usually forget to say thank you. Nine times out of ten we just go on our way. We need at least one day to remind ourselves to give thanks. Not that we shouldn't give thanks always. But at least one a year we are reminded to say thank you to God.

So on Thursday you can gather around the table with your turkey and remember to say thank you. But the day after that as you try to decided how to fix the leftovers and the day after that remember that voice saying, "Now say thank you." And remember to give thanks.

Joel 2:23-27

As we approach Thanksgiving one question always occurs to me: What about the people who have nothing to be thankful for? You know we are rich! I doubt there are many here who will lack for food on Thanksgiving Day. In fact most will eat more than they should. Most of us have a decent place to live, family and friends to celebrate the day with. And even the poor in America are rich by third world standards.

But there are many people who are not so blessed. Today there are many in our country and our world to don't have a place to stay on this day. There are some that face chronic illnesses and even immanent death. As a child I learned a prayer called Burns' Grace. It says, "Some have meat and cannot eat, and some there be that want it, but we have meat and we can eat so say the Lord we thank it." There are some that have food but because of their health they can't eat and there are others who don't have the meat to eat. And then there are those for whom Thanksgiving is just another day of loneliness.

How can they give thanks? How can people give thanks for nothing? How can the persecuted, starving, lonely and ill give thanks to God? What would they give thanks for? What about the people who have nothing to be thankful for?

Perhaps a brief history lesson on the origins of Thanksgiving Day will help us answer this question. The day that we in the United States celebrate as Thanksgiving originated with the Pilgrims. They were persecuted for their Puritan religious practices in England so they sought to come to the New World to find freedom. In the process of coming to the New World they got lost and landed at the wrong place. The New World was flowing with milk and honey, but it was also a rugged country. They were isolated and alone except for the Native Americans who taught them how to work this rugged land.

Some might say that they didn't have much to be thankful for. They had work hard and some had died. They were a world away form their loved ones and were isolated from their country. They were unwelcome in their homeland and they were facing a long cold winter.

Yet they gave thanks! Not only did they give thanks and feast themselves they even invited others, the Indians, to feast with them. And out of this ragged groups of survivors grew a tradition that has become a national passion. A day of feasting and giving thanks for all that God has given us. A National holiday for counting our blessings.

I have discovered that giving thanks of often at it greatest when life is at its worst. People give thanks best when they seem to have nothing to be thankful for. A case in point: the hymn "Now Thank We All Our God." Let me just read it to you:

Now thank we all our God with hears and hands and voices,
who wondrous things has done, in whom this world rejoices;
who from our mother's arms has blessed us on our way
with countless gifts of love and still in ours today.
The second verse is a prayer for God's protection and the last verse a doxology.

The surprising thing is that this hymn was written in the midst of the 30 years war. The author of these words was Martin Rinkart. He was serving as the pastor of a church in Eilenberg. During his time there the city was overrun by armies at least three times and was constantly dealing with large numbers of refugees. In 1637 there was a plague in which 8,000 people died. At one point Rinkart was the only pastor left and was performing 40 or 50 funerals a day!

Suddenly the words of his hymn take on new meaning: "Thank we all our God...who wondrous things has done...countless gifts of love." In the midst of such great human suffering; pain, loss, illness, that such a hymn as this could be written is a miracle. Many of us, as blessed as we are, could never offer up a prayer of thanks like that! Yet out of this womb of human suffering the great hymn of thanksgiving was born.

Why can people like Rinkart and the Pilgrims give thanks in the midst of such troubles? How can they give thanks for nothing? They can give thanks for nothing because Christ is their Lord! Jesus himself had been where they are and worse. Before he was crucified Jesus was dragged before Pilate. He had been abandoned by his friends and is being persecuted by his own countrymen. He was about to be stripped of all human dignity to be tortured and then to experience true alienation and finally death.

Pilate looked on this pitiful creature and asked, "Are you the King of the Jews?" The world would laugh and say, "He is no king for he has no kingdom - no power." But Jesus replied, "My Kingdom is not of this world." If it were of this world he would have an army to try to defend him but the only armies he commanded were the hosts of heaven. And they didn't need to defend the homeland because it could not be touched by the Romans or any earthly army.

It is this realization that gives people the ability to give thanks for nothing. Even when so much is lost, people who claim Christ as their Lord know that the things of this world are really nothing to begin with. When Rinkart wrote of countless gifts of love, he was not thinking of his earthly home or health or food. Those things had been destroyed. He was probably thinking of his home not made with hands; eternal in the heavens. When the Pilgrims gave thanks, they were not merely giving thanks for the food that might see them through the winter. They were also giving thanks to God for the eternal blessing that he had given them.

In fact I think this explains why people give thanks best when life is at its worst. It is at those times that we realize that what we have in this world is really nothing. It is then that we begin to realize the richness of God's blessings. It is in those moments of hardship that we can thank God for our earthly nothing and our heavenly something.

Can you give thanks for nothing? Count your blessings this year: both the material and the spiritual. We all have much to be thankful for. What do you have to be thankful for this year?

If you had none of the earthly things mentioned, could you still give thanks? If you were homeless and alone and sick, could you celebrate Thanksgiving? If you were persecuted and in prison, could you rejoice at the greatness of God's gifts to you? I know I would have trouble. But with God's help I hope I could.

If you can't give thanks for nothing, then ask yourself: Is Christ really your King? If you answer "no" or if you can't find an answer, then make Christ your King. Then you too can celebrate a real Thanksgiving this year!

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Luke 23:33-43

It's all about which King you serve. When my children started school I took a refresher course on the story of the first Thanksgiving. One day Kaitlyn came home from kindergarten and she said "Guess what we learned about today." Now usually I have to ask her what she learned about and she has to think about it. So I figured that she had learned about dinosaurs or sharks or planets or something else that she finds exciting. So I said, "What did you learn about."

She replied, "I learned about the pilgrims and Indians and the Mayflower." She told me she was able to remember the name of the boat the Mayflower because her birthday is in May. But she went on to tell me the story. She said, "The King wanted the Pilgrims to go to his church but they wanted to go to their own church so they came to American and became friends with the Indians."

Of course I knew some of the theological differences between the King and the Puritans and the history of the Protestant reformation so I knew that Kaitlyn's rendition of the events was simplified. But she got the basic idea right. The pilgrimage of the Puritan and the first Thanksgiving was all about which King they served. They chose to serve the King of Kings as they understood his will and that meant not serving the King of England. So they left England and came to America. And because they were servants of the King of Kings they gave Him thanks for their safety.

Which King you choose to serve is important. Is it the kings of this age or the King of Kings? This decision determines how you live your life. It determines whose rules you follow. You will either serve God or Mammon. You can't serve both.

This decision had long reaching consequences for the Puritan Pilgrims. They could have chosen to serve the King of England; in which case they would have thrown out the way of worshipping and serving God that they had developed. And they could stay in their nice warm homes in England with plenty of food and heating wood and all would have been fine.

But they chose to serve the King of Kings. And to serve Him they were led to leave the comfort of a known world and venture out into the unknown. A place where strange peoples lived and strange foods grew, a place of wild animals and disease, a place where they would face starvation and winter on their own.

There is a big difference between the way of the kings of this world and the way of the King of Kings. We can see that in the events that were part of Jesus death. When Jesus was being put to death they carried him off and they mocked him. They mocked his apparent lack of power and said, "He saved others but he can't save himself." They stripped him of his clothes and threw dice for them. They offered him vinegar and said, "If you are the King then save yourself." They even treated him as a common criminal and crucified him with common thieves.

While they were merciless Jesus was merciful. Despite the taunts and jeers, he forgave. Even thought they stripped him and beat him and hurled insults at them, he showed them mercy. Jesus could have hurled insults and curses back at them. He could have called down the hosts of heaven to slay them. But instead he said, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing."

In the face of insults Jesus showed kindness. That is the difference between the two kingdoms. One is a kingdom of pain and violence, the other a kingdom of forgiveness. One is a kingdom of insults and taunts; the other is a kingdom of mercy and kindness.

You see, it's all about which king you will serve. We can see this even among the thieves. They were both under penalty of death. They both were nailed to crosses. But they both had a choice. Would they serve the king of this world or the King of Kings with their last breath?

One chose the king of this world. He bowed to bitterness and hatred. He joined in the taunts and insults of the crowd. He said, "If you are the Messiah then save yourself and us too."

But the other decided to serve the King of Kings. He could have kept silent, but he didn't. He stood up to the other and said, "Don't you get it? We deserve to die for our crimes, but he is innocent. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And Jesus replied, "You will be with me today in Paradise."

That's what Thanksgiving is all about. It is about which King you serve. The first Thanksgiving was about that. It was about a group of people lead by the Spirit into the wilderness to live as they were led by God. It was about people thanking God for the abundant harvest. They could have patted themselves on the back or credited the new farming techniques shared by the Native Americans. But instead they gave God the glory.

And that should be what our Thanksgiving is about: about serving the King of Kings. Remembering how he died for our sins and rose again to give us eternal life. Thanksgiving should be about thanking God for his mercy and forgiveness, and dedicating ourselves to live that same mercy and forgiveness.

It's all about which King you choose to serve. That decision will affect what you do and why you do it. We will all gather round tables this week to eat turkey. Will you do it to serve the gods of prosperity and wealth? Or will you give thanks to the King of Kings who gave you forgiveness and eternal life.