Sermon and Worship Resources

Illustrations for Christ the King (Luke 23:33-43) and Thanksgiving
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Sermon Opener - Crown Him Lord! - Luke 23:33-43

There was a sense of anxiety as our seminary classmates gathered that day. To a person they had been surprised when the professor announced that there would be a final exam. Everyone was asking, "How can you have a final exam in preaching?" How could one prepare? What sort of questions might be asked? Throughout the year there had been lectures on sermon preparation and style, but mostly it had been a course of practice and critique.

Finally, the professor, who was himself a splendid and engaging preacher, strode into the room and a quiet fell. The familiar blue books were distributed.

"Gentlemen," he began, "you may use your Bibles for this exam. You have three hours. There is just one question and it has three parts. Here it is: You have one last sermon to preach in your ministry. It's your last best shot. Choose your text and theme, explain why you have chosen them, and give a full, detailed outline for the development of that sermon." That morning and that question have left lasting marks upon this preacher's life and his ministry!

Today brings us that one last shot in this church year. Today the church brings to conclusion all that has been revealed and celebrated in the gospel story of God's work for our salvation since that story began with Advent's hope a year ago. Today it must come together for us into one concluding proclamation about Jesus Christ who is "King of kings and Lord of lords." And today we must address that ultimate question about Christ's lordship in our lives and in our world…

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Pleased to Reconcile - Luke 23:33-43

Did you ever secretly wish that we had kings and queens here in America? I think that must be a secret wish of many of us, if the tabloid newspapers and magazines which are always on sale at the supermarket checkout counters are any indication. Between the romantic antics of Hollywood and the goings-on of the British royal family, the tabloids do a rushing business. (I won't embarrass any of us by asking how many secretly enjoy reading those tabloids as we're standing in line.) There's hardly a week goes by that there isn't some story about the latest marital couplings among the British royals. From all appearances, poor Queen Elizabeth, like her illustrious and straitlaced grandmother, Queen Victoria, is definitely not amused. Personally, I think the British royal family is worth every penny they're paid for the service they perform in keeping the media, and therefore the public attention, focused on them, leaving the government free to get on with its business. Although it's unlikely we'll get a royal family for ourselves, we do seem to be in love with the idea of royalty.

Today is the last Sunday in the Christian year, the Sunday we call Christ the King. It's fitting to conclude the liturgical year with an acclamation of the royalty of Christ, though we do this much more frequently than once a year. The sovereignty of Christ is well-affirmed in our hymns and in the language we use to speak about Jesus in our worship. In a few weeks, we'll be singing "Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the newborn king," and "Hark! the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king," as we celebrate Christmas.

But as often as we use the language of royalty in our praise of Christ, I wonder if we really have a good understanding of what we mean when we hail Jesus as a king, and what, if anything, the kingship of Jesus has to do with our lives. Those two questions, it seems to me, are ones we have to consider seriously: What does it mean to confess Jesus as King, and what personal significance does that confession have for us?….

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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: An Allegory

A great Christian writer that most of you know wrote a brilliant children’s fantasy called “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” And it does just that. C.S. Lewis tells the story of a great Lion whose roar shakes the very foundations of the forest. At the beginning of the book four children are playing in their uncle’s wardrobe when they discover it is a doorway to Narnia. As they enter Narnia they learn it is under the spell of a wicked witch. It is a depressing land. Lucy, the youngest of the four, says that in Narnia under the witch it is always winter but never Christmas.

The children hear rumors that Aslan, the great Lion, will soon return to the forest so they devise a plan to overthrow the witch. But chaos enters in when the younger boy Edmund commits treason and joins the witch plunging all of Narnia deeper into the witches spell. When Aslan returns he frees Edmund from the clutches of the witch.

I love what happens next. The witch requests an audience with Aslan and talks to him about the deep magic from the dawn of time. She says, and I quote, “You at least know the magic which the Emperor [that’s God the Father] put into Narnia at the very beginning. You know that every traitor belongs to me as my lawful prey and that for every treachery I have a right to a kill.”

Aslan agrees and Edmund is to be sacrificed on the Stone Table, a large ritual stone that has always been in Narnia. But then something unexpected and horrible happens. Aslan offers to be sacrificed in place of Edmund. The witch is delighted to be rid of Aslan once for all. He is bound, humiliated before the Witches entourage, and killed. It appears to the children that wickedness has won the day and that all is lost.

As the children tearfully leave the scene it is dawn. They hear a great cracking, a deafening noise. They rush back and find the great table split in two and Aslan gone. Suddenly he appears before them and as they shake in fear he explains to them “that though the witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she does not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the Dawn of Time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards.”

The meaning of the story is plain enough for all to see, a wonderful allegory of the fall of mankind and the redemption of the world. It is one of the best stories ever told because it tells of the worst in us, the best in us, and the grace offered to us all

Brett Blair and Staff

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The Power of Words

Claude Brown, who wrote Manchild in the Promised Land, in an article, said that people under forty in our society have never lived in America where movie language was not liberally laced with obscenities. He said that profanity is rapidly replacing English as the language of the American people. Then he added this. He said, "Most people don't know it, but profanity is the language of violence."

People say, words can't hurt you. They can hurt you. Words can dehumanize. That's why in war the enemy is always described in language that is dehumanizing. You will never hear the military referring to the enemy as "brothers and sisters," or as "children of God." They couldn't kill them if they referred to them that way. You use language that describes the enemy as less than human.

That is precisely the language that is being used in our cities today. The language that is used in our society today is the language that has been coined in warfare. There are words that dehumanize. There are words that make life cheap and ugly. There are words that hurt people. There are words that profane what is sacred and holy about human life. You use them and they will affect your life, and the life of those around you.

But there are words that heal. There are words that build. There are words that create. There are words that unite. There are words that can redeem. There are words that can reconcile you to someone from whom you are estranged. There are words that lead to peace. Who will be the people in this society who speak the words of peace? "This day you will be with me in paradise."

Mark Trotter, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com

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Give Me Your Sins

St. Jerome was one of the distinguished church fathers who helped to guide the Church in matters of faith and the Bible. He translated the Ancient Greek manuscripts into Latin to help put the Bible in the language of the people. He wanted the people to read and know the Bible. He lived in the actual town of Bethlehem for a time to get a feel of how Jesus lived during his earthly journey among us. The rich oral traditions of the church share how St. Jerome, while living in Bethlehem, had a dream that Jesus visited him. The dream was so powerful and convincing that St. Jerome rounded up all his material blessings and offered them to Jesus. He heard the Lord declare: "I do not want your possessions." So being a good church leader, he offered all his money to Jesus. Jesus once again declared, "I do not want your money." Finally, in desperation, St. Jerome cried out "Jesus, what do you want from me?" Jesus simply replied, "Give me your sins. That is what I came for--I came to take away your sin. Give me your sin."

Eric S. Ritz, The Ritz Collection, www.Sermons.com

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All This You Did for Me

The Archbishop of Paris once stood in the pulpit of Notre Dame Cathedral. He was there to preach a sermon, and his sermon was built around a single story. Thirty years earlier, he told, there were three young tourists who had come into this very cathedral. All of the young men were rough, rude, and cynical persons, who thought that all religion was a racket. Two of these men dared a third to go into the confessional box and make a made-up confession to the priest. The two bet that the third young man did not have the nerve to do as they dared.

The third young man went into the confessional box and tried to fool the priest. But the priest knew that what the young man was saying was a lie. There was a tone of arrogance in the young man’s voice - which could not go without notice. After hearing the confession, the priest told the young man his penance. The priest said, "Very well, my son. Every confession requires a penance, and this is yours. I ask you to go into the chapel, stand before the crucifix, look into the face of the crucified Christ and say, ‘All this you did for me, and I don’t give a damn!’ "

The young man staggered out of the confessional to his friends, bragging that he had done as they dared. The other two young men insisted that he finish the performance by doing the penance. This young man made his way into the chapel, stood before the crucifix, looked up into the face of Christ and began, "All this you did for me and I ... I ... I don’t ... I don’t give a ...." At this point in the story, the archbishop leaned over the pulpit and said, "That young man was this man who stands before you to preach."

That’s the miracle of the cross. When we begin to understand the love on the cross, we want to change our relationship with God. We cannot remain the same, anymore. We want God at the center of our lives, again.

Burton F. Blair, Amid His Pain He Said… CSS Publishing Company

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Accepting a Human Messiah

In contrast to the theology of the cross and our suffering/dying king. Robert Capon in Hunting the Divine Fox presents a wonderful picture of our typical American Messiah -- and it doesn't look much like Jesus on the cross.

. . . almost nobody resists the temptation to jazz up the humanity of Christ. The true paradigm of the ordinary American view of Jesus is Superman: "Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. It's Superman! Strange visitor from another planet, who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American Way." If that isn't popular christology, I'll eat my hat. Jesus -- gentle, meek and mild, but with secret, souped-up, more-than-human insides -- bumbles around for thirty-three years, nearly gets himself done in for good by the Kryptonite Kross, but at the last minute, struggles into the phone booth of the Empty Tomb, changes into his Easter suit and, with a single bound, leaps back up to the planet Heaven. It's got it all -- including, just so you shouldn't miss the lesson, kiddies: He never once touches Lois Lane.

You think that's funny? Don't laugh. The human race is, was and probably always will be deeply unwilling to accept a human messiah. We don't want to be saved in our humanity; we want to be fished out of it. We crucified Jesus, not because he was God, but because he blasphemed: He claimed to be God and then failed to come up to our standards for assessing the claim. It's not that we weren't looking for the Messiah; it's just that he wasn't what we were looking for. Our kind of Messiah would come down from a cross. He would carry a folding phone booth in his back pocket. He wouldn't do a stupid thing like rising from the dead. He would do a smart thing like never dying." [pp. 90-91; this book has been reprinted, along with two others under the title The Romance of the Word: One Man's Love Affair with Theology]

Robert Capon, quoted by Brian Stoffregen, Exegetical Notes

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Where Do We Get Our Brilliance?

What do we Christians do to counter this violence-filled world? We are to be more visible witnesses to Jesus’ reign. In order to do this, we must be willing to be human in an environment of vulnerability; that is, to understand that when we are in relationships with others our humanity is bound up in the other’s humanity.

Desmond Tutu illustrates this by describing a light bulb that shone brightly and proudly. "[It] began to strut about arrogantly, quite unmindful of how . . . it could shine so brilliantly, thinking that it was all due to its own merit and skill." One day the light bulb is taken out of the socket and placed on a table. "Try as hard as it could, the light bulb could bring forth no light and brilliance. . . . It had never known that its light came from the power station and that it had been connected to the dynamo by little wires and flexes that lay hidden and unseen and totally unsung.”

Michael Battle, The Other Kingdom

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Wishing for Kings and Queens

Larry R. Kalajainen, Extraordinary Faith for Ordinary Time, CSS Publishing Company

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Let No Man Presume

Alexander McClaren has observed that on Calvary there were two thieves crucified with Jesus. One thief was saved [so] that no man need despair, but only one, [so] that no man might presume.

It's the last Sunday of the church year. If there were one last sermon to preach, one last time to tell the story, what would you choose? Or better still, what will the answer be when the story ends? The king waits.

Crown him with many crowns,
The Lamb upon his throne;
Hark how the heavenly anthem drowns
All music but its own.
A wake, my soul, and sing
Of him who died for thee,
And hail him as thy matchless king
Through all eternity.

Theodore F. Schneider, Until the King Comes, CSS Publishing Company

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Admitting Guilt

Once King Frederick the Great was visiting the jails of Potsdam and speaking to the inmates. Surprisingly, every single one of the inmates expressed to the King that they were totally innocent of the charges against them. Near the end of the King's visit, one of the inmates shared with him, "My King, I am guilty and deserve the punishment I am receiving." The King ordered the man to be released. With a smile, the King said, "After all, I don't want him to corrupt all the innocent people in here."

We are all sinners here. We stand here today in need of the all-sufficient, sacrificial, substitutionary, atoning death of Jesus Christ for our sins.

Eric S. Ritz, The Ritz Collection, www.Sermons.com

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ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS NOT IN OUR EMAIL
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Christianity's First Sermon - Luke 23:33-43

Call any “customer assistance” line lately? You immediately get fed to the lions of the loop…the answering machine loop, where the first choice you are offered is whether you want your instructions to come in English or Spanish. Of course the instructions for requesting English are given in English, while the instructions for requesting Spanish are given in Spanish. Press “one” for English. . . . Para instructions en espanol oprima el numero dos. It would be ridiculous for the language choice options to all be offered in only one language. It would defeat the purpose of trying to communicate with the caller in their own language.

The same logic is suggested by the sign, the “epigraphe,” hung over Jesus as he hung on the cross. According to Luke “This is the King of the Jews” was written in Greek, in Latin, and in Hebrew — the three world languages, the languages of power and learning in the first century.

But who was this declaration really aimed at? Have you ever wondered about that?

Although warning signs apparently were tacked up over executed criminals, it is unlikely mere words offered any greater deterrent to potential criminals than the dead body on display. Even the notion that the would-be thieves, murderers, and rabble rousers of the first-century were literate in any language stretches the imagination.

But what if it was not to the common, uneducated crowd that Pilate displayed the sign proclaiming of the crucified Jesus, “This is the King of the Jews.”

What if Pilate wasn’t trying to justify himself for the state-sponsored murder of a mob-chosen victim?

What if Pilate wasn’t trying to woo favor with the Jewish establishment with a sign showing his concern for their spiritual sensitivities?

What if, instead, Pilate was preaching Christianity’s first sermon? “Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

What if Plate was reciting the earliest Christian creed? “Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

The statement of truth is the foremost burden of a sermon. And Christianity’s first sermon tells the truth about “truth.” It also gives a thoughtful answer to an earlier question: “What is truth?”

1. The Truth about Truth.

2. What Is the Truth?

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Jesus Forgives YOUR Sin

Most everyone gathered here today remembers how the world watched in dismay when the Exxon Valdez dumped most of its crude oil into the Prince William Sound in Alaska. We all had our noses out of joint because of the destruction caused by such a careless act. However, the Nightly News put it in proper perspective one night when it reported that American do-it-yourselfers annually dump 193 million gallons of motor oil in storm drains and back alleys. That is nearly 15 times the amount of oil spilled in Alaska.

It happens far too often. We see someone else's sin as a "major sin and major moral failure or breakdown--but fail to see the sin in our own back alleys." However, Jesus knew that everybody had sinned and fallen short--and thus he cries out in his first word from the cross, "Father, forgive them"--not Father, forgive only the small portion who have had major sins in their lives. Forgive them all. All sin is contrary to the nature and character of God. Give Jesus your sins--not just your neighbors''.

Eric S. Ritz, The Ritz Collection,www.Sermons.com

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Working for Christ’s Kingdom

The application to those of us who love Jesus Christ is clear. What He loved and desired, we should love and desire and work to complete. His work is to see lost men saved and built up. His work is to see this world redeemed. His work is to see this unfinished world be brought to completion. We who love Him are called to complete the task.

Hellen Keller once said, "The world is moved along not only by the mighty shove of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker." That's who we are and that's what we are called to do.

There was once a farmer who had two mules. One was named Willing and the other was named Able. However, Willing was willing but was not able. Able was able but was not willing. The farmer did not get much done.

Christ needs people who are willing and able. And the ironic thing is that when we subordinate our desires to His desire, when we enlist as privates in His army, when we serve as priests in His temple, which is the world, when we give ourselves in His service, it is then that we are lifted up. In losing ourselves we find ourselves. That is the nature of His kingdom.

King Duncan, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com

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Scratching God’s Hand

Fred Craddock tells about a family that was taking a lovely Sunday afternoon drive, when suddenly the children began shouting, “Stop the car! There’s a kitten by the road!”

The father kept on driving, but his children wouldn’t quiet down. He tried to reason with them. The kitten was probably someone’s pet. It might have a disease. The family already had too many pets.

It did no good. The children insisted that a loving father would stop the car for a stray cat. So finally the father drove back to the spot and reached for the scraggly kitten. The ungrateful little beast scratched him! Fighting an instinct to strangle the kitten, the father packed it into the car and took it home.

Once at home, the children created a bed for the kitten out of their softest blankets. They fed the kitten droppers full of milk. They petted and fussed over the kitten. Soon, the kitten was purring and rubbing on family members, especially the father, as if he were its best friend.

The father looked at the scars on his hand left by the frightened and ungrateful kitten. Then he looked at the comfortable, well-fed kitten rubbing against his leg. Had he suddenly become more worthy of love? No. His intentions toward the cat had always been to do it good, not harm. Something had happened to the kitten that made it feel secure, loved, accepted.

How often does God try to bless us? And how often do we respond by scratching God’s hand?

King Duncan, adapted from a sermon by Will Healy,www.Sermons.com

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Fallen and Trapped

In October 1987, l year old Jessica McClure of Midland, Texas fell down an abandoned well. She was found on a ledge 22 feet below the surface. There she was, crying for her mother, in the cold darkness of this well. Her plight captured the attention of the entire nation. The people of the town gathered to rescue her. Hour after hour for two and a half days they worked. Federal Express here in Memphis, you will recall, flew down a special drill bit to aid in the rescue. I very distinctly remember the hour that she was rescued, because it was on a Friday night and I was home watching TV when they broke in to show the dramatic pictures. Anyone who did not have a tear in their eye when that little child was pulled out is hopeless. Saved, thank God, she was saved.

Friends, each one of us are in the same condition morally and spiritually as that litt1e girl. We have fallen into the darkness of sin and there we are trapped. We cannot extradite ourselves, although the tragedy is that we think that we can. Someone must dig and dig until we are released from this darkness and despair. What we need is a Savior. That is what Jesus did for us on the cross. By his death he redeemed us from the consequences of sin. In Christ, God did for us what we would never have been able to do for ourselves.

Brett Blair and Staff, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com

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The Will to Embrace

Miroslav Volf is a theologian currently teaching at Yale University. He is Croatian by

birth and began his teaching career in his native country, the former Yugoslavia, while the wars raged around him. He is a theologian who believes deeply in the cross of the crucified Christ and believes that forgiveness from such a cross must in some way inform the way we live our lives.

At the beginning of his book about embracing the enemy [Exclusion and Embrace:

Abingdon, 1996] he recounts a story about giving one of his lectures that would become his book:

“After I finished my lecture, Jurgen Moltmann [a world-renowned professor of theology] stood up and asked one of his typical questions, both concrete and penetrating: ‘But can you embrace a cetnik?’ It was the winter of 1993. For months now the notorious Serbian fighters called ‘cetnik’ had been sowing desolation in my native country, herding people into concentration camps, raping women, burning down churches, and destroying cities. I had just argued that we ought to embrace our enemies as God has embraced us in Christ.

Can I embrace a cetnik—the ultimate other, so to speak, the evil other? What would justify such an embrace? Where would I draw the strength for it? What would it do to my identity as a human being and as a Croat? It took me a while to answer, though I immediately knew what I wanted to say. ‘No, I cannot—but as a follower of Christ I think I should be able to.’ ” [ p. 9.]

James R. Gorman, The Will to Embrace

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Possible Sermon Intro – The Year of Luke

Throughout the "Year of Luke" in our lectionary series we have heard Luke's favorite theme. The ready and generous grace of God is shown repeatedly. In recent Sundays we studied the story of the healing of 10 lepers, an act of God's love and grace. We have watched as Jesus, like the promised shepherd of Ezekiel, came searching for the lost and hiding Zacchaeus. We have overheard the prayers of the Pharisee and the Publican as they prayed in Jesus' parable, all the while being reminded of our need to trust God's grace. None of us can forget Jesus' words just before the beginning of today's lesson: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." The ever-present grace of God is one of Luke's gospel themes.

From the parables of the waiting father and the "good" Samaritan, and now from the story of the penitent thief on the cross, all of these reported only by Luke, we have heard forthrightly the good news of Jesus Christ. Gentile and Jew, sinner and saint, young and old, it makes no difference. The full blessings of forgiveness here and hereafter are available to all who repent. The love of God reaches out for all, even to those who would arrange the crucifixion and taunt its victim. "Father, forgive them...."

Theodore F. Schneider, Until the King Comes, CSS Publishing Company

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Christ the King

This is Christ the King Sunday. We have heard the whole story; we have all the information. So now—how do we recognize Jesus as King? We “independent, stand on our two feet, nobody tells us what to do, rugged individualist” Americans, how do we recognize Jesus as King?

In Luke’s story of the crucifixion nobody there seems to recognize Jesus as King. Luke has painted us into his story as well. He describes the people who do nothing except to stand there and watch. “And the people stood by, watching.” That’s us, isn’t it? Grinding poverty is slowly destroying our urban youth and we just stand by and watch, preferably from a distance, preferably from inside a gated community. Watching the world turn secular, we know that there is a spiritual side to life but it just can’t crack our tightly wound schedules. We think about a Bible study but just can’t tolerate the idea of one more thing to attend. We won’t even pull off the road to watch a sunset for fear that we will be late to the next appointment. In trying to do everything, we are doing nothing of lasting value for our souls. When a king passes by in your life, you don’t just stand and watch. You respond.

Bill McDonald, How Do You Recognize a King?

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Kingship in Our Lives

The letters to the editor in the Lexington-Herald are full these days of people defining what is required to be a true American patriot. If you don’t think inside their box, then you are a traitor and ought to be cast out of the country. This narrow-minded neo-orthodoxy that we now see promoted even by some Congressional and local leaders reminds me of exactly what we are fighting against in Afghanistan. If freedom doesn’t mean the ability to disagree, to be different, then what does it mean? If I am required to think like you, then who is free? Likewise when we set narrow limits for belief in Christ, we are trying to squeeze him into our mindsets. And that is no way to treat a King. We are supposed to broaden our minds and stretch our hearts to his limits. That’s how we recognize his kingship over our lives. Or else we are merely scoffers, daring Christ to prove us wrong.

Bill McDonald, How Do You Recognize a King?

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The Man in the Middle

Luke, the painter, sketches a scene for us that should be imprinted upon our hearts for eternity: Two men – ”evil doers” – only a few meters apart, and Jesus, the man in the middle. All three are suffering the most horrific torture that the decadent Roman Empire could concoct. Two men suffer for their sins; one man suffers for the sins of others. For one of these two men, death will be liberation from the agonies of this world; it will be the “way to life.” For the other, death will be a continuation of the torment he has chosen as his “way of living.”

Two men, meters apart, with Jesus in the middle, both men representative of the inner struggle that each of us must face. Which man am I choosing to become? One man mocks and condemns the faithful. He makes demands and all of his demands are self-centric. What is to keep me from becoming that man? One man acknowledges his sin and leaps to the defense of the beaten Jesus. He takes the mocking that is aimed at the vulnerable Jesus and says, “If you are to mock anyone, mock me, for I deserve this death.”

What can I do to help me become that man?

What can I do to become less self-centric, cynical, demanding and hateful? What can I do to become an advocate for the vulnerable, aware of my own selfishness and sin, absent of judgment and spite? Finally, what can I do to make sure that my last words ask for forgiveness and love and not be demanding words of spite and condemnation?

Two men, meters apart, with Jesus in the middle. One received salvation on that day; one continued in bitterness for eternity. And Jesus is still in the middle.

Jerry Goebel, Jesus: The Man in the Middle

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An Example of God’s People

It was about a year ago that a friend and I were in Arusha, Tanzania. We met this man, this new hero of my life; his name is Dr. Mark Jacobson, and his wife, Linda, and their two little children. Dr. Mark Jacobson, as I recall, was valedictorian of his class at Harvard, and then he went to the University of Minnesota Medical School where again he was the top student in his class. Again, he was the valedictorian and gave the valedictorian address. He is an incredibly brilliant man. Then he went to Arusha, Tanzania, there with immense suffering. He used his brains and resources to work in that area of the world. Each year, his hospital takes care of 35,000 patients, and they pay a dollar a person, or $35,000 income, paid by the patients and their families for their medical care. The patients feel good and self-respecting about paying their medical bills. Dr. Jacobson could have used his resources to escape suffering; he could have used his resources, brains and education to build a lucrative medical practice; but he didn’t. He used those resources in and around Arusha whose population has been decimated with AIDs. You could not have stopped him with a bulldozer or semi-truck. That’s the way love is; that’s the way God is; that’s the way God’s people are.

Edward F. Markquart, Save Us from Our Crosses

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When the Mood Shifts

When Jesus came to Galilee, he began his preaching with the message, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And the expectations of the people soared to heights not known since Solomon. They had been oppressed, depressed, distressed, and had been waiting for the day when from their midst a hero would arise to lay a left hook on the jaw of the hated Roman Empire, restore the glory of the dim and distant yesteryear, and make those good things happen that the prophets had foretold. The land should bloom again, poverty should be exchanged for prosperity, and swords should be beaten into plowshares.

So there were fishermen who dropped their nets and followed him. There were zealots who became excited at the prospect of the kingdom, a tax collector closed his booth and invested his stock in this new opportunity. People brought their sick to him, the pained, the paralytic, and the infirm, for as he preached the gospel of the kingdom, he healed them of their diseases, and cast out demons. His fame spread southward to Jerusalem and north to Syria. The skies were bright with promise.

We can understand the mood. We have heard the promise that prosperity is just around the corner. We have heard the bands strike up the tune, "Happy Days Are Here Again." We have been given the assurance of a great society, a generation of peace, and the great things that should happen because the torch was passed to a generation that places great value on "change." We scan the headlines, watching for the breakthrough that might promise cures for our diseases, aches, and pains, or much-needed reform of the broken healthcare system. We cheer the tax reform that promises more disposable income. As someone once or twice was known to say, "Progress is our most important product," and we are on the move.

But as our expectations soar, disappointment deepens. Visions of the Kingdom evaporate. Ideals dampen to realities. The mood of the Emmaus disciples takes hold again. "We had hoped ..."

Alton F. Wedel, We Have His Promise, CSS Publishing Company

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Forgiveness: Erasing All Incriminating Evidence

Evangelist Tony Campolo says that in his teenage years he was terrified by a visiting pastor's depiction of Judgment Day. This pastor claimed that one day God would show us a movie of every single sinful thought, word, or action we ever committed. And he ended his lurid description with the announcement, "And your mother will be there!"

But Tony claims that Judgment Day will more closely mirror what happened during the trials over the Watergate scandal. The prosecutor brought in a tape of a conversation between Nixon and his aides. Just at the most crucial part of the tape, the section that revealed their crimes, there was an eighteen minute gap of silence. Nixon's faithful secretary, Rosemary Wood, had erased the incriminating evidence! In the same way, Campolo says, Jesus will erase all the incriminating evidence against us.

King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com

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The King of Ifs

Touchstone, a clown, in Shakespeare's As You Like It, jests about the art of dueling and the book of instructions that deals with it, by commenting that when he and his opponent got so far, instead of lurching at one another with their rapiers, they simply "measured swords and parted." He then proceeded to tell his friend that he could avoid all the problems of parrying and thrusting "with an if," for there was no need for quarrel or battle "with an If."

"Your If is the only peacemaker; much virtue in If," says the clown. (Act 5, Scene 4)

It's not such a funny argument, for it is no joke that Jesus is the King of Ifs. Placed in His hands, "if" becomes an adventure rather than an adversity. He becomes our Advocate rather than our adversary.

Richard Andersen, The King of Ifs

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Sermon Opener – The Prayer of a Thief

Not everybody who takes up a life of crime is all that smart. Sometimes movies or television glorify criminals. They make them appear sophisticated, even cool. Most criminals do not fall in that category.

Like the guy who walked into a little corner store in England with a shotgun and demanded all the cash from the cash drawer. After the cashier put the cash in a bag, the robber saw a bottle of scotch that he wanted behind the counter on the shelf. He told the cashier to put it in the bag as well, but the cashier refused and said, “I don’t believe you are over 21.”

The robber said he was, but the clerk still refused to give it to him because he didn’t believe him. At this point the robber took his driver’s license out of his wallet and gave it to the clerk. The clerk looked it over, and agreed that the man was in fact over 21 and he put the scotch in the bag. The robber then ran from the store with his loot. The cashier promptly called the police and gave the name and address of the robber that he got off the license. They arrested the robber two hours later. Not the brightest tool in the box.

Charles Cortez, a sheriff’s deputy from Los Angeles tells about investigating a late-night break-in at a local factory. Someone had broken a window in the factory, stolen a large industrial sewing machine, and gone out the front door with it. But in their haste, the burglars must not have noticed that one end of the industrial thread had caught on a splintered area of floor. Officer Cortez began following the string as it wound out of the factory, down the street, and into a nearby neighborhood. Eventually, the length of string led him straight to the front door of the band of thieves. The three men were arrested without incident, and the sewing machine was returned to its rightful owner. I believe those burglars need to find another profession.

Michael E. Hodgin tells of pair of robbers who entered a record shop nervously waving revolvers. The first one shouted, “Nobody move!” When his partner moved, the first bandit was startled and shot him.

Of course, some criminals are smarter than others. Jesus hung on a cross between two thieves, according to Matthew and Mark. Luke doesn’t specify their crimes. He simply calls them criminals. According to Luke one of the thieves joined in the mob that was mocking Jesus. He hurled insults at the Master. One of those insults particularly stung: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

But the other thief had a better grasp of what was happening there. He rebuked his colleague in crime. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he turned to the Master and said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” What a remarkable statement of faith.

King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com

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The Call to Confession

My goal today isn’t to make you feel guilty. Some pastors do that. They flog their congregations with guilt and then present the Gospel as a form of catharsis. It’s like the story of a Roman Catholic priest who had been at his church for years and was beloved by his parishioners except for what most of them considered one failing. He was a great believer in the sacrament of confession, and he never passed up an opportunity to remind his flock of that fact. No matter what Sunday it was, Christmas, Easter or any Sunday in between the good father would somehow weave something into his sermon about the necessity of his people being present in the confessional booth on Saturday afternoon.

Finally, they got so tired of hearing this that a delegation was sent to the rectory. There was the usual exchange of pleasantries, then the delegation’s spokesman explained to the priest that they, too, believed that confession was an essential part of the Christian life, but that perhaps he, as their pastor, might also want to give consideration to other topics about which to preach.

The priest admitted that maybe he’d laid it on a little thick, and he vowed to change. The next Sunday, the parish celebrated the annual festival of its patron saint, Saint Joseph. It was a big event, and the theme of the Sunday mass was to be fatherhood, as Joseph was the father of Jesus. The priest prepared what he thought was a particularly good sermon on the subject. But when he went up into the pulpit, and surveyed the packed house, something came over him. He set his homily aside and instead he began like this, “Today is the Feast of our blessed Saint Joseph. St. Joseph, as you know, was a carpenter, and during his holy life, he doubtless built a few confessional booths, which reminds me . . .”

My goal is not to make you feel guilty, but as your pastor and your friend, is there some wrongdoing in your past that you’ve never been honest about with yourself or with God? Many people never really acknowledge that they have done wrong, so they never really feel the forgiveness of God in their hearts.

King Duncan, adapting Douglas Warren Drown, www.Sermons.com

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THANKSGIVING ILLUSTRATIONS
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Sermon Opener - In All Things Be Thankful - Ephesians 5:20

Back during the dark days of 1929, a group of ministers in the Northeast, all graduates of the Boston School of Theology, gathered to discuss how they should conduct their Thanksgiving Sunday services. Things were about as bad as they could get, with no sign of relief. The bread lines were depressingly long, the stock market had plummeted, and the term Great Depression seemed an apt description for the mood of the country. The ministers thought they should only lightly touch upon the subject Thanksgiving in deference to the human misery all about them. After all, there was to be thankful for. But it was Dr. William L. Stiger, pastor of a large congregation in the city that rallied the group. This was not the time, he suggested, to give mere passing mention to Thanksgiving, just the opposite. This was the time for the nation to get matters in perspective and thank God for blessings always present, but perhaps suppressed due to intense hardship.

I suggest to you the ministers struck upon something. The most intense moments of thankfulness are not found in times of plenty, but when difficulties abound. Think of the Pilgrims that first Thanksgiving. Half their number dead, men without a country, but still there was thanksgiving to God. Their gratitude was not for something but in something. It was that same sense of gratitude that lead Abraham Lincoln to formally establish the first Thanksgiving Day in the midst of national civil war, when the butcher’s list of casualties seemed to have no end and the very nation struggled for survival.

Perhaps in your own life, right now, intense hardship. You are experiencing your own personal Great Depression. Why should you be thankful this day? May I suggest three things?

1. We must learn to be thankful or we become bitter.
2. We must learn to be thankful or we will become discouraged.
3. We must learn to be thankful or we will grow arrogant and self-satisfied.

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How to Be a Pilgrim

The Pilgrims had the courage to act on their commitments, no matter what. Do we?

Sociologist Robert Bellah, author of Habits of the Heart, is impressed by the power of religion. He once said, "We should not underestimate the significance of the small group of people who have a new vision of a just and gentle world. The quality of a culture may be changed when two percent of its people have a new vision (and act on it)."

Christians make up far more than two percent of our town, far more than two percent of Massachusetts, far more than two percent of Americans. So, why don’t we have a greater effect: on issues of the environment, on justice for the needy, on the quality of life on Cape Cod? Could it be we need more courage to act on our commitments? To be a Pilgrim means to stand up for what you believe, no matter what.

To be a Pilgrim also means sharing what you have, and turning thanks into giving. The Pilgrim colonists willingly shared all they had. During their first three years, all property was held in common. At one point, they were down to five kernels of corn per day for food. Still, they divided the corn kernels up equally. And, the original group of fifty that survived the first winter shared their limited food with the sixty newcomers who arrived in the spring.

One of their finest moments came in 1623, at the first real Thanksgiving. The small colony hosted over ninety Native American braves for three days. There was eating and drinking, wrestling, footraces, and gun and arrow-shooting competitions. It was the Pilgrims’ way of saying "Thank you" to God, and to the Native Americans who had helped them survive. To be a Pilgrim means sharing and turning thanks into giving. How thankful and giving are we?

Alex A. Gondola, Jr., Holidays Are Holy Days: Sermons for Special Sundays, CSS Publishing Company

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With Heart and Hand and Voices

Martin Rinkert was a minister in the little town of Eilenburg in Germany some 350 years ago. He was the son of a poor coppersmith, but somehow, he managed to work his way through an education. Finally, in the year 1617, he was offered the post of Archdeacon in his hometown parish. A year later, what has come to be known as the Thirty-Years-War broke out. His town was caught right in the middle. In 1637, the massive plague that swept across the continent hit Eilenburg... people died at the rate of fifty a day and the man called upon to bury most of them was Martin Rinkert. In all, over 8,000 people died, including Martin's own wife. His labors finally came to an end about 11 years later, just one year after the conclusion of the war. His ministry spanned 32 years, all but the first and the last overwhelmed by the great conflict that engulfed his town. Tough circumstances in which to be thankful. But he managed. And he wrote these words:

Now thank we all our God
With heart and hands and voices;
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom his world rejoices.

It takes a magnificent spirit to come through such hardship and express gratitude. Here is a great lesson. Surrounded by tremendous adversity, thanksgiving will deliver you...with heart and hand and voices.

Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com

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For That I Am Especially Thankful

During a harvest festival in India, an old widow arrived at her church with an extraordinarily large offering of rice - far more than the poor woman could be expected to afford. The itinerant pastor of the church did not know the widow well. But he did know that she was very poor and so he asked her if she were making the offering in gratitude for some unusual blessing. "Yes," replied the woman. "My son was sick and I promised a large gift to God if he got well." "And your son has recovered?" asked the pastor. The widow paused. "No," she said. "He died last week. But I know that he is in God's care; for that I am especially thankful."

Traditional

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Talking Turkey - Humor

This morning we want to talk about food. That's a relevant subject for most of us.

The two biggest sellers in any bookstore, according to Andy Rooney, are the cookbooks and the diet books. The cookbooks tell you how to prepare the food and the diet books tell you how not to eat any of it.

Orson Welles once said, "My doctor has advised me to give up those intimate little dinners for four, unless, of course, there are three other people eating with me."

Champion archer Rick McKinney confesses that he regularly eats chocolate chip cookies for breakfast. He refers to "the basic four food groups" as a Big Mac, fries, a shake and a lemon tart. A California scientist has computed that the average human being eats 16 times his or her own weight in an average year, while a horse eats only eight times its weight. This all seems to prove that if you want to lose weight, you should eat like a horse.

A young fellow watched as his dad finished a heavy meal and then loosened his belt. "Look, Mom," he said. "Pop's just moved his decimal point over two places."

King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com

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The Gratitude Attitude

In A Second Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul, Rev. John R. Ramsey tells how in one church a certain person provided him with a rose boutonniere for the lapel of his suit every Sunday. At first he really appreciated it but then it sort of became routine. Then one Sunday it became very special.

As he was leaving the Sunday Service a young boy walked up to him and said, "Sir, what are you going to do with your flower?" At first the preacher didn't know what the boy was talking about. When it sank in, he pointed to the rose on his lapel and asked the boy, "Do you mean this?"

The boy said, "Yes, sir. If you're just going to throw it away, I would like it."

The preacher smiled and told him he could have the flower and then casually asked what he was going to do with it. The boy, who was probably no more than 10 years old, looked up at the preacher and said, "Sir, I'm going to give it to my granny. My mother and father divorced last year. I was living with my mother, but she married again, and wanted me to live with my father. I lived with him for a while, but he said I couldn't stay, so he sent me to live with my grandmother. She is so good to me. She cooks for me and takes care of me. She has been so good to me that I wanted to give her that pretty flower for loving me."

When the little boy finished, the preacher could hardly speak. His eyes filled with tears and he knew he had been touched by God. He reached up and unpinned the rose. With the flower in his hand, he looked at the boy and said, "Son, that is the nicest thing that I've ever heard but you can't have this flower because it's not enough. If you'll look in front of the pulpit, you'll see a big bouquet of flowers. Different families buy them for the Church each week. Please take those flowers to your granny because she deserves the very best."

Then the boy made one last statement which Rev. Ramsey said he will always treasure. The boy said, "What a wonderful day! I asked for one flower but got a beautiful bouquet."

That's the thankful spirit. That's the gratitude attitude. And it's that attitude that should guide our giving and our lives. Like that boy's granny, God has blessed us so much. God has been so good to us that giving shouldn't even be a question. It should just flow from us naturally.

John R. Ramsey, Second Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Adapted by Billy D. Strayhorn, “The Gratitude Attitude"

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Better Not Bitter

If we are not thankful then we can become bitter. If we are not thankful, then it becomes too easy to sit around and ponder the question: why me?

Dr. Jim Moore, retired pastor of St. Luke’s UMC in Houston wrote a book entitled "You Can Grow Bitter or You Can Grow Better". He writes that he got the idea for the title from a young woman who once came to him in a most tragic moment in her life. She had tears in her eyes and her knuckles were white as she twisted a handkerchief. She had just received word that her twenty-six year old husband had been killed in a farming accident, leaving her alone with three pre-school age children. One moment he was alive and vibrant, the next moment gone. "I don't know how I am going to be able to get along without him," she sobbed. "But I do know one thing. I can either get bitter or I can get better."

One way that we can get better rather than bitter is to develop a thankful heart. We must learn to be grateful to the Lord with whom we shall spend eternity. Our morning prayer should always begin: O Thou who has given me so much, I pray that you give me yet one more thing--a grateful heart.

Staff, www.eSermons.com

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God’s Provision

The words "harvest" and "thanksgiving" are linked together in many cultures. Most who till the soil know that our feeble human efforts do not produce crops; crops require sun and rain and other variables that are beyond our control. The early settlers and the indigenous people they found here also recognized the importance of God's provision for survival. Hundreds of years later, a commemorative meal serves as a reminder for us to thank God for those things necessary for our survival.

Safiyah Fosua

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Let Us Show Thanks in Our Example

An international gathering of youth met for a full week to discuss how better to promulgate Christ's message to the world. Those assembled for the conference read many informative essays, heard many fine speakers, watched a few videos, and had ample time to discuss with each other. As the conference was beginning to break up and the those attending were packing to leave, a young woman from East Africa arose and said, "In my country when we hear that a pagan village is ready to accept the Gospel we don't send books, videos, a Bible or even an evangelist. Rather we send the best Christian family we can find because we have found that the example of a good family speaks louder and more clearly than all the books, speeches, and videos in the world."

The truly important things in life are generally the intangibles, like the way we present ourselves to others. The one that is often forgotten and undoubtedly the most important is our faith. It is only through faith that we come together as a community to give thanks to God this day. It is our faith in peoples, institutions, and ideas which allows our society to progress. As we gather around the dining room table and celebrate with family, friends, and loved ones, sharing the produce of the land, let us be mindful of the great gifts God has given us.

Richard E. Gribble, CSC, Sundays after Pentecost: Conversion to Christ, CSS Publishing Company

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Have You Taken Inventory Lately?

The renown teacher and author Dr. David McLennon tells a story of his very first job in a small town general store. This was the day before mails and supermarket chains at least it was in his community. At age thirteen he was hired as a handy boy. He would sweep the flour, bag items for customers, put up stock. On one particular Saturday, he recalled., he heard the owner say to one of the clerks "It’s that time of the year again, it’s time to take inventory." Dr. McLennon Wrote that this was a word that had not yet entered into his vocabulary. When an opportune moment arrived, he went up to the kindly older man and asked, Sir, what is an inventory? Patiently the owner explained that it was a time when you made a list of everything that you had--from groceries on the shelves to wrapping paper and string. Still somewhat puzzled, the young McLennon then asked, Why?

"Well, responded the owner, its easy to forget exactly how much you have each year. Every now and then you have to take an inventory just to see what all you have."

That little story, to me, pretty well sums up what Thanksgiving is all about. It is a time when each of us needs to ask ourselves the question: Have I taken inventory of my life lately? Have I made an effort to count all the things that I do have in life instead of complaining about the things that I don’t have. It is a good exercise especially when we are of a mind to brood or whine in self pity. Have you taken inventory lately?

What I am suggesting here is not some shallow "count your blessings" platitude. But from time to time, in a genuine kind of a way, we need to sit down and do some talking to ourselves about all of the gifts and opportunities and challenges that God has given each one of us. Perhaps there is a deep underlying wisdom in the children's poem that says: "Count your blessings one by one, and you might be surprised what the Lord has done."

Staff, www.eSermons.com

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The Source of Thanksgiving

I will remind you of that wonderful Children's holiday classic "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." It was released a few years ago as a movie staring Jim Carrey. You'll recall in the story how the Grinch enters all the homes by way of their chimneys disguised as Santa Clause. He takes all the presents and ornaments, the trees and stockings, and even their food down to the last morsel. He drags his loot up to his mountain and then looks down upon Whoville with a sinister grin. He is listening for the cries and wailings of the people to start as they wake up on Christmas morning to discover a Christmas lost. What he hears instead surprises him. Up from the town of the Whos comes a joyful Christmas carol. They are singing. "Why?" he asks. It is because, he learns, Christmas resides not in things but in the heart which is thankful. He could not steal their gratitude.

Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com

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Thankful In All Things

Our forefathers were not so much thankful for something as they were thankful in something. In bounty or in want they were thankful. In feast or in famine they were thankful. In joy or in misery they were thankful. There is a big difference between being thankful for things and being thankful in all things.

Our closing hymn this morning was carefully selected. It was written in 1607 by a German by the name of Martin Reinkardht. The name of the hymn is "Now Thank We All Our God." In the year that Rinkardht wrote that hymn it is interesting to note that over 6000 persons in his German village, including his wife and his children, died of pestilence. Yet, in the midst of that catastrophic social and personal loss Reinkardht set down to pen this great hymn of praise: Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and voices.' The Christian faith affirms that in the midst of everything--in death, in loss, in hardship--we are to turn to God in praise.

Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com

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Taking Our Blessings for Granted

A story is told of Abraham Lincoln. One day the President summoned to the White House a surgeon in the Army of the Cumberland from the state of Ohio. The major assumed that he was to be commended for some exceptional work. During the conversation Mr. Lincoln asked the major about his widowed mother. She is doing fine, he responded. How do you know asked Lincoln. You haven't written her. But she has written me. She thinks that you are dead and she is asking that a special effort be made to return your body. A that the Commander and Chief placed a pen in the young doctor's hand and ordered him to write a letter letting his mother know that he was alive and well.

Oh, the blessings that we take for granted. Oh, the wretchedness of ingratitude. It was Shakespeare who worded it more appropriately than ever we could. He wrote: Blow blow thou winter wind. Thou art not so unkind as man's ingratitude.

Staff, www.eSermons.com

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Thanksgiving

I recall, as a little barefoot boy with a cowlick of snow-white hair on my forehead, standing erect in my classroom and repeating the "Pledge of Allegiance" one Thanksgiving season. Our nation was at war and times were hard. My teacher had lost her husband on the blood washed shores of Normandy. As we later bowed our heads for prayer she wept aloud. I did too. All the class joined in. She stumbled through one of the most moving expressions of gratitude and praise that ever emerged from a soul plunged in pain. At that time in my young life, I fell strangely in love with Thanksgiving. Lost in sympathy and a boy's pity for his teacher, I walked home very slowly that afternoon. Although only a child, I had profound feelings of gratitude for my country . . . my friends . . . my school . . . my church . . . my family. I swore before God that I would fight to the end to keep this land free from foes who would want to take away America's distinctives and the joys of living in this good land. I have never forgotten my childhood promise. I never shall.

Charles R. Swindoll, Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, p. 424.

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The Real Meaning of Life

Perhaps in the end it is the poet who comes closer to the real meaning of life than any of us could. Wrote poet Courtland Sayers:

5,000 breathless dawns all new; 5,000 flowers fresh in dew.

5,000 sunsets wrapped in gold; 1 million snowflakes served ice cold.

5 quiet friends, 1 baby's love; 1 white sea with clouds above.

1 June night in a fragrant wood, 1 heart that loved and understood.

I wondered when I waked that day--in God's name--how could I ever pay.

Staff, www.eSermons.com

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God in the Ordinary

Once upon a time, there was a far-away land that was ruled by a vicious king. His iron hand reached into every corner of his subjects' lives. Every corner - except one. Try as he might, he couldn't destroy their belief in God.

In his frustration, he finally summoned his advisors and asked them: "Where can I hide God so the people will end up forgetting about him?"

One suggested hiding God on the dark side of the moon. This idea was debated, but was voted down because the advisors feared that their scientists would one day discover a way to travel into space travel and God would be discovered again.

Another suggested burying God in the deepest part of the ocean. But there was the same problem with this idea, so it was voted down.

One idea after another was suggested and debated and rejected. Until finally the oldest and wisest advisor had a flash of insight. "I know," he said, "why don't we hide God where no one will ever even think to look?" And he explained, "If we hide God in the ordinary events of people's everyday lives, they'll never find him!"

And so it was done. And they say people in that land are still looking for God - even today.

Traditional, www.eSermons.com.

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First National Thanksgiving Proclamation

Whereas, it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; Whereas, both the houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me

"to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness!"

Now therefore, I do recommend next, to be devoted by the people of the states to the service of that great and glorious being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be, that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country.

George Washington, 1779.

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Here are two 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamations which are said to be by Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1863

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore.

Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American People.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

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.

A. Lincoln, October 3, 1863.

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No. 2

Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1863

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.

We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choisest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father Who dwelleth in the heavens.

A. Lincoln, October 3, 1863.

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Manna from Heaven

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale once met a Dutch gentleman who told him a story of God’s great providence during a time of suffering. He was just a child when World War II wreaked havoc on his country of Holland. Food was scarce, and the people of his town were in danger of starving. They were so hungry that they dug up tulip bulbs for food.

The pastor of the local church announced a prayer meeting to call upon God for help. For more than an hour, the people prayed fervently for food. As they prayed, the young boy felt the presence of God in the room, and he knew that God was answering their prayers.

The next morning, food aid flights came roaring over the town, dropping packages full of food. Like manna from heaven, the packages of food saved a starving people and renewed their faith in God’s love and providence.

Norman Vincent Peale, In God We Trust, pp. 35-37.

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Mr. Thanksgiving

A few years ago, Bob Vogelbaugh of Moline, Illinois, noticed that many of the customers at his grocery store made no special plans for Thanksgiving. Some of them were single and had no family with which to celebrate the holidays. Some were elderly and didn’t want to travel far for the family gatherings. Vogelbaugh invited a couple dozen of his customers to his store on Thanksgiving day, where he prepared a feast for them. The community Thanksgiving gathering was such a hit that Vogelbaugh made it a yearly tradition. These days, he provides a free Thanksgiving banquet to more than 2,000 residents of Moline.

Ashley Johnson, “Mr. Thanksgiving”, Guideposts, November 2004, pp. 80-81.

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Too Much Turkey

In 1953, the Swanson food company found themselves with too much turkey on their hands after disappointing Thanksgiving sales. One innovative employee came up with the idea of packaging individual servings of turkey and vegetables in an oven-safe aluminum tray. Thus was born the first TV dinner.

Reader’s Digest, June 2003, p. 26.

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The attitude of gratitude is important for several reasons:

Thankfulness acknowledges that God is our provider.

Thankfulness prevents a complaining spirit.

Thankfulness creates a positive outlook on life

Thankfulness invites joy to dwell in our hearts.

Kent Crockett, Making Today Count for Eternity, pp. 161.

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Humor: We're Getting a Divorce

An elderly man in Phoenix calls his son in New York and says, "I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; 45 years of misery is enough."

"Pop, what are you talking about?" the son screams.

"We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the old man says. "We're sick of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her." Then he hangs up.

Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. "Like heck they're getting divorced," she shouts, "I'll take care of this." She calls Phoenix immediately, and screams at the old man, "You are NOT getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back, and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?"

The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. "Okay," he says, "They're coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own fares."

Traditional

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Baby Bruno was sitting in his grandmother’s kitchen, watching her prepare the Thanksgiving meal.

“What are you doing?” Bruno asked.

“Oh, I’m just stuffing the turkey,” his grandmother replied.

“That’s cool!” Bruno said. “Are you going to hang it next to the deer?”

Kitty’s Daily Mews, http://www.katscratch.com/

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Thanksgiving Sermon Opener

This morning I would like to hold up for you three different scenes. The strange thing about these scenarios is that when you first hear them you will be hard pressed to understand why I selected these stories to exemplify Thanksgiving. On the surface they will seem to be the antithesis of Thanksgiving. Yet, I am convinced that at the heart of these stories is the real Biblical understanding of what it means to be thankful.

The first scene comes from the Old Testament. It is the familiar story of Job. Job has come to represent for us the epitome of suffering. Near the end of the story we see that all of his children have been killed in an accident; he is facing financial ruin; he has been stricken with illness. In fact, it seems that if any person is justified in saying: Let's just skip Thanksgiving this year it would be Job. Yet, in the midst of all of this immeasurable suffering the voice of God comes to Job and says to him a very interesting statement. We read it in the 37th chapter the 14th verse. God says to Job: "Hear this O Job. Stop and consider the wondrous works of God." From all outward circumstances it seems as though Job has nothing at all to be thankful for yet here is God coming to him in the midst of it all and saying in effect, Job, it's time to count your blessings.

Let's leave that story for a moment and take a look at a second. This one comes from the New Testament, the book of Ephesians. The Apostle Paul now finds himself squarely in the midst of a dingy Roman prison and facing serious charges. Things seem very bad indeed for Paul. But this is only one of a series of mishaps that has occurred during his stormy ministry. He has been shipwrecked, beaten nearly to death, imprisoned, and even many of his fellow Christians are now openly opposing him. Now he faces what surely seems to be a death sentence. In the midst of this situation Paul writes the Christians in Ephesus. Listen to what he has to say, "Thanks be to God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every blessing." Strange words from a man facing execution. Like Job, we are forced to ask the question What has he to be thankful for?

Staff, www.eSermons.com

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Tell Me about God

There's that wonderful story about the little boy who couldn't wait for his new baby sister to come home from the hospital. Couldn't wait to be near her, to talk to her. But his parents didn't want him to be left alone with her; he was only four, they wanted to supervise his visits. He kept begging to be alone with her so one night his parents finally relented. The boy tiptoed into her room and next to his sister's crib and said: "Tell me about God - I'm starting to forget."

We need to gather together around this table every once in awhile to tell each other about God; to remember just how much God loves us. To tell the story of how God reached out to us, came to us in Jesus Christ to show us a new way of living. We need to break the bread and pour the cup to remember that Jesus died so that we might know forgiveness of all our sins and be reconciled with God. And we need to take this bread and drink this cup to remember that Christ is present with us now.

Linda B. Hirst, Do We Need Communion?

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Thankfulness Can Be a Matter of Perspective

How many of us have been jostled and crammed into a tiny airplane seat recently, only to lament delays caused by weather, extra fees demanded by the airlines for overweight bags, or the tiny bag of pretzels that have replaced meals on so many flights? It seems like the collective mood on airplanes is pretty grumpy these days.

But imagine what our ancestors just a few generations ago would have said if we could tell them about our ability to fly from city to city with such ease and frequency? Imagine trying to explain to a settler moving his family across the continent by wagon train that the trip could be done in a number of hours instead of months. Now think of the many citizens of this world who cannot afforda luxury such as flight, who may not be able to freely visit family or do business across such vast distances.

Now think about the first time you looked out the window and saw the country sprawling out below you. Maybe it was nighttime and all the lights of the cities and towns were twinkling. Maybe it was daytime and you could see the hedgerows, highways, and the rivers delineating the landscape. Didn’t you feel a sense of wonder? Don’t you remember thinking, “Wow! That is unbelievable!”?

Along the way, many of us have lost the wonder of things like flying. We should try to keep things in perspective and remain thankful for the amazing things that we enjoy every day in our unbelievable present.

Staff, www.eSermons.com

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Try Christianity

The famous American editor, Horace Greeley, told of receiving a letter from a woman who wrote: "Our church is in dire financial straits. We've tried everything to keep it going: a strawberry festival, an oyster supper, a donkey party, a turkey dinner, and, finally, a box social. Will you please tells us, Dr. Greeley, how to keep a struggling church from disbanding?" Dr. Greeley wrote back to her a message in two words: Try Christianity!

What did he mean by that? Look at it in this way. The ancient world failed to help men and women meet the problem of life, because, although their wise men could teach, they could not supply the power to put it into practice. The Old Testament prophets could explain the Law of Moses, but were unable to provide the power needed to fulfill it. Then, into the midst of the ages, came this man Jesus and, before the wondering eyes of men and women, he declared, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." These people saw truth coming alive in his amazing personality; and, when his enemies finally killed him, his great spirit was liberated to be wherever needy souls cried out for him. In all the ages since, for all those who have received him as the bread of life by committing their lives to him, he has brought power over their every weakness, victory over every failure, and conduct and character that have made the world a better place in which to live.

Donald MacLeod, Know the Way, Keep the Truth, Win the Life, CSS Publishing Company