"I am thankful," says an unknown author, "for the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours, because it means that I am alive . . ." Then he adds, "And for the person behind me in church who sings off-key because it means that I can hear." (1) There is somebody who knows how to be thankful.

This Thursday is Thanksgiving Day. It is a day when we will celebrate our bounty as a nation, and we will express our thanks to the One who is the source of all that we have. Maybe we will even give some thought to those who are not as blessed as we. For truly, we are some of the most fortunate people on this planet. Our text for the day calls us to pause at our well-filled tables and reflect on those less fortunate--or else we will have a serious problem with our credibility as followers of Jesus…