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INJ
Psalm 136:1
'Thanksgiving and ...'
Divine Service
Thanksgiving Eve | November 20, 2007
Dear Saints,
What goes with Thanksgiving? For you, what is it? Thanksgiving and ... you fill in the blank. Is it Thanksgiving and Turkey? Thanksgiving and family? Thanksgiving and football?
What was it originally? Thanksgiving, after all, is not a holiday that began in the church, it is a national day of Thanksgiving, given to us by the government of the United States. It began with the pilgrims, but has continually been made official by various Congressional and Presidential proclamations. I have the Proclamation of Thanksgiving from George Washington, October 3, 1789, and it reads in part that there is to be a day set apart for “Thanksgiving and Prayer.” Now that's good, thanksgiving and prayer.
This is good because it reminds us who we are giving thanks to, and what we are giving thanks for. To give thanks you have to know there two things: who you are thanking and what you are thanking them for. When we consider that this is a day of Thanksgiving and Prayer we are set on the right path of remembering these two things, and our verse for this is Psalm 136:1: “O give thanks unto the LORD for He is good, and His mercy endures forever.”
Who do we give thanks to? The Lord our God. And what to we give thanks for? His mercy, which endures forever.
To Whom?
First, then, we consider who we give thanks to. Imagine you receive a package in the mail, a box wrapped with gift paper, and inside is a wonderful present, but there is no card, no return address. You want to say thank you for the gift, but you can't because you don't know who sent you the gift. You can't give thanks if you don't know who the gifts came from.
This is a little part of Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation when our first president reminded us that this is a day of Thanksgiving and Prayer. Not that Thanksgiving is officially a Christian holiday. Washington never mentions prayer to the Holy Trinity, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. In fact, in his proclamation he calls God “Almighty God, the great and glorious Being, beneficent Author of all that is good, and the great Lord and Ruler of nations.”
But we know even more, we know the name of God, that every good thing comes from God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. [James 1:17]
We know who gives every good thing, Who we give thanks to: God the Father and Son and Holy Spirit. “O give thanks unto the LORD, for He is good, and His mercy endures forever.” [Psalm 136:1]
For What?
And we know more, we know what we are giving thanks for.
Imagine walking up to a stranger and, out of the blue, saying, “Thank You.” You know what they would say (if they would talk to you at all), “For what?” “Thanks for what?” It's not enough to know who we give thanks to, we also need to know what we give thanks for.
This also is taught in our text, Psalm 136: “O give thanks unto the LORD, for He is good, and His mercy endures forever.” We give thanks to God because He has shown us mercy.
“Mercy” is God's undeserved favor, the gift of His kindness and love when He should give us anger and wrath. God's mercy is best seen in the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus. In this suffering the love of God for this world is seen in it's fullness.
Consider the words of St Paul:
He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? [Romans 8:32]
What a fantastic verse: the Father gave His Son, gave Him unto death, unto sin, unto God's wrath, that we might have forgiveness and life and salvation. And because God has not withheld that which is most dear, we know that He will also give us, as the text says, “all things.” Can you imagine that? Here God promises to give us all things.
“So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future--all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.” [1 Corinthians 3:21-23]
This verse is stunning, it almost knocks us over with the generosity. The Lord gives us His Son, dead and risen and ascended, and with our Lord Jesus He gives us all things: His name, His Word which gives us life, His kingdom and His Holy Spirit. He gives us all the needs of this body and life, food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like. He gives us forgiveness and life and salvation, and the sure promise of the resurrection to life eternal. And the Lord gives us Himself and His Holy Spirit as our constant companion. He never leaves us or forsakes us but is with us and guards and protects us from temptation and all evil.
And this is just the beginning, a start, of the infinite benefits of the Lord would fill all the books of the world. All these gifts that flow freely from the fountain and source of the Lord's love for us, the cross of our Lord Jesus.
We know that none of this is deserved. We poor miserable sinners have deserved none of the gifts the Lord gives, all this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. He gives us all freely, and for this we say, “Thank you.”
Such is our Thanksgiving, it is a prayer to the Holy Trinity for the gift of Jesus, our Lord and our Life and our Salvation, and for every good gift that comes to us from our heavenly Father.
“O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy endures forever.” Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard our hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO