SERMON Thanksgiving Eve 2016 by the Rev. Kathleen M. Sturges

We gather together on this eve of Thanksgiving to intentionally give praise and thanks to God - for the gifts of the earth that sustain us and the love that upholds us. Tomorrow the American tradition is to gather with family and friends in order to eat our hearts out. And not only to feast, but to enjoy the experience in the loving company of family and dear friends. This cultural expectation, for me at least, is captured in the Norman Rockwell painting, “Freedom from Want.” The mother figure is at the center placing a huge, perfectly roasted turkey on the table. Everyone is smiling and full of joy - there are no family dynamics here, no annoying comments to be heard. Father stands behind Mother ready to lead everyone in the blessing and do the honors of carving the turkey.

I do pray that everyone here over all your years does experience at least one Thanksgiving that matches this fantasy. But most times real life interferes. No matter it’s Thanksgiving or Christmas or New Year’s Day or any special day, real life always creeps in with joys and sorrows, successes and failures, healthy and broken relationships. The American expectation, the Thanksgiving fantasy is just that - fantasy.

We probably all know in our heads, at least, that we are called to give thanks no matter the circumstance, but the fantasy still holds onto our hearts. You’re probably aware of the real American origins of Thanksgiving. President Abraham Lincoln declared the third Thursday in November to be a day for the country to give thanks and praise to our benevolent God. It was 1863 and the nation was at war with itself. Everyone knew death personally. Everyone suffered. Everyone knew scarcity. Yet in the midst of all of that, President Lincoln called the people to give thanks. And along with thanks came a call to confession and repentance for the sins of the nation, prayers for the countless widows and orphans, mourners and sufferers. And finally a request to ask God to heal our nation and to knit it back together in peace and harmony.

The American Thanksgiving had nothing to do with parades or football games or shopping sprees. It was not born out of a time of abundance, but a time of suffering. To give thanks in such times is a radical response of faith in the face of the darkness in this world. It seems that when we are stipped of the many things we think we can depend on that it is then that we are able to clearly see that which is truly is dependable. The one who deserves our thanks and praise.

Our final hymn this evening may be known to you, “Now Thank We All Our God.” It was written in the mid-1600’s by a German, Lutheran Pastor named Martin Rinkhart. He lived in a walled city called Eilenburg and during the Thirty Years’ War people from the countryside fled to Eilenburg seeking protection from its walls. However, the more the war raged the more people who came to the point that overcrowding fueled diseased and death. Thousands died in one year. All clergy in the city died except for Pastor Martin who was left to shoulder the task of conducting burial after burial - including one for his own wife - sometimes 50 burials in one day.

It was in the midst of this unimaginable grief and loss Pastor Martin penned the words:
Now thank we all our God with hearts and hands and voices.
Who wonderous things hath done, in whom the world rejoices.
Who from our mother’s arms hath led us on our way
with countless gifts of love and still is ours today.

It is a mistake for us to think of Thanksgiving as a national holiday that is most fitting in the context of peace and ease and abundance. Rather Thanksgiving - the holiday and the act itself - is a radical response of faith to darkness.

With the words of Psalm 100 tonight we declared, “Enter God’s gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise; give thanks to him and call upon his Name.” Why? Because we have great things in this world? Because the turkey is perfect? The family is happy? All is well? No. The answer is given in the next verse. We give thanks and praise because “the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his faithfulness endures, from age to age.”

Thanksgiving is a radical response of faith. And true gratitude comes when we are most aware of our deep dependence on and connection to our God who is good, whose mercy is everlasting, whose faithfulness endures from age to age. This evening and tomorrow and hopefully every day following may we pause to turn toward our bountiful God and give thanks for the countless gifts of love that still are ours today.