As we gather with friends, family and our communities to celebrate God's goodness on this Thanksgiving Day we hear Jesus during his Ssermon on the Mount tell us: "Do not worry." Today's Gospel is taken from Matthew 6: 25-34.
Jesus begins saying: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to the span of your life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grown, they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you-you of little faith? Therefore do not worry saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today."
This Thanksgiving comes during a very dismal economic time. Many people over this past year have lost their jobs, homes, dreams and had their hopes crushed. Many, many soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan have lost their lives leaving many families without their husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, cousins and best friends. The LGBT folks of Maine gather for Thanksgiving Day after Stand for Marriage Maine, the National Organization of Marriage and the Catholic Diocese worked to revoke their civil rights to legally marry. Many more service members have been discharged from America's military services due to don't ask, don't tell. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act has not yet been passed. The Defense of Marriage Act has not been repealed. The health care reform debate remains in limbo due to insurance companies lobbying against the needs of Americans who are sick and in need of medical treatment. The executives on Wall Street continue to grow fat on the bail outs they received from tax payer moneys given to them to help aid America's economy. For many people, this Thanksgiving is happening after having lost a loved one in death or separation or divorce and faces the day lonely and in despair. It is said that during the Holiday season that more relationships and marriages break up during this time of year due to high expectations and lack of communication. These issues and many more I am sure I have not named do not sound like today could be a very happy Thanksgiving. Yet, in today's Gospel Jesus tells us not to worry. How do we listen to Jesus and receive God's peace during a Thanksgiving Day while all of these realities remain part of our world?
Sometimes in our struggle to relieve those who are troubled or relieve our own troubles, we might tend to forget who Jesus was, is and always will be. Jesus Christ is God's perfect revelation in the human condition. Jesus was born into the middle of the filth and dirt of the human condition. Jesus was preaching: "Do not worry" as someone who lived as a poor man. Jesus very often had no where to lay his head. The very people who Jesus associated with were those who were marginalized by society and the religious establishment of his time. Jesus "who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death--even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:6-8). And also "...our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich." (2 Corinthians 8:9). Jesus Christ who was God had every rich ability of heaven and earth at his command. For we read in John's Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being." (John 1:1-3). Yet in Jesus Christ God came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. (See Matthew 20:28.) Jesus fed five thousand people in Matthew 14:13 to 21 and four thousand in Matthew 15: 32 to 39 with the Goodness and Grace of God without requiring them to oppose abortion or same-sex marriage or endorse the teachings of the church of their time. Jesus was the best friend of those whose rights were being denigrated and showed great friendships with women.
God is interested and active in all that is happening in the world both good and bad. However, God does not act on the problems of the world without employing the work of God's people. God has endowed all of us with the ability to speak up when our rights and dignity are violated. God has also given many of us the ability to speak up in behalf of someone who may not be able to speak for themselves. God has given to us the day of incredible technology to be able email our President, representatives and senators, Governors, Mayors and City Council members. God has given us church leaders who can be contacted and confronted. God has given us today the duty to be a voice for the lonely, the poor, those who's civil rights have been violated or not protected. God has given us another opportunity today to be agents of justice and peace in our world. We have every reason to give thanks today because we have the opportunity to be the hands, feet and heart of Jesus Christ in today's times. God has and does provide for all of us even in the midst of very dark times. We have an opportunity to be friends with the friendless, to invite and be a companion for those who are missing someone today. We can make a phone call and invite someone who is missing someone to spend Thanksgiving with. And we can love our significant other(s) who would not be being loved by us today. Therefore, God has indeed provided an abundance for us today. And therefore, if we only trust in God and God's grace and power what God does today is only the beginning of what God will continue to do in and through us as the days go forward. Let us never stop being a voice for those without health insurance, jobs, civil rights, food, clothing, electricity and a place to live. By being advocates for the poor, lonely and those who face prejudice we help people rely on God and God's promises through Jesus Christ.
Let us give thanks today that we can enjoy God's goodness and abundance and can give thought to how we can be God's message of goodness and abundance to others.
A General Thanksgiving taken today from the Book of Common Prayer on page 836.
Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.
We thank you for the blessing of family and friends and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side.
We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy and delight us.
We thank you also for those disappointments and failures which lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.
Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame temptations, for his dying, through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.
Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know Christ and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.
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