CELEBRATING THANKSMAS
For quite a few years now, our family has been celebrating Christmas at Thanksgiving. Hence, THANKSMAS! We put up Christmas decorations, wrap presents & place them under the Christmas tree--a new, "skinny" tree this year, but that's another story. We welcome our children & grandchildren, prepare & serve a mouthwatering, traditional Thanksgiving dinner, eat too much, exchange presents, & enjoy the love & fellowship that flourish in our family.
Last night we worshipped at our home congregation, Grace Lutheran in Norfolk, Nebraska. Pastor Wilke delivered an inspiring sermon, & we joined with our brothers & sisters in worship, Word, song, & Holy Communion.
It seems trite to list what we're thankful for this time of year, but it's traditional, it's my blog, & I'm going to do it anyway. DISCLAIMER: Whenever listing those things I'm thankful for, there's always the danger of forgetting someone or something. It's not that I'm ungrateful--it's that I'm not as cognitively sharp as I once was. [Yes, I was cognitively sharper at one time.] So, here goes.
I'm thankful for the many material blessings we enjoy--way more than I ever imagined. Shelter, clothing, food, health, & so much more. I'm thankful for living in a country where we enjoy many freedoms, & I'm thankful for those who serve in the military & help us preserve those freedoms. This includes 2 nephews who serve in the Navy, & a son-in-law who serves in the Nebraska Air National Guard. I'm thankful for the leaders we have who seek after what is truly good & are not driven by wrongful motives.
I'm thankful for Lois, my wife, who is a faithful help-meet. I'm thankful for our children & their spouses, whom I also count as my children, & our 5 grandchildren. I'm thankful for family: siblings, nieces, nephews, cousins, their families. I'm thankful for so many good friends, & I'm thankful for the brothers & sisters who are part of the fellowship we enjoy at our church. I'm thankful for faithful pastors.
I'm thankful for the opportunities that God has given to Lois & me to serve in our church. I'm thankful for the spiritual gifts & fruits of the Spirit that He gratefully bestows on us. And I am very thankful, very grateful, for His grace & mercy, the forgiveness & salvation won for us by our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. I'm thankful for His Holy Word, Baptism, the Lord's Supper, & the blessing f prayer. I'm thankful for those who take the time to read my sometimes insufferably long posts. And now it's time to move on.
A READING FROM PSALMS
"I will sing to the Lord all my life, I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. How many are Your works, O Lord! In wisdom You made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.These all look to You to give them their food at the proper time. When You send Your Spirit, they are created, & You renew the face of the earth." Psalm 104:33; 24, 27, 30
A PRAYER FOR THANKSGIVING DAY *
* Source: Lutheran Book of Prayer
"Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good & His mercy endures forever. Lord God, heavenly Father, You have created us & endowed us with all that we are or have as a pure gift of Your 'fatherly, divine goodness & mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me.' You sustain us from day to day with the gifts of daily bread in the food that we eat, the family that surrounds us, the friends we enjoy, the country where we live, & countless other benefits that we constantly receive from Your open hand.
"On this Day of Thanksgiving, cause us to gratefully remember the good gifts that You shower upon us. Deepen in us knowledge of Your goodness, & awaken our hearts to praise You for all Your gifts, especially the forgiveness of sins that You have purchased & won for us & the whole world in the atoning death of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Keep us mindful of Your mercies every day, & grant that we may thank, praise, serve, & obey You not only with our lips but also with lives dedicated to the service of our neighbors. To You, O Lord, Father, Son, & Holy Spirit, be all honor & glory, praise & thanksgiving, now & forever. Amen.
A HYMN FOR THANKSGIVING
For the Fruits of His Creation, LSB #894
For the fruits of His creation, Thanks be to God. For His gifts to ev'ry nation, Thanks be to God. For the flowing, sowing, reaping, Silent growth while we are sleeping, Future needs in earth's safe-keeping, Thanks be to God.
In the just reward of labor, God's will is done. In the help we give our neighbor, God's will is done. In our worldwide task of caring For the hungry & despairing, In the harvests we are sharing, God's will is done.
For the harvests of the Spirit, Thanks be to God. For the good we all inherit, Thanks be to God. For the wonders that astound us, For the truths that still confound us, Most of all, that love has found us, Thanks be to God.
ONE MESSAGE FROM A SECULAR SOURCE *
* Source: National Review Online
We must face the problems we have today. They include an epidemic of drug deaths killing over 100,000 Americans a year and shortening our life expectancy, a broken education system that is forming America’s youth to despise their inheritance, steeply declining rates of marriage and religious faith, and a culture that still takes the lives of hundreds of thousands of unborn children each year — a different kind of death of despair. We have a failure to pass on responsibility from one generation to the next. This is reflected in the lack of wealth accumulating in younger generations, who should be risking their resources for ventures of their own — the great enterprises of tomorrow. It’s also reflected in the prospect of an election between two old men that strong majorities of the country would rather not be president again. Declining fertility rates foreshadow a society quite unlike those celebrated by Adams and Lincoln — a society aging and shrinking. And then, when we look beyond our shores, we see an international scene profoundly unsettled with wars and the rumors of wars.
"These problems require statesmen of courage and character, and a strong civil society to meet them. They also require a people who are conscious of the blessings they have been given. And so, we commend our readers and ourselves to contemplate the awesome material progress of our times. We live longer than our grandparents. We make new lifesaving and -enhancing discoveries every year. We see tremendous advances in the space race, made by American companies. Like John F. Kennedy, we are thankful for our arms which give us so much security. And we commend our readers to be thankful for one another. We see Americans, with vigor, rising up to reform or rebuild institutions that have failed them. How fitting then to have a day marked out for us, as a nation, to thank God for the blessings we need, and the ones we never would have thought to ask for ourselves, the gifts He saw fit to give us in his Providence. Happy Thanksgiving!" The Editors
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