A Sermon by Pastor Tom Lacey . . .

Make the Most of Giving Thanks

Psalm 100, Preached by Tom Lacey at Congregational Church of Boca Raton, November 19, 2006

A man has been driving all night and by morning is still far from his destination. He decides to stop at the next city he comes to and parks somewhere quiet so he can get an hour or two of sleep. As luck would have it, the quiet place he chooses happens to be on one of the city's major jogging routes. No sooner has he settled back to snooze when there’s a knocking on his window. He looks out and sees a jogger running in place. “Yes?" "Excuse me, sir," the jogger says, "do you have the time?" The man looks at the car clock and answers, "8:15." The jogger says thanks and leaves. The man settles back again, and is just dozing off when there’s another knock on the window and another jogger. "Excuse me, sir, do you have the time?" "8:25!" The jogger says thanks and leaves. Now the man cand see other joggers passing by and he knows it is only a matter of time before another one disturbs him. To avoid the problem, he gets out a pen and paper and puts a sign in his window saying, "I do not know the time!" Once again he settles back to sleep. He’s just about to doze off when he hears another knock. He looks up and the jogger says, "Sir, sir? It's 8:45!"

It’s nice to know people care. We can be thankful that people are so helpful like that. You know as well as I do that sometimes being grateful for something or someone is muy difficult. There are people toward whom we must extend tremendous patience. So much so that we can hardly believe a legitimate reason to give thanks honestly exists. But the Bible tells us to "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." We read it...and we try to live it, but…. God knows it’s difficult, and so Scripture reaches out to us to bless us: “May you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father.” Col 1:11-12 You might see this as a thinner version of the “Love your enemy” code that Jesus taught. We need to be prepared mentally and spiritually to put this into action even when it seems above and beyond the call of duty. Tap the personal power to turn negatives into positives. Start today, because you never know whom life is going to throw into your path. A crusty old man went into the bank and asked for $250 in ones and fives. As the line behind him grew, the teller laboriously counted out the money and passed it over. The old man said, "I believe I'll count that myself."  As the line stretched out the door, he slowly counted the money a second time.  "Well," said the teller when he finished, "it's all there, isn't it?"  "Yes," answered the old man, "but just barely." 

What we want to see this morning is that our spiritual and emotional lives are connected at the joint of gratitude. Give thanks and both your spiritual and emotional sides are strengthened. Forget how to be appreciative of God and the good things in life and both one’s spirit and one’s emotions weaken and wander. In order to make the most of our spiritual and emotional life, we have to give thanks. So take the time to recall how good something or someone is. Tell God thank you. You can even do it right now, while I am jabbering away up here. I won’t mind. If you want some help to get you started in the right direction, think about the people you love, a place you find beautiful, friends who think highly of you. It’s amazing what this simple prayer does for you. Now, if you ever get to the point where you find it more difficult to give thanks, that’s when you have to take this to the next level. This is when you turn negatives into positives. Once you are able to do this, you are unstoppable. Let me share with you this piece which shows you exactly how it’s accomplished. This was originally published many years in Family Circle magazine.  “I am thankful for... the mess to clean up after a party because it means I have been surrounded by friends; the taxes I pay because it means that I'm employed; the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat; my shadow who watches me work because it means I am out in the sunshine; a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means that I have a home; the spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means that I am capable of walking; all the complaining I hear about our government because it means we have freedom of speech; my huge heating bill because it means I am warm; the lady behind me at church who sings off key because it means that I can hear; the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby; weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means that I have been productive; the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means that I am alive.” To be able to give thanks in all things means being able to turn tough things around until they are right side up.

Do you know what’s true? Our inability to be thankful begins early. Children often take their parents for granted. This is where it starts, at home. Children ought to appreciate what their mothers and fathers do for them, but frequently don't. This is a bad habit for them, and it is up to the parents to help their children grow up, which means teaching them to be grateful kids and not inappreciative charmers, like we might see once in awhile here in Boca Raton and neighboring towns. Building grateful kids is something worth fighting for, like Michelle Tribout did. A mother of three, Michelle Tribout of Belleville, Illinois, finally realized the last straw came when her children failed to get out of bed for a pancake breakfast she'd cooked, despite making five trips upstairs to wake them. When the kids arrived home after school, they found a note that read, On-strike mom. No cooking, cleaning, doctoring, banking or taxi service. Out of order. They found their mom in the treehouse refusing to come down until the kids started pitching in and showing some gratitude. The kids cooked dinner and came out promising to be nice, but Mrs. Tribout wouldn't budge. Next, the children baked their mom's favorite brownies and wrote up a settlement, promising to: 1. Pitch in whenever you see something that needs to be done. 2. Act your age, not like you were five. 3. Don't smart off. 4. Come when you are called. 5. We are the kids; you are the parents. 6. Give and take on an equal basis. 7. Ask before you do something. 8. Do not hit or hurt anybody. They presented the settlement at 11:30 p.m. A contract was reached at midnight and Mrs. Tribout came down. Robert Berner, Tired Mothers of the World, Unite! The Wall Street Journal, October 20, 1997.

I love that. Parents should understand it’s a war out there for the heart and soul of their child. You’ve got to come hard and mean business, the business of loving them until you break through their pop culture soaked minds. Take up the battle. Bring the kids home to where their heart really needs to be, and that’s by your side. Love them and don’t leave them alone to fend for themselves.

No matter how hard we think we have it, and therefore how hard it may prove to be to give thanks even at Thanksgiving time, we still have it easier than the vast majority of people in the world. And we certainly have it much plusher than those who began the American tradition of Thanksgiving Day. To remember the context in which they celebrated the first Thanksgiving is to commemorate the Pilgrims’ spiritual strength as Christians and Americans. For starters, they had begun their journey full of hope for a new life of religious freedom in a warm and welcoming land, Virginia. Oops. Instead, they landed at Plymouth Rock on December 21, 1620, not the best time of year in Massachusetts. Until such time as they could build houses and establish themselves on the land, they made their home on board the Mayflower, the vessel in which they had sailed. The men went ashore every morning to work, returning to the little ship at night. They built a "common house" to which the sick and dying were transferred, placed their four little cannons in a fort, which they built on a hill close by, built two rows of houses with a wide street between and finally landed their stores and provisions. Then the whole company came ashore toward the last of March, and in April the Mayflower sailed away.

The winter was hard and bitter. At one time all but six or seven of the Pilgrims were sick. Eighteen women denied themselves food so that their children could eat. Thirteen of them died. Almost half of the 102 Pilgrims died of malnourishment, disease, and exposure. Only about 30 of those who survived were over the age of 16. In the spring they planted their crops: English peas, wheat, barley for beer making, and Indian corn. The peas were planted too late. Though they came up beautifully, the hot sun parched the blossoms and the plants died. One of the Pilgrims described their barley crops as "indifferent." Apparently the barley was not worth harvesting. Only the wheat and Indian corn survived. Of course, not the corn we are used to with big, plump yellow kernels; this was "Indian Corn" with ears only two to three inches long and kernels of different colors, and useful only for making corn meal. The Pilgrims harvested a mere twenty acres. And to top it all off, a second shipload of thirty-five settlers arrived without any provisions because they expected to live off the crops the first settlers had raised. By the end of their second winter in Plymouth, food had to be rationed again: five kernels of corn for each person per day. A hard life. But on that day in 1621, they stopped and took the time to give thanks. Even though almost half had died, more than half hadn’t. By that day, the wheat was plentiful, their Indian neighbors had proved beneficial to the point of probably helping the colonists survive, and four turkeys were killed. The 90 Indians, along with the deer they killed, were feasted for three days and the Pilgrims gave thanks to God for their new life in a new land. As Scripture told them and tells us, “whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving THANKS to God the Father through him.” Col 3:15-17

So on our Thanksgiving Day, it is good for families and friends even to get together. This is in itself a form of giving thanks for the good things in life. But before you feed on the bounty of the land, take a moment and give thanks to God for what you have. You don’t have to do it out loud if that’s not so easy for you. It’s really not what matters. What matters is that we recall to mind and heart how much we have to be grateful for.

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing. Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” Now that’s something to be thankful for.

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