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Being Truely Thankful by Fr. Andrew George Sermon Sunday November 19th, 2006 Through the ages, the soul of humankind has always felt the deep need for giving thanks to God. Individuals, families and nations have expressed that need through various means of devotion. The Pilgrims of 1621, that small but hardly band of people who fled England the year before, seeking a land where they could worship freely and without oppression, have become for us a model for emulation in that they thanked God with a pure heart for the little that they had. Indeed that first thanksgiving observance, which has become a treasured tradition of the American people and embraced by Canada as well, was observed in response to God’ s gifts and rightly so, is a spiritual priority of a religious life. But in later years in America, this thankful attitude of the first settlers had unfortunately fallen away. In fact there was no consistent thanksgiving observance recorded in the colonies; individual states in future years had separate observances for the giving of thanks, but again nothing across the board in the way of uniformity and consistency. It wasn’t until 1863 when an official day “for the giving of thanks to God” was proclaimed for the nation. And it was proclaimed in a sort of a “corrective manner” that American had begun to take advantage of God and take their blessings and successes for granted. Listen to the words of President Abraham Lincoln in his first “presidential thanksgiving proclamation” wherein he reminds the citizenry of the USA who have taken God for granted. I quote….. “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in number, wealth and power….but we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied, enriched and strengthened us. We have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.” He continues… “Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient…to proud to pray to the God who made us. It behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offended Power.” Although Lincoln’s proclamation established thanksgiving day to be an annual observance we are none-the-less not always truly thankful, we take our blessings too lightly and don’t always express our gratitude. Even this day called “thanksgiving day” has been abused and has been filled with a lot of hype unrelated to its origins….football, parades, early sneak Christmas shopping, or… let’s even decorate the house for Christmas since I’m home today….although it’s still a good 28-30 days away. Beloved in the Lord- we live in a land of plenty and we all have plenty, few of us (very few in our parish) are in need of any basic necessity. This bountiful blessing of not simply food, but wealth at large, conveniences and comfortable housing, has a way of creating ingratitude, instead of thanksgiving. It’s the old mystery of humanity….when you have little, you are thankful and you appreciate the little that you have. When you have plenty, you take it for granted and forget to be thankful, we actually become ungrateful. In fact in this land of many things, we can say that ingratitude is common and widespread and for some Thanksgiving Day is nothing but a meaningless day off from work. Oh….they may observe thanksgiving day with a traditional American meal of turkey and the family gathering, but there’s no real thanks-giving appreciation there. This is nothing new however for unfortunately this has gone on for centuries. In fact back even before Christ. In the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, after the giving of the commandments, Moses reassures his people that God is going to lead them into a land of plenty, “a land wherein you shall eat bread without scarceness….” But he takes caution to point out the subtle danger that lies in abundance: (in Deuteronomy 8) Moses says- “beware, that you forget not the Lord your God…lest when you have eaten and are full and have built goodly houses…you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gotten me this.” The same attitude can be found in the New Testament also, in Luke 12: 16-21 as we heard earlier as our Gospel reading in the Liturgy, the land of a rich man brought forth plentifully. And instead of sharing his harvest, he horded it and decided to keep it all for himself. Thus he pulled down his barns and built larger ones. Jesus calls this man “fool” for he let his possessions, posses him. He laid up treasure for himself and did not share….classic ingratitude! And so it may be for many us….we must be VERY careful and understand that true thanksgiving stresses “giving”. Giving thanks to God who brought the blessing AND giving (sharing) of these blessings with others. Thus, I thought it may be helpful to us to be more sensitive to all that we have to be thankful for--- TO LIST OUT A FEW ITEMS FOR OUR MEDITATION that will enable us to appreciate the NEED for giving thanks. FOOD is the first obvious one. But think really hard about having food in your house and food in your belly. Truly realize how the Pilgrims were so thankful for the small amount of food they had. Think about our recent forefathers during the time of WW 2 and the communist civil war that followed back in Greece, when a loaf of bread and a glass of wine was their main nourishment, perhaps one tomato along the way and a few beans. Many of you here LIVED that experience. Think about the wars since, in so many areas of the world and the current situation of hungry and starving people as we throw food away and often waste it. When you do your grocery shopping this week and every week in one of the thousands of overstocked, ever jammed American supermarkets, be thankful for the 10 brands of bread, the 20 different flavors of ice cream and the 50 different boxes of cereal. OUR HEALTH is another crucial reality that we need to be thankful for. It is human nature to complain and complain. We crumble if a red light takes too long, if the milk goes bad, if the newspaper is not delivered on time. We forget that next door to us there may be someone living with Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s, cancer or a stroke. We forget as well that if we have some type of ailment it is addressed rather well with our advanced medical technologies and successes. The point is, if we can get up every morning, get dressed and walk, we should be very thankful, for so many people cannot. OUR COUNTRY is another aspect of our life that we should be thankful for. So many of you here today…dreamed and prayed to be able to come to the USA to improve your lot in life and this became a reality for you. Don’t ignore that blessing of yesteryear. All of us who live here, be we immigrants or born here, need to be thankful for the enduring spirit of this country and for the democratic way that our liberties and freedoms are preserved. We need to take seriously (we who have been born here, more so than the immigrant) the goodness of the United States and its people at large. We need to thank the veterans of past wars who gave their lives and those who survived as well as those who suffered immeasurable health problems, so that we can remain free. There are of course currently men and women on the front lines today. They are the best of the bravest and they deserve our endless gratitude. There are also the emergency personnel in all of our cities and towns, the firefighters and the police who risk their lives everyday for our safety and who bring us assistance in any personal crisis. OH MY BELOVED….. There is so much to be thankful for if we ONLY THINK LONG AND HARD. I have shared the “short list” (a very short list in fact). Be sure to do this at your table on Thursday….make everyone around the table say 5 or 6 things for which they are TRULY thankful, the serious things and not the casual things. Don’t take our bountiful blessings for granted and don’t rush through it so as to just quickly eat a festive meal and run to the TV, the play station or the local stadium. Stimulate your conscience to see God in all these blessings from Whom all these things come, for every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father light and to thee to we ascribe glory thanksgiving and worship…… Sermon Archive Advent - Plan Ahead Rightly - Fr. Andrew A Culture Obsessed With Food - Douglas Cramer Advent - St. Joseph - Fr. Andrew Advent - A Mixed Bad - Fr. Andrew Building Bridges - Fr. Andrew The Importance of Restitution - Fr. Andrew Declare How Much - Fr. Andrew Being Truely Thankful - Fr. Andrew Wheat or Hay - Which are you offering the King? - Jim Petrou |
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