One of the Scripture readings was from Deuteronomy 8:
11Take care that you do not forget the LORD your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today...18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth , so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.
As He is doing today... so precious. Our Word is living and active. The truth that was true for Martin Luther as he broke away from the oppression of the Catholic church is still truth for these small-town-Lutherans today. And this truth is still true for us all. True like the words in Deuteronomy, "do not forget the LORD your God... Remember the LORD your God." In times of abundance, it is easy to attribute our ability to stand on our own two feet to our individual independence. It is so vital to our existence to remember Christ, and the sacrifice He made for us. I love that this was one of the Scriptures read as we begin this Christmas season. Let us truly remember that Christmas was about the birth of our Savior, born to die. Part of our Thanksgiving prayer was:
Through Jesus, your Word made flesh, you speak to us and call us to witness: forgiveness through the cross, life to those entombed by death, the way of your self-giving love. For your Word of life, O God, we give you thanks and praise.
In the message, the pastor read Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving speech from 1863.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature,that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. Ianthe midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements,and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented
strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
-Abraham Lincoln
In the middle of a civil war, Lincoln takes time to thank God and asks the people not only to show gratitude for their abundance of life (John 10:10), but also to take care of all the "widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers." How beautiful! Another part of our Thanksgiving prayer was:
By your Word you called your people Israel to tell of your wonderful gifts: freedom from captivity, water on the desert journey, a pathway home from exile, wisdom for life with you. For your Word of life, O God, we give you thanks and praise.
Our closing hymn was Praise and Thanksgiving written by Albert F. Bayly.
Praise and thanksgiving, God, we would offer for all things living, you have made good: harvest of sown fields, fruits of the orchard, hay from the mown fields, blossom and wood. God bless the labor we bring to serve you, that with out neighbor we may be fed. Sowing or tilling, we would work with you , harvesting, milling for daily bread. Father, providing food for your children, by Wisdom's guiding teach us to share one with another, so that, rejoicing with us, all others may know your care.Then will your blessing reach every people, freely confessing your gracious hand. Where you are reigning, no one will hunger; your love sustaining showers the land.
My husband will probably be shipped out to officer training within the next three months, my dad will still be unemployed this December, and yet God is providing so abundantly for our family. God is love. God is good. I give my life with thanksgiving. Lord, Your will be done.
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