Thanksgivmas
David Steltz
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Introduction
Introduction
Good morning! Happy December!
We’re full-swing into “holiday season” in the North Country. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration last week. This week, we transition from Thanksgiving into the Christmas season, or as we like to say in church sometimes, “Advent.” We’re officially in the season of “Advent,” and what better day than Sunday to kick it off?
Explanation of Advent
Explanation of Advent
How many of you grew up with that term used in church?
Does anyone put up an “Advent Calendar” in their house?
People have gotten really creative with those! Sometimes they involve a little treat for each day in the month. I’ve seen some of them actually get really extravagant.
Growing up, we tracked every day leading up to Christmas on a felt scene that hung on the wall, and it depicted Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem. As kids, it was so fun to move them along one spot each day leading up to Christmas, truly building that anticipation and excitement in a visible, tangible way.
Because there are 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas, many churches have had the tradition of taking time to meditate on a specific aspect of the advent each week as part of the worship service.
Often, there are advent candles or wreaths that correspond to each week as well.
This week, we light the first of our “advent candles” as a church family, which is just a visual reminder of the weeks leading up to Christmas, and some of the core ideas that Christmas represents.
Whether taking about an advent calendar, or observing advent in church, To celebrate the “Advent” of Christ simply means to celebrate (or anticipate) the “Arrival” of Christ.
I encourage you take and apply this concept on your own, even daily. If you are not already in a habit of devoting some time to reading and praying each day, then this is a great time to start forming one!
Advent Week 1: Hope/Promise
Advent Week 1: Hope/Promise
Traditionally, each week of advent corresponds with a specific theme related to Christmas.
As we light the first candle, for Week 1, our theme is the hope, or the promise of a Messiah.
To truly understand the significance of “the advent” we must understand why the messiah was so highly anticipated, and why his birth was a shining beacon of hope to humanity.
2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
a light has dawned
on those living in the land of darkness.
[Light Candle]
Verse six goes on to describe this light. The light, is in fact, a person; a child!
6 For a child will be born for us,
a son will be given to us,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
He will be named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
7 The dominion will be vast,
and its prosperity will never end.
He will reign on the throne of David
and over his kingdom,
to establish and sustain it
with justice and righteousness from now on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Today I’m going to encourage us all to set our hearts on the hope of Christ for this season.
BUT before we get too far into the Christmas spirit, I do want to talk a little bit about the holiday we just celebrated! About Thanksgiving, that is.
How many of you celebrated Thanksgiving last month in some way?
I love Thanksgiving, because for me it usually has always meant that I get to: 1. Spend time with family and 2. Eat lots of food.
But Thanksgiving is also a fantastic reminder that, in all of our hope for what is to come, we should also remember to take time to be grateful for what we have now.
Thanksgiving doesn’t really have as overtly Christian origins as, say, Christmas or Easter. It’s a “secular” holiday, and yet it does have roots not only in Christianity but in Judaism, and you’ll find that usually most people, whether Jews or Christians, or people from any other creed or religion are happy to celebrate Thanksgiving. I’m sure there are some who don’t for some reason or another, but I find it interesting because unlike many other holidays, Thanksgiving is not inherent to any one religion or another, and yet its core premise is easily accepted by those from a wide range of backgrounds.
In the United States, Thanksgiving is now a federal holiday, celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday of November.
Thanksgiving in the Bible
Thanksgiving in the Bible
The tradition of setting aside time to give thanks, and have a feast to celebrate a harvest is one that goes back MUCH MUCH farther than any European settlement of North America! You’ll find similar celebrations across many cultures dating back thousands of years.
In our case, you can trace American Thanksgiving to its Puritan roots, but you can then trace those roots to Christendom’s roots in Judaism, and find not only is the core premise of Thanksgiving consistent with Judaeo-christian values, it even has striking similarities to Jewish feasts and festivals. In particular, it’s very similar to the holiday called Sukkot, also known by a couple other names, including simply “Harvest Festival” or, literally translated “Festival of Booths” or “Festival of Tents.”
If you are familiar with the book of Nehemiah, you might recognize that festival for its significance it had in the story of Nehemiah.
To this day, many people still celebrate sukkot and it involves many unique traditions, like setting up “tabernacles” or “tents,” and various periods of feasting, and performing waving ceremonies.
But at its core, it’s a celebration of the harvest, marking the agricultural year’s end, AND acknowledges their dependence on God by commemorating the Exodus and remembering and thanking God for saving them and providing for them. And, in that sense, sukkot is very similar in premise to Thanksgiving.
Beyond just having a designated holiday for thanksgiving, though, we see the concept of giving thanks throughout both the old and new testaments. There are a ton of references in the Bible, to the act of offering thanks or being thankful, usually to God, often connected to provision, deliverance, or God’s character, and commonly associated with meals and worship.
Old Testament
Old Testament
Blessing God?
Blessing God?
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew bible, the act of giving thanks is closely tied with the verb “to bless.” (barakh) For example, here’s a literal translation of Deut 8:10
10 And you will eat, and you will be satisfied, and you will bless Yahweh your God because of the good land that he has given to you.
Interesting, right? We generally think about how God blesses humans, but here it’s saying that humans, in this case Israel, will bless Yahweh!
This is a concept we can see in both Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it’s easily overlooked. We may think a lot about how God has blessed us, and then think about the many ways in which we can bless others, but how often to we stop and think about how we can bless God?
How can humans bless God? When God blesses humans, it’s associated with him bestowing us with provisions, protection, prosperity, progeny, etc.
Humans can’t provide for God, because God doesn’t need anything!
Humans can’t protect God, because God is not threatened by anything! He’s the most powerful being in the universe, there’s nobody and nothing to protect Him from, and even if there was, humans surely wouldn’t be the ones to do it!
Humans can’t make God more prosperous, because God himself created all that there is and has dominion over all things.
And yet, Israel is called to bless Yahweh.
Here’s a little more dynamic translation of that verse that still retains the word “bless:”
10 When you eat and are full, you will bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
Some other translations will go with the word “praise” or “thanks,” but literally it’s the word “bless.” And it’s a command to Israel, essentially to reciprocate God’s blessing to them. It’s a proclamation of the future, when they enter the promised land, that they will be blessed by God, that they will eat and be full, and that in turn the people will bless Yahweh their God for the land.
But if part of the whole idea of a divine blessing is that God is offering humans something which they cannot offer themselves, how on earth can humans reciprocate God’s blessings?
Well, in a few ways! This is one reason God instituted the whole system of offerings and sacrifices, which you can also find in Deuteronomy and Leviticus.
In Leviticus, we can read about the institution of a thanks offering as one part of the sacrificial system:
11 “Now this is the law of the fellowship sacrifice that someone may present to the Lord: 12 If he presents it for thanksgiving, in addition to the thanksgiving sacrifice, he is to present unleavened cakes mixed with olive oil, unleavened wafers coated with oil, and well-kneaded cakes of fine flour mixed with oil. 13 He is to present as his offering cakes of leavened bread with his thanksgiving sacrifice of fellowship. 14 From the cakes he is to present one portion of each offering as a contribution to the Lord. It will belong to the priest who splatters the blood of the fellowship offering; it is his. 15 The meat of his thanksgiving sacrifice of fellowship must be eaten on the day he offers it; he may not leave any of it until morning.
So, why would thanksgiving be associated with sacrifice? And if we no longer use this particular system of sacrifice, how does it relate to us?
Well, the underlying principle and purpose of these offerings, at least one way of understanding them is this: that offering back to God what they had, and sacrificing some of their own property, they were acknowledging that everything they owned was first offered to them by God, and they were demonstrating their trust in him to continue to provide for their needs regardless of what he asked them to give up.
And that principle certainly still applies to us.
So, let me make that last statement again, and rephrase it for us:
Offerings and sacrifices are an acknowledgment that everything we have was first offered to us by God, and they demonstrate our trust in him to continue to provide for our needs regardless of what he asks us to give up.
Ok, so that’s one part of it, one way we can bless God. But there’s more to it still.
Blessings from God can also be that which promotes people, and that which gives us pleasure. NOT everything which promotes or brings pleasure is necessarily from God, mind you! But sometimes God does promote people, he raises people up, and he has given us earthly gifts which bring pleasure! And those can be seen as blessings.
And while we can’t provide for God or protect God, or make him more prosperous, we CAN please God! And we CAN promote God!
We can please him by doing what he commands, which is of coursed summed up by loving Him with everything we are, and loving those around us selflessly.
We can promote him by spreading the knowledge of who he is, and upholding the value of his reputation, throughout the rest of creation.
So there you go, three ways in which humans can actually bless God:
Offerings & Sacrifices
Loving God & Others
Representing/Promoting God
We already have and will continue to talk about those last two ideas, so I’m going to assume I don’t have to prove those to you, I just wanted to point out how these are linked together, and related to humans actually “blessing” God.
Offering Thanks & Praise
Offering Thanks & Praise
Of course, the implications of these bring up a massively wide range of topics, but remember it’s all tied back to the idea of “thanks!” We’ve been talking about the idea of “blessing,” because in Hebrew the verbs “giving blessings” and “giving thanks” are related.
And the theological implications of giving thanks go even further.
When we talk about giving “offerings” to God, sometimes that means giving of our physical possessions or money or time or energy. But another thing we can “offer” to God is our thanks! In fact, giving thanks can be considered one form of worship, which is part of showing our love for God and an act of praise, which is a promotion of God, a proclamation of who He is!
Again, in Hebrew the verb to give thanks is tied to the verb to bless, but the most common Hebrew noun used for “thanks” derives from a verb which means “to praise!” (yadah), and you’ll find thankfulness to be a key theme in many Psalms of praise, and several which explicitly identify the theme as such.
Here are a couple:
A psalm of thanksgiving.
1 Let the whole earth shout triumphantly to the Lord!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God.
He made us, and we are his—
his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name.
5 For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever;
his faithfulness, through all generations.
1 Come, let’s shout joyfully to the Lord,
shout triumphantly to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let’s enter his presence with thanksgiving;
let’s shout triumphantly to him in song.
3 For the Lord is a great God,
a great King above all gods.
4 The depths of the earth are in his hand,
and the mountain peaks are his.
5 The sea is his; he made it.
His hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let’s worship and bow down;
let’s kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
the sheep under his care.
Today, if you hear his voice:
Thankfulness is a natural and crucial element to praise, whether in prayer or song. And we should sing songs, and pray prayers of thanksgiving regularly!
Thankfulness can be, and should be a key component in our worship of God, whether it’s before enjoying a meal, or through our offerings and generosity, or in our love for him and each other, or simply in our statements and songs of praise to God. All these concepts are theologically linked together, through the concept of thankfulness! I think that’s really cool! And so far we’ve only looked at the Old Testament!
New Testament
New Testament
So, what about the New Testament? First of all, we talked about the Hebrew words for thanksgiving and thankfulness, so what about the Greek?
Eucharist
Eucharist
In the New Testament, “giving thanks” is actually tied to the concept of “grace” or charis. The noun “thanksgiving” eucharistia, and the verb “to give thanks” is eucharisteo. Does that word sound familiar to anyone, from another context?
The Eucharist is one common term for celebrating the “Lord’s Supper” or the “Last Supper” or “Communion.” That term simply comes from the Greek reading of the last supper. Jesus, in keeping with tradition, and as the head of the family, offered a prayer of thanksgiving for both the bread and the wine. In Greek, depending on the gospel, it says that Jesus “gave thanks,” eucharisteo, or “gave the blessing,” eulogeo, again going back to those concepts being closely related, even the way we use the terms relating to prayer today! To “give the blessing” before a meal. Jesus gave thanks, he “eucharisted” at the last supper, so that’s where that term comes from, really when you say celebrating “eucharist” you’re saying “celebrating thanksgiving!”
Lord willing, in a few more minutes we’ll be celebrating “the eucharist” or “communion” together, so this is a great reminder of what we truly have to be thankful for.
It’s clear that Jesus carried forth the Jewish tradition of giving thanks, and not just at the last supper, he gave thanks before multiplying the loaves and fishes, before resurrecting Lazarus from the dead, and several other occasions as well.
It’s clear that Jesus modeled habitual prayers of thankfulness to the Father. This isn’t surprising, it’s expected! Jesus, as a Jew, would have had prayers of thanksgiving embedded throughout his life. But of course, with Jesus, he modeled a level of thankfulness that goes deeper than just a surface-level tradition! For Jesus, it was about much more than simply “going through the motions” and getting a perfect score.
Gratitude = God’s Will
Gratitude = God’s Will
Actually, much like we’ve seen how Jesus intensifies the expectation of the law in Matthew, we see throughout the New Testament how Christians have almost an intensified expectation for thankfulness and gratitude, because we see that thankfulness is something we should practice always, not only in reaction to worldly provisions and pleasures. For example:
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray constantly, 18 give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Paul, writing to the church in Thessalonica, says not to rejoice and give thanks when you have a good harvest, or when everyone is healthy and prosperous. He says rejoice always and give thanks in everything. Now, of course we have to be careful not to take this statement too literally, because scripture also says that for everything there is a season, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, and so on, right? So, he’s not saying we have to be stoic, robotic, “happy” plastic people. No, he’s exhorting believers to find their ultimate source of joy and of thanks to be rooted in Christ, rather than in their circumstances. So that even through pain and tears you can have a deeper gratitude for how God’s sovereignty and for the eternal hope we have in Jesus.
James is getting at a similar point, and of course he puts it a little more bluntly:
2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.
Again, he’s not saying we’ll be all smiles all the time, but that there is a joy that transcends happiness, that is not dependent on our situation, and it’s that joy we need to focus on in the midst of the most difficult times.
Here’s one more example from Paul’s writings:
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things. 9 Do what you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
The God of peace - of peace which surpasses all understanding - of peace we can turn to even in the midst of the most tumultuous storms, and give thanks to God, even as we cry out to him with our requests. Notice that in verse 7, he says “through prayer and petition WITH thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” He’s even saying we should ask God for what we need, but to do so out of a thankful heart, out of an attitude of gratitude.
Paul practiced what he preached, modeling an attitude of rejoicing, prayer, and thanksgiving, from what we can see in his various letters, even when he was in very uncomfortable circumstances, imprisoned, and even facing death. This doesn’t mean he was never sad, never frustrated, never grieved, or that we need to totally hide and suppress those emotions and experiences in life.
Gratitude as Discipline
Gratitude as Discipline
It does mean we should constantly be practicing the spiritual discipline of gratitude.
True Christian thankfulness ascribes glory and honor to God, and is therefore an act of worship. Fundamentally, gratitude is the acknowledgment of God’s provision and sovereignty in any given situation.
34 Oh give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good;
his loyal love is everlasting.
Ultimately, no matter what we face, if we can find no other reason to give thanks for God, we can give thanks for who he is, because he is good. Our circumstances, and the world around us will change a thousand times a day, but God never changes, and his loyal love is everlasting, it never fails.
Psalm 118
Psalm 118
Now, let’s read Psalm 118 together. This is a song, or poem, from a man looking back and simply giving thanks to God for his lovingkindness. His faithful, steadfast love that never fails, even in the midst of seemingly impossible scenarios.
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.
2 Let all Israel repeat:
“His faithful love endures forever.”
3 Let Aaron’s descendants, the priests, repeat:
“His faithful love endures forever.”
4 Let all who fear the Lord repeat:
“His faithful love endures forever.”
5 In my distress I prayed to the Lord,
and the Lord answered me and set me free.
6 The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear.
What can mere people do to me?
7 Yes, the Lord is for me; he will help me.
I will look in triumph at those who hate me.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in people.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
10 Though hostile nations surrounded me,
I destroyed them all with the authority of the Lord.
11 Yes, they surrounded and attacked me,
but I destroyed them all with the authority of the Lord.
12 They swarmed around me like bees;
they blazed against me like a crackling fire.
But I destroyed them all with the authority of the Lord.
13 My enemies did their best to kill me,
but the Lord rescued me.
14 The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has given me victory.
15 Songs of joy and victory are sung in the camp of the godly.
The strong right arm of the Lord has done glorious things!
16 The strong right arm of the Lord is raised in triumph.
The strong right arm of the Lord has done glorious things!
17 I will not die; instead, I will live
to tell what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord has punished me severely,
but he did not let me die.
19 Open for me the gates where the righteous enter,
and I will go in and thank the Lord.
20 These gates lead to the presence of the Lord,
and the godly enter there.
21 I thank you for answering my prayer
and giving me victory!
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.
23 This is the Lord’s doing,
and it is wonderful to see.
24 This is the day the Lord has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Please, Lord, please save us.
Please, Lord, please give us success.
26 Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
27 The Lord is God, shining upon us.
Take the sacrifice and bind it with cords on the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise you!
You are my God, and I will exalt you!
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.
Thank you, God, for your goodness, and your faithful, infinite love. Thank you that we can look back at what you’ve done with gratitude, and look forward to what we haven’t yet seen, knowing that your love and faithfulness never fails.
Call to Action (Advent)
Call to Action (Advent)
In verse 22 of that last passage, the “stone” which the builders rejected is representative of Jesus. And even though he’s rejected, he still becomes the cornerstone of the foundation of God’s forever family, established through the line of David: the shoot of new growth from the chopped down stump of David’s family tree.
Tracing the genealogy of Christ, and thinking about his family tree tracing back down to that stump of Jesse, has been one way for us to start thinking about the anticipation of advent. The excitement, hope, and joy of the arrival of Christ has more impact the more you understand the grief and gravity of having a family tree that has been chopped down, but to have the hope of new growth.
Looking forward with hope and excitement for Christmas is what celebrating advent is all about for my family, and we’d love to encourage you all to join us in choosing to place the focus of Christmas on Christ. As we enjoy all the wonderful traditions that bring our families together, whether it’s gifts or food or music or decorations, we can choose to trace, truly, the “reason for the season” to its roots in scripture.
I personally am super thankful to be in a season where I get to celebrate Christmas with my little kids, and figure out with Ellie what that looks like for us as we still work on making our own traditions while continuing many of the ones we grew up with.
But it’s healthy for any of us in any season, kids or not, to think through and assess our priorities going into the month of December.
For example,
Are we more excited about the gifts we plan to give or the ones we hope to receive?
Are we more familiar with Christmas themed fantasy worlds or the actual Christmas story that happened in the real world?
Are we wallowing in worry and anxiety about social situations and familial tensions, or focusing on ways we can simply show kindness and compassion to our fellow human, and finding our greatest joy in those opportunities above all else?
All easier said than done, I know, but well worth the effort.
One way or another, in my house we’ll be celebrating advent in a way that points to Christ, and brings us together as a family to read scripture, on a daily basis. There are all kinds of advent calendars and scripture readings whether you want to do a calendar on a wall, or a devotional book, or an app on your phone I encourage you to join us, not just on Sunday mornings, but each day of the week, starting today, to spend some time preparing your hearts for the advent of Christ.
Conclusion
Conclusion
In the meantime, I want to encourage you with this. Whatever it is we’re going through right now, and whatever is in store for us later on, we’re not going through it alone. Our creator is with us, and we have, by the grace of God and in the power of his spirit in and through each other the assurance in the love and peace and joy promised in Christ.
As Hebrews says:
14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
Because of Christ, we are never alone, we are always seen, always heard, always understood, by the one person who loves us the most, and who can relate to every kind of struggle that we experience.
And according to the model of Christ, we are here to carry out the ministry of Christ, by serving each other. Like Paul says to the Ephesians:
1 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. 2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.
Benediction/Prayer
Benediction/Prayer
I’ll close with Colossians 3, a passage that just always seems applicable to anyone who has placed their faith in Christ, and offers a glimpse into what such a life entails for anyone who has not yet made that decision:
1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.
5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. 7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. 11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.
12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.
16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
Communion?
Communion?