Thanksgiving & the Divine Providence

Preached on 11-22-01

THANKSGIVING & THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE

A Family Sermon by the Rev. Patrick A. Rose

TODAY IS THANKSGIVING DAY. Thanksgiving Day is a special day that is set aside every year to give thanks to the Lord -- to say thank you to Him for all the wonderful things which He gives us. And so today, in church, we say thank you to the Lord -- thank you for all the things which He gives us.

This is why, at the beginning of church, you brought up some fruit. It is a way of saying thank you to the Lord. Now of course the Lord doesn't need fruit. The Lord doesn't need food. But, when you bring up some fruit at the beginning of church, it is a way of remembering, a way of reminding yourself, that all the food you have, and indeed all the good things you have, come from Him.

And the Lord has given you a great deal. In fact, the Lord has given you so much, and given you so many things, that you couldn't even count how many things the Lord has given you. If you started to count, you would never finish. He gives you so much. He has given you your home, your family and your friends. He gives your clothing. He gives you toys. And He gives you a world to live in, a big beautiful world. The Lord made the sky, the air and the ground. He made the oceans, the rivers and the lakes. He made the clouds and the rain. He makes the trees, the grass, and all the other plants. He makes the animals. These are all things which the Lord has made, things which He gives to us to enjoy.

And when you stop to think about how many things the Lord has given us, all the wonderful things He has given you, it shows something very clearly. It shows that the Lord loves you. This is why He gives you so much.

The Lord loves you! This is something that is important to remember. Sometimes people forget that the Lord loves them. The Lord spoke about people like this in the New Testament, in His Sermon on the Mount. He spoke about how many people worry about things. They worry about whether they will have enough food. They will worry about whether they will have enough to drink. They worry about whether they will be able to afford clothes. They worry about all kinds of things. They worry about what is going to happen in the future: what will happen tomorrow, or next week, or next year. And people who worry so very much have usually forgotten something, something very important. They have forgotten that the Lord loves them and is watching over them.

And so the Lord suggests that you do something. He suggests that you take a look at the birds which He has made. Birds are not as important as people. But still the Lord looks after the birds. He gives them wings to fly with. He gives them a place to live. And He makes food for them, food that they can catch. And if the Lord does all this just for the birds, think how much more He does to look after you! And the Lord also suggests that you think about the flowers. Think of flowers. A flower really isn't that important. In fact we even cut flowers just to use for decorating. And yet the Lord looks after the flowers, and makes them very beautiful indeed. In the Sermon on the Mount the Lord says that even King Solomon, the greatest and richest of all the kings of Israel -- even King Solomon did not have clothes that are as beautiful as a flower. If the Lord looks after the flowers and makes them so very beautiful, then surely He will look after you.

And indeed the Lord will look after you. He will look after you because He loves you. This Thanksgiving, as you think of all the things that the Lord has given you, so many things that you cannot even count them, think, just think, how much the Lord must love you. He loves you very much indeed.

As you give thanks to the Lord, remember this: remember that He is your Heavenly Father. He gives you so many things because He loves you. And because He loves you, He will look after you, and protect you, and take care of you. He will look after you for ever and ever.

AND THIS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, perhaps particularly for adults, must be at the very heart of our thanksgiving to the Lord. We can get so caught up in the anxieties, the worries and the cares of the world, that we forget this most basic, this most simple, and yet this most majestic and wonderful of all truths: the truth that our Lord is a God of Love.

And so we need to stop and take the time to think and to reflect. The Lord is a God of infinite love. We are surrounded by His mercies. We see His goodness all around us. We see it in the sunshine that falls upon our world and warms it, and makes it fertile. We see His goodness in the beautiful earth which brings forth the harvest. We see His goodness in the prosperity with which He blesses human endeavor. And we see His goodness in the peace that comes through civil government. We see His goodness in small things as well -- in the beauty of each flower, in the song of each bird, in the innocence in the faces of little babies, in the laughter of children. And we can sense the goodness of the Lord in the satisfaction we gain in our own individual jobs and uses, in the warmth and peace of our homes, in the friendships we have, in every smile we see, and in every act of human kindness.

The Lord loves us. We see this in so many ways. And because of this, we need to learn to trust in His love.

We are, as a nation, going through a particularly worrying time. We naturally feel anxious, concerned. We grieve for those who have lost their lives and particularly for those families who have lost loved ones. We worry that others are going to lose their lives. But we need to remember that the Lord, who does so much for us every single day, never leaves us. He is always with us, looking after us, leading us towards what is eternally happy.

We need to stop worrying so much. We need to place our confidence in Him. We need to rest in the strength of His arms. He loves us. He is looking after us. And He will protect us, forevermore.

Amen.