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Showing posts with the label Thanksgiving

Sermon - Trinity IX, 2026 - Luke 16:1-13

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The Parable of the Unjust Steward , Marinus van Reymerswaele, 1540 Christian Wisdom Seeks Eternal Dwellings Wisdom is forward thinking and focused on the goal Christian wisdom employs every treasure, heavenly and worldly, for the sake of reaching the goal If there is a hardest parable, it might be this one; throws people off every time. The parable presents a rich man with a steward who was found wasting the rich man’s possessions. The job of a steward is to be faithful with someone else’s possessions, and this guy wasn’t cutting it. So obviously, he got fired. What’s crazy is the rich man lets the steward hand in the books, and he doesn’t hunt them down and take them from him immediately. The steward does exactly what you don’t want the steward to do, which is why normally the books get taken from the steward: the steward cooks the books. He meets some of the rich man’s debtors, probably tenant farmers, and in order to ingratiate himself with the debtors he adjusts how much they owe, ...
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Sermon - Thanksgiving 2025 - Luke 12:13-21

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First Thanksgiving at Plymouth , Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, 1925 Thanksgiving is not about the abundance of possessions Early American Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is not just about a feeling of thankfulness but is about giving thanks to God While we give thanks to God for all of our possessions He’s blessed us with, Thanksgiving moves us beyond the possessions and towards faith in God A blessed Thanksgiving to you dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Thanksgiving is a civic holiday, but a very wholesome one, and I think it appropriate to remember its origins in our country. Days of thanksgiving are historically normal, while we perhaps think of the Plymouth colony pilgrims celebrating Thanksgiving in 1621, a great many of the early settlers to this land also celebrated a yearly day of thanksgiving. In 1789 president George Washington proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving, saying: “Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, ...
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Sermon - Thanksgiving 2023

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The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth , Jennie A. Brownscombe, 1914 It’s All A Gift Everything we have is from the Lord and is the Lord’s It’s right that we would therefore treat it all as a gift Have you ever received a gift you didn’t really care for? What did you do with it? If you have the receipt maybe you returned it, or re-gifted it to someone else, or you just tossed it. But sometimes gifts don’t immediately appear to have value, although they end up having value later on. For instance, that ugly Christmas sweater your mom made you takes on a whole different value after she’s died. Or having to rake your grandpa’s leaves with him seems kinda boring in the moment, and only years later does the grandchild cherish that time spent together. Usually the absence of something teaches us to appreciate what we have or had. Or great poverty or adversity teaches us what is actually important and of value, and what is just vanity of vanities. Being near death is one of those times of great po...
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Sermon - Thanksgiving 2022 - Luke 12:13-21

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The Rich Man and Death , David Kindt, 1580-1652  Life consists in being rich toward God.  Earthly riches are blessings from God, but they’re not the main thing. Having God and being filled with the Spirit is the true treasure. A happy and blessed Thanksgiving to you, my dear friends in Christ Jesus! I commend you for taking some time out of your busy day to blend your voices in praise and thanksgiving to God for all of His many gifts which He lavishly showers upon you. Indeed, God’s gifts are many and without number.  Some families and communities have traditions of listing out-loud some of the things for which they’re thankful. But we Lutherans could just recite our catechism. In the first article of the creed we say: “He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly an...
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Sermon - Thanksgiving 2021 - Luke 12:13-21

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The Parable of the Rich Fool , Rembrandt, 1627 Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is helpful for us Christians to have our minds and hearts properly reoriented toward the Giver of all good gifts. Between Halloween and New Year’s Eve American life is all about the stuff; it’s all about having ample goods and relaxing, eating, drinking, and being merry. Even though Thanksgiving is for many people little more than another day to fill our bellies with food, this is a great opportunity to take a break from consuming and be reminded of what truly matters. Namely, life is not all about the abundance of possessions and living comfortably, but life is about seeking the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus reorients our minds toward heaven when He teaches us the parable of the rich fool. This parable is a challenging one for us to listen to mainly because we so easily identify with the rich fool! Here’s a man who’s already rich, he has land and barns to store the crops. He has everything and more to meet his ...
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Sermon -Thanksgiving/Day of Repentance 2020 - Luke 12:35-48

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  As I sat down to put this Thanksgiving service together, I was reading through the usual assigned Bible passages and hymn suggestions. Truly, after reflecting on them, we do have every reason to give thanks to God, even during 2020! He has so richly blessed us in this land. Our nation is among the richest of peoples to have ever lived and prospered. Our land is incredibly productive and fruitful, our houses are strong and warm, and it’s not uncommon to live to 70 or even 80 or 90. We have luxuries and toys available to most people that not even kings and queens of could have dreamt up. Even during a global pandemic, the vast majority of people who contract it survive. Not only has God blessed us with temporal gifts, but even more so with spiritual gifts. Here in our country, up until lately, we’ve had unrivaled freedom throughout the world to live and act as Christians. Here in the Lutheran church, God has blessed us with His pure word and unadulterated sacraments. We have heaven...
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Sermon - Thanksgiving 2019

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“ You shall remember the Lord your God. ” “ The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, ... And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you. ” The Lord our God has given us His Word and He alone cares for us through His Word. When we remember the Lord our God, we both repent of our failure to keep His Word, and we rejoice and give thanks to God for giving it to us. Today is the last day when we as a church shall gather during this church year. Historically, a service was held on the last Friday of the church year, before Advent, in order to hold a service of repentance. As we think back on the past church year, instead of just recalling our many successes and joys and happy moments, we also recall our many sins, failures, and sorrows. We recall that we haven’t kept the commandments, we haven’t feared and loved God, and we haven’t kept God’s Word pure; we have sinned and for this we must repent.  When we recall all of God’s...
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Sermon - Thanksgiving 2018 - Deuteronomy 8:1-10

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“What are you thankful for?” I’m sure that’s going to be the question going around the Thanksgiving dinner table. I know of some congregations who pass around slips and ask everyone to write what they’re thankful for and then have them read aloud before the congregation. Many commercial advertisements and promotionals even ask people what they’re thankful for. That’s the question of the season!  What are some of the common responses? Health, home, family, friends, food, and jobs. Don’t get me wrong, those are wonderful things to be thankful for, afterall, they’re first article gifts. As we confess in the explanation to the first article of the creed: “I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me wi...
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