Psalm 100; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-23 

According to Liturgical Calendar, today is Christ the King Sunday.   The Liturgical Calendar begins with Advent and ends with Christ the King Sunday.   Today, however, I want to focus on Thanksgiving.   And the following is what I found from the internet.   I am thankful for. . . 

• the mess to clean up after a party because it means I have been surrounded by friends.
• the taxes I pay because it means that I’m employed.
• a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means that I have a home.
• the spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means that I am capable of walking.
• all the complaining I hear about our government because it means we have freedom of speech.
• my huge heating bill because it means I am warm.
• the lady behind me at church who sings off key because it means that I can hear.
• weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means that I have been productive.
• the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means that I am alive.
• the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby.

Do you want to add anything else?  Let’s share what we are thankful for.  This morning, I am thankful for our children, their teachers, their families.  I am grateful for our church.  How about you, my friends?…, what are you thankful for? 

There is so much for which we have to be thankful.  The Psalmist sings, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise.  Give thanks to him, bless his name.  For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”  Today’s New Testament lesson is St. Paul’s final instruction to his Thessalonian brothers and sisters.  “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 

Let’s be honest.  It is not easy to rejoice and be thankful always.  I mean, there are many times when it is tough to be thankful.  Everyone of us has gone through the deep waters of life often enough to know it.  It is hard to be thankful when we are sick.  It is hard to be thankful when your loved one is dying.  It is hard to be thankful when we are denied something which we had set our heart on.  It is hard to be thankful when we lose something or someone we love.  But then, as thankless as we might prefer to be, we suddenly come across words in scripture that tell us we are wrong: “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving THANKS to God the Father through him” (Col. 3:17); or the passage we just read: “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  We read it. . . and we try to live it. . . but we do admit that it is tough sometimes.

We all know it was tough for the first pilgrims to be thankful.  As we all know, those folks had had an exceedingly difficult time.  Especially, the winter was very hard and bitter.  Eighteen women denied themselves food so that their children could eat.  Thirteen of them died.  Half of the 102 Pilgrims died of malnourishment, disease, and exposure.  Only about 30 of those who survived were over the age of 16.  A hard life, indeed.  Some proposed a Day of Mourning to honor all those who had perished.  But the others said “No!”… A Day of Thanksgiving would be more appropriate.  After all, even though half had died, half had NOT.  Reason to give thanks.  Good for them.  This is very well known story.  Now let me share another story.

Martin Rinkert was a minister in the little town of Eilenburg in Germany some 350 years ago.  He was the son of a poor family, but somehow, he managed to work his way through an education.  Finally, in the year 1617, he became a pastor in his hometown parish.  A year later, the Thirty-Years-War broke out.  His town was caught right in the middle.   In 1637, the massive plague that swept across the continent hit Eilenburg. . .  people died at the rate of fifty a day and the man called upon to bury most of them was Martin Rinkert.   In all, over 8,000 people died, including Martin’s own wife.   His labors finally came to an end about 11 years later, just one year after the conclusion of the war.   His ministry spanned 32 years, all but the first and the last overwhelmed by the great conflict that engulfed his town.   It was tough for Martin Rinkert to be thankful.  But he managed.   Listen to what he wrote:

Now thank we all our God
With heart and hands and voices;
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom his world rejoices.

What a magnificent spirit to come through in the midst of times of virtually constant devastation!  There is a great lesson there.  Perhaps the words he used were Martin Rinkert’s way of reminding himself just how to go about being thankful even while surrounded by such tremendous adversity.  Thank God. . . with heart and hands and voices.

For Martin Rinkert, the voice was the easiest of all.  He had sung in the famous choir at St. Thomas’s in Leipzig as a boy.  He enjoyed the songs and folk melodies of his country.  So, thanksgiving with the voice was as natural for him.   For us it is relatively natural too.  We might not have a beautiful voice, but we DO speak and sing.  Psalm 100 says “Make a joyful noise.”  It would be marvelous if everyone had a beautiful voice, but we know that is not the case.  It does my heart good sometimes (if not my ears) to hear someone singing the great hymns with tremendous gusto even though they could not carry a tune sometimes.  They are honoring their Lord, and that is all that matters.  Martin Luther, the reformer, said, “He who sings prays twice.”  So, if you are thankful, join the choir and give thanks to God with your voices.

Now, I want to be clear about one thing here: our scripture lesson does not tell us to give thanks FOR everything but IN everything, just as God’s word does not say, “All things ARE good,” but that “All things work together FOR good.”  I am certain that Martin Rinkert did not feel called upon to thank God for the Thirty-Years-War, but the words of his hymn, “Who wondrous things hath done/In whom his world rejoices,” surely indicate that even in the midst of such a thing, there was much for which to be grateful.

This morning, I am so grateful for many faithful servants of God who express their gratitude with their hands…, in other words, with their ministry and work in our faith community.  Especially, I thank God for our newly elected leaders, committee members and program coordinators.  Let’s us continue to serve with a grateful heart.

Martin Rinkert understood that thanksgiving with voices and hands was desirable, but he knew that true thanksgiving begins with the heart.  “Now thank we all our God/ With heart and hands and voices.”  HEART comes first.  By the way, what is heart?  How do we thank God with our heart?  I think it is more than a flow of spoken praise and a series of grateful actions.  It is a feeling that gets down inside us and permeates our entire being.  It is an attitude that shows up as unselfish gratitude, not one that says THANK YOU in the hope of getting something more.  It is an attitude of gratitude.  And I think that that is what Martin Rinkert would have us develop… a thankful ATTITUDE toward God. 

As we come closer to this week’s day of national Thanksgiving, as we begin to count our blessings, we pause for a time of self-assessment to affirm the necessity for a thankful heart.  There is no question that we sometimes have difficulty in feeling genuinely thankful.  I know Martin Rinkert would agree.  Half his life was surrounded by more misery than any of us have ever experienced.  Still, he was able to affirm his faith in the ultimate goodness of a sovereign God and experience that attitude of gratitude to which we are called in God’s word.

Now thank we all our God,
With heart and hands and voices.

Amen!