Date: 02 Oct 2000
Time: 18:49:11
Am I the only Canadian on the DPS? Thanksgiving is a time to thank God for the harvest... but also for the bountiful blessings in our lives. It is a time to thank God for the Holy Spirit's presence; for the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ; for creation and God continuing to work with us. We need to thank God for all that grows, ie: our relationship, our children, our friendships, our spirituality, our community. This is a time to say thanks. To sing songs of praise and re-dedictate our lives to Christ.
Rev WWM (QC)
Date: 02 Oct 2000
Time: 22:33:25
No you are not the only Canandian. Dennis in Calgary
Date: 03 Oct 2000
Time: 23:29:35
Hi all.
Yes, Thanksgiving is a time to thank God for all the blessings we have been given.
But this weekend is not just a time for giving thanks. It is also a time to be challenged to begin LIVING thanks, by looking beyond the gratification of being given lots of neat stuff: a neat country, a neat economy, a neat government, a neat computer, a neat congregation, a neat family, a neat meal at which we can overeat....
I can't help but think about the passage wherein we are told, "From whom much is given, much is required."
This is one world, and we cannot give thanks for our "stuff" without acknowledging those in this one world who don't have as much stuff, let alone those who have none!
Nor, I venture to say, should we offer a simplistic "Thanks" without an increasingly uncomfortable awareness that much of our "neat stuff" comes at the expense of those who have little or none.
I find it more and more impossible to hide behind the old, "Well, we worked for it, and that's why we have it. All they have to do is work harder, and they'll have it too." This is not only ignoring the reality of poverty, it is also an anti-God mindset, which is MILES/KILOMETERS away from true thanksgiving.
Struggling with this uncomfortable fact seems to me to a beginning step toward "striving for the kingdom of God and its righteousness."
Rick in Canada, eh?
Date: 04 Oct 2000
Time: 17:25:35
As I began to read the Gospel over, I had a bit of a sense that the message was, in the words of the AA motto, "Let Go, Let God". In itself, that is wise - and different from the naive "don't worry, be happy".
But the last line - which connects to the hymn - adds an important peice of perspective: Seek ye first the kingdom of God...
peace
kent in Québec
Date: 04 Oct 2000
Time: 21:33:10
There is great power in being thankful. Here in the southern Alberta prairies some farmers may not be bursting with thanksgiving over the harvest. Because of the drought, it wasn't such a great harvest. and yet we still need to be thankful.
when I was young I remember a prison chaplain telling our youth group about a prisoner who encountered God and became a Christian because of being thankful. He had told the chaplain that he just couldn't pray. the chaplain suggested that everyday he simply "thank you for ____" over the weeks he increased the number of things he was thankful for and then he realized he was talking to one who is living and hears his thankfulness, and all his prayers. So being thankful even when there isn't on the surface a lot to be thankful for is very powerful.
Oprah’s Gratitude Journal is on the right track. We need to be thankful everyday, but it is important to mark days in to be thankful: Thanksgiving (regardless of how thankful your feeling) because if we don’t take the time to celebrate and be thankful, we may fill that time with complaining about something.
KB in AB
Date: 06 Oct 2000
Time: 14:49:36
I agree with Rick, so many forget that thanksgiving is not just a time for giving thanks but a time to remind us all that we need to live our thanks. We need to take the time to stop and look around us and see what God has given us in creation, in life. We need to stop and look at the flowers, the birds and the people in our lives. It is a time to re-dedicate our lives to Christ and show our gratitude by serving God each day.
It is also true, the more we say thank-you, the more we appreciate. The more we thank our God, the closer we become.
Thanks.
WWM (QC)
Date: 30 Oct 2000
Time: 23:42:59
Eucharistic lives are for everyday. Christians are people who "make thanksgiving" in the midst of difficult, allowing God to be, and letting go of worldly security to embrace the heavenly.
tom in ga
Date: 13 Nov 2000
Time: 00:22:55
I'm thinking of a song by Medical Mission Sisters, miriam Terese Winter, that goes with this Gospel text, Don't worry about food or what you are to wear, I've got to find that and see if it may just be usable in the sermon. I like the idea that we need to be reminded about living our thanks and reminded to say thanks to others not only on Thanksgiving and special occassions but each day of our lives. What would happen if we each lived our thankfulness to God?
Date: 13 Nov 2000
Time: 15:31:33
Dear Friends, I plan to preach from the Matthew 6:25-34 passage , using a thanksgiving theme. However, I have a problem with worry. Jesus tells us not to worry, but who among doesn't? It seems to me that Jesus is telling us to focus on God and not our worries, and that God has His own way looking after us. Any comments? Suggestions? I appreciate your input.
P.S.: To you folks in Canada...We celebrate Thanksgiving in Kansas on Novlember 23rd. Blessing to all of you!!!! Signed, J.R.B. in Kansas
Date: 14 Nov 2000
Time: 15:57:21
To the one who was looking for Sister Miriam T. Winter's song "Don't Worry" . . . e-mail me at church5@mint.net if you still need it. I have it. RevMom in Maine
Date: 14 Nov 2000
Time: 21:01:05
I'm doing thanksgiving this Sunday. One of my points is that even in the midst of drought and death and chaos and disease there are things to be thankful for. One of the pillars of our church recently died, and we are thankful for all she gave to the church in the way of service and joy, as well as to God for the gracious gift of salvation. It is an exercise in gratitude to find the positive in the midst of negativity. A lesson for all us pessimists. Martie in Rose
Date: 14 Nov 2000
Time: 23:10:20
I wonder if I dare venture into the U.S. Presidential (non) election for this sermon.... I've read in some overseas papers off the 'net how anxious and worried we Americans are. Actually I analyze the situation as our being bemused and slightly bored. I guess that's what 200+years of democracy does for you. We don't take to the streets because we figure somehow this will work out. We're confident:we don't have to worry. We Christians also don't have to worry. We have many more years experience of God coming through for God's people. Sure we go through the trying times, but the work of God in his people's lives in the past make me confident he is still working in my life. As I said, don't know if it will preach. I think people may come to our Thanksgiving service this Sunday to escape talk of the election
Date: 14 Nov 2000
Time: 23:55:17
Hi, All!
If you didn't use this particular connection last weekend with the story of the "Widow's Mite", she was thankful enough for the presence of God in her life that she gave all that she had. Not based on blessings of family and finances, these had been taken away, but for God's faithful presence, which persisted through her time of trial. What would you give for a friend who would stand by you when times were tough?
From there, we who are blessed with family and finances need to remember our obligation to the stranger at the door as our response to blessing, and to remind them that they are not forgotten, by God, or by God's other children. Thanks to Rick In Canada for "From whom much is given, much is required." That'll preach!
Blessings, Rick in MO
Date: 15 Nov 2000
Time: 22:12:15
A few random thoughts to pass your way as I ponder the Matthew passage...Is being thankful an alien concept in a consumer oriented, "buy more, get more" society? and... how is worry created these days and by whose standards are we made to feel worried? ... and if we all take what we need, there will be enough to go around (ie, harvest, food, fishes and loaves, etc...) Belinda in CA
Date: 18 Nov 2000
Time: 17:20:39
In the Conversations with God series, in the latest book, N.D. Walsh identifies 10 illusions in popular Christianity:
1 Need God has an agenda, will that is not being met.
2. the outcome is doubtful. failure exists
3. you are seperate from God. Disunity exists
4. There is not enough. Insufficiency exists
5. There is something you have to do to qualify for God's love.
Jesus sermon on the Mount teaches the opposite of these illusions. Don't worry or be anxious about your life because the outcome is not in doubt; because there is enough in God's abundant creation, You are not seperated from God but are indeed far more important than the Sparrows and even they do not fall to ground outside of God's care. You don't have to qualify for God's love. God's blessings do not go just to the rich, the happy and the winners in a competition for social justice. Blessed are the poor, the merciful, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those with no malace, and those who are peacemakers are indeed God's children and shall find that they have been greatly blessed.
There is unity in all things because the same God is lord of the flowers, the sparrows and all of us. God is indeed supreme and completely suffecient and that is why we need not worry.
It is not just that we will be happier if we think positive thoughts. Peace and Joy are there for us in knowing the truth, the greater reality is that God is in charge, God is good and God is the only ultimate power. This is reality and we need not create it with our positive mental exercizes. Simply let go of the illusions and accept reality for what it is; God the good, the all powerful who loves us and blesses us beyond measure.
Manzel
Date: 22 Nov 2000
Time: 17:07:07
How about "Don't worry, be thankful?" RevKate in Portland