Thanksgiving by Rev. Dr. Jay Marshall Groat – November 24, 202, at Mount Vernon, Ohio, based on I Thessalonians 5:12-22

I shared with you previously that I am part of a clergy peer group sponsored by our UCC local association, and I’ve been part of it for seven or eight years now. It’s a very important part of my life. We meet monthly at the First Congregational Church in Columbus. We met last week, and one of the first things our leader of the group said was, “Well, I’m sure you’re all preaching on the Reign of Christ this Sunday because that’s the lectionary,” and I said, “Well, I’m not.” And then I said, “Well, I am, sort of. No, I am, but my congregation” – I’m talking now to my peers and I’m referring to you – “the congregation that I serve, they’ve got something that they’re going to have to deal with Sunday morning and that is this is the Sunday before Thanksgiving.”

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I know I’m not alone in this. So, every year, wherever I am, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, we’re going to talk a little bit about Thanksgiving. Well, I’m going to talk about it, and hopefully you’re going to listen. And we’re also going to talk about the Reign of Christ. The aspect of the Reign of Christ that I bring up is, we warm ourselves at fires that we did not build. We drink from wells that we did not dig. This is true for all of us, as individuals, as families, and it’s true for us as a faith community. We warm ourselves at fires that we didn’t build, we drink from wells that we didn’t dig. And on this Reign of Christ Sunday, we remember those who have come before. Because it’s the Sunday before Thanksgiving we can give thanks.

There’s a picture of the spirit of what I’m trying to communicate. This is a picture that hangs in one of the bedrooms of our house. Obviously, you can’t see it, but I brought it with me this morning. I’ve often used this picture in children’s messages before and I just love it because the first time it happened, I was shocked, and then it happens every time. Every time. I ask the young child, I show them this picture and I say, OK, where am I in this picture? I think I’m about 13 years old in this picture, and in this picture are my mother, my father, my maternal grandfather, me, my older brother Jeff and my younger sister Jill. In the past in the children’s message when I wanted to talk about Thanksgiving and being grateful and those who have come before us, I show them this picture and I say, pick out me, and every time who do they point to? My father. Every time. First time it happened I was shocked and then I became less shocked. None of them picked me. And so on this Reign of Christ Sunday, in the midst of the words from Paul, I manage to give thanks. I invite you to think about those who have come before you, and those who have come before us. Sometimes the most powerful prayer you can pray is thank you. The Sunday before Thanksgiving.

Barb has read for us a portion of Thessalonians and it’s not part of the lectionary. I picked it, I always pick it the Sunday before Thanksgiving. The scholars tell us that Paul founded the church in Thessalonica. That’s a fun city to say, Thessalonica. He founded the church in Thessalonica, and it was so contentious that after about three weeks at this new church in Thessalonica Paul made the difficult decision, and he said, “I have to leave. I am such a source of conflict for all of this, but I’ve got to leave.” The primary conflict that was building inside that church was they were starting out as this new concept of Christianity, and there was conflict. There were Jews who had been Jews their whole life and now becoming Christian. They were unsure as to what that means, and what about religious rites being observed for centuries like circumcision? How does that work now? And then they had a group of what normally we would call pagans who came in and joined this faith community. And Paul had to leave. He said, “The best thing I can do now is leave.” And then he wrote this letter, and it was a word of encouragement. One of the things that he wrote is this, it’s towards the end of the letter. I’m thinking maybe if anyone wants to join this faith community as a new member maybe these will be our new requirements. Here’s what you have to do in order to join this church. Ready? Rejoice always, pray constantly – we’re going to follow you around and make sure you’re praying constantly, is this a good plan? And on this Sunday before Thanksgiving here’s the one that haunts me, and I want it to haunt you. It says, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” These are our new requirements for church membership. Give thanks in all circumstances.

Hold on to that, because I’m going to help you with that at the end of this message. I’m going to help you with that. Can we get even close to that? Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Is it possible that maybe the intent to do these things is virtuous in itself? Is it possible? Please, somebody say yes. Yeah. Is it possible that maybe Paul wasn’t as naïve as we might think. Paul, come on. Giving thanks in all circumstances? Maybe he knew something, that’s the attempt, being open to the possibility.

I’ve been struggling with sharing something with you as part of this message, and I’m going to share it with you now in a way that I feel is ethical. And that is that I have a very dear friend who lives in another state. He’s a pastor, he’s a UCC pastor, and he serves a congregation. We’ve been friends for decades, and my dear friend is gay. We had a phone conversation this past week, and I’m frightened for him because in the conversation that we shared he was in utter despair over recent events in the life of our nation. Is that generic enough in a sermon? He is absolutely, utterly in despair, and I’m frightened for him. He sees no way out. My wife Vicki and I took a walk last night and I talked with her, I mused with her. I said, I can’t get him off my mind. I said his name, I talked with her about it. I said I’m convinced that part of his reaction has to do with how he identifies as a gay man. His response is I think different than mine, I think there’s a factor there, and I’m wondering about that, thinking about that, and overnight praying about that. I wondered what to say to my friend who is in utter despair on the phone, so here’s what I did. I called him by his first name, I said, “Listen, here’s my advice to you – rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I said this to him on the phone and he said, “Hallelujah! Jay, thank you, you’re the savior! You fixed me!”

No one on this earth loves Paul and his writings more than I do, so the last thing I would want to do is stand here and lie to you. That’s not what I’m doing. I’m saying that Paul is on to something here, and it’s nitroglycerin, and it needs to be handled with care. There’s something to it. Of course I didn’t say that to my friend, of course not. Sometimes the holiest thing we can do is listen and plan our next move. My next move with my friend is I’m just going to simply give him a call, another phone call this week, and say hi, I’d like to talk. I’ve no idea where that would go.

But Paul’s on to something, and I’ll leave you with this. I’ve always struggled with this notion of giving thanks in all circumstances, so I realized I needed help. So I went to another friend, who lives in another state and is a UCC pastor, and I said, “What do you do with this?” And he said, “Well, it’s funny that you mention that because I preached a sermon on that a while back, and you can find it online, you can find it on our website.” So, I did, and here’s what my friend said, quote – “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” And my friend writes, “It is worth noting that Paul does not tell the people to give thanks for all circumstances.” He doesn’t say give thanks for these circumstances. And my friend goes on to write and to preach, “What Paul is trying to say is give thanks in all circumstances, because no matter what the circumstances, Christ is with you.” That’s what I’m going to try to find a way to say to my friend this week. We know each other well enough; he knows that I can’t fix him, and that’s not what I’m about. But I’m going to say to my friend what I’ve only been saying to myself every day, on my good days. I’m going to try to give thanks in this circumstance because no matter what, Christ is with us. The living spirit of Christ bubbles up within, and we discover levels of faith that we didn’t know we had. Thanksgiving. The Reign of Christ. Amen?