Title: Thanks A Million

Date: 2008-11-16

Reference: I Chronicles 16: 7-12, 28-34

"This last week I had the privilege of serving on a Board of Ministry Visitation Team. These teams go out and visit the churches of those pastors who are applying for ordination. We had a similar team visit our church a couple of years ago to hear about Pastor EunJoo’s ministry among us. This ended up being a six hour investment, but I felt it was worth the time and effort. As I was leaving the pastor we visited said: “Thanks a million for coming out and doing this for me.”

Thanks a Million. We’ve all said something similar. Thanks a lot.. Thanks a bunch.. Thanks so much.. Thanks a million. In each case we express sincere thanksgiving for some kindness, gift, or service. Taken literally that is a lot of thank yous. A few years ago a man tried to copy right a booklet he had put together entitled: “A Million Thanks.” The booklet turned out to be nothing more than the word Thanks printed a million times. The copy right office declined his request saying a single word cannot be copyrighted.

If we are serious about Thanksgiving we should offer God a million thanks. Many or most of the things we would thank God for would be small things. I found a poem in my Grandmother’s Bible. She had clipped it from a church paper years ago. The poem expresses what I am trying to say: “Thank you God for the little things that often come our way. The things we take for granted but don’t mention when we pray. The unexpected courtesy, the thoughtful kindly deed. A hand reached out to help us in the time of sudden need. Oh make us more aware dear God of little daily graces that come to us with sweet surprise from never dreamed of places.” The most inspiring people I know are those folks who lived grateful lives. They are the ones who didn’t take a single gift from God for granted. When we get right down to it everything we refer to as our own belongs to God. Even the money and time you kept back for yourself this morning, everything belongs to God. The air in your lungs at this very moment is a gift from a loving God. We often neglect to thank God for the many small blessings that come our way each day and we take for granted.

As a part of your Thanksgiving celebration, I encourage you to take a Thanksgiving Inventory. List the many everyday gifts from God. Wondrous scents and things to hear. Things to taste, feel and see. Mountains, valleys, oceans, rivers, streams. The warmth of the sun, the beauty of the full moon. Breath, fire, music, hobbies, sports, arts. Hugs, laughter, smiles. I shared a Thanksgiving Alphabet with a couple of groups this season. This was a list of things children indicated they were thankful for from A to Z. Many were the simple gifts we might well take for granted. America, Apples, Bible, baseball, church, children, cookies, dads, eyes and ears, friends and family, football. They even managed to find something for X. All the X-tra gifts we should be thankful for.

Every day should be a Thanksgiving Day as we offer up our prayers...Thanks a Million God. I believe it’s helpful to be specific when saying thank you. List the people for whom you are thankful, the things for which you are thankful. List the experiences you have had. Possessions. Gifts from the garden, meaningful memories, favorite meals, influential books, favorite places, spiritual leaders.

A Native American Leader once wrote: “When you arise in the morning give thanks for the morning light. Give thanks for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies within yourself.” The Psalmist wrote: “I will always thank the Lord. I will never stop praising and thanking God. Praise the Lord for what He has done. Proclaim with me the Lord’s greatness. Let us praise the name of the Lord together.” (Psalm 34) I believe the Psalmist would be comfortable saying: “Thanks a million God.”

I try to start each day being thankful. As I wake each morning I thank God for a night’s rest. I’m thankful for the warm bed I have been lying in. Most days I’m thankful for the ability to pull myself out of bed and for the warm water ready for shaving and bathing. I’m thankful for the hot cup of coffee waiting for me to enjoy. I’m even grateful for the warm greeting the dogs give me as I come down the stairs. Thankful for my family also waking up. Thankful for the food we will enjoy, for the prayer time. Thankful for the transportation to get us all where we need to be. I’m thankful we all have a place to go and something meaningful to do. Well you get the idea. Many of the things we enjoy, things that make life more enjoyable and fulfilling are the small gifts from God’s hand we take for granted.

Today we are intentional in thanking God for those small gifts. We know everything we enjoy comes as a free gift from the open hand of a Graceful God. As far back as three thousand years ago, King David called for a time of general Thanksgiving. David’s Thanksgiving Proclamation is our Scripture Reading today. David called for a time set aside to recognize God’s goodness and to express our gratitude for the blessings the people had received from God. Many years later, in 1620, the Pilgrims knew they had been brought across the ocean by God’s guiding hand. They knew it was not by their might, skill, wisdom and power they lived and prospered., but by the blessings of God they were surviving. They not only thanked God for what God provided but thanked God for what He spared and shielded them from.

The Prayer of the Pilgrims was: “Thank you God for the care that did not come to try us. The burden we did not bear. The trouble that passed us by. The task we did not fail to do. The hurts we did not cherish, the friend who did not prove untrue. The joy that did not perish. Thank you for the blinding storm that did not consume us. Thank-you for the blight of harm that came not upon our dwelling for the bitter word unspoken, and grace unmade the tear unshed for the heart tie still unbroken.”

The Pilgrims held the first Thanksgiving Festival at Plymouth in Oct. 1621. They had survived a bitter Winter, hunger, sickness, and death. Life was better. They were able to plant seeds which produced a good crop. They were stronger, in better health. They had signed a peace treaty with the nearby Native Americans. Because of this good fortune the Pilgrims arranged to have a holiday on which they might rejoice together. At the festival there were games, and Indian dancing, target shooting and much food. The celebration lasted three days. This custom of Thanksgiving quickly spread through out the colonies. In 1789 President Washington proclaimed Nov. 26th as a day of Thanksgiving. In his proclamation President Washington said: “It is our duty to acknowledge the guidance of Almighty God, to obey His will. To be grateful for His benefits. To ask for His protection and His favor.” Our need to give thanks has not changed in all these years.

Amid all the trappings of this holiday I love, we can end up celebrating something quite different from the original intent of the day. If we allow ourselves to become forgetful we end up with an empty holiday. The victim of our forgetfulness is the source of our blessings, the God who makes Thanksgiving possible. This unique holiday doesn’t celebrate any great battle or victory. This is not the celebration of a political event or birthday of a national leader. Thanksgiving is a time set aside to thank God for the most common things of life, all gifts from God. If July 4th is a celebration our independence, Thanksgiving is a celebration of our dependence upon God. We are reminded never to take for granted even the most common, daily gifts from the hand of God.

The last two weeks our Wed. Night Bible Group studied Duet. In chapter eight God warns the people saying: “When you have eaten and are satisfied, Praise the Lord your God for the good land He has given you. Be careful not to forget the Lord your God. Be careful never to forget what you have seen God doing for you. May His miracles have a deep and permanent effect upon your lives. Tell your children and grandchildren about the glorious miracles God did.” Israel did forget but we don’t have to.

There are two classes of people today. Those who take things for granted and those who take things with gratitude. Thanksgiving reminds us we are all debtors to God’s generosity. Someone has described an atheist as a person who when he feels grateful has no one to thank. “We have someone to thank, our good and gracious God.

May our prayer always be: “Thanks a Million God.” Thanks for all you have done. Thanks for all you are doing now. And thanks in advance for all you will do in the future. We have gathered here to say thanks...thanks a million. "