Thanksgiving Eve Vespers and Sermon
Thanksgiving Eve
Deuteronomy 8:1-10
1 Timothy 2:1-4
As we meditate on Psalm 67, we are aware that God is gracious to us, and that we blessed. We join with the Psalmist in praying that all people will praise the Lord and that every nation will be glad and sing for joy because of God’s kindness, provision, and salvation in Jesus Christ. Yet, we are aware that many people do not know to thank God, or even know the name of the one true God to credit Him with the many blessings in their lives. Instead of thanking the Lord God who created the heavens and the earth, us, all that we hold most dear and essential to our lives, they will instead speak of a “Higher Power”, or “the universe”, or proclaim that there is no god at all. But, the Church knows the truth of the situation. So, in behalf of those who do not yet know God as He desires to be known through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we will offer thanks and praise to the Lord.
Deuteronomy 8 reminds us that God fulfills His promises. He promised Abraham a place that would be his and that it would be the home of his descendants. Centuries later, Israel stands on the border ready to take possession of the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and them.
We are a long way from that moment and that Israel, but many of our own ancestors saw America as a land of great promise and hope. There was the promise of economic prosperity. There was also the promise of all kinds of freedom that was not readily available in the old countries of our origins. For example: freedom of movement; freedom to be an individual; freedom to pursue life according to our talents and abilities rather than from our station in life; freedom from oppressive government; freedom to choose our leaders; freedom to assemble; and, for many religious groups, freedom from the strictures of a state or national religion whose doctrine is contrary to the Word of God.
The fathers and mothers that would in 1847 become the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod under the leadership of C.F.W. Walther came to America to escape religious oppression Saxony. The government was forcing the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Reformed Church – what we know in America as the Methodists and the Presbyterians, amongst others – to ignore their differences and consolidate into one church body. The Lutherans were expected to abandon the Lutheran Confessions for the sake of a false unity of a single state church. In the 1830’s and 1840’s over 1,100 devout Lutherans protested by leaving and eventually settled in Perry County, Missouri.
Here, in America, the Lutherans could teach and preach biblically based doctrine and worship the Lord according to our distinctive Lutheran heritage.
There are many reasons for Americans to give thanks to God for the privilege of living in the land that the Lord has provided for us. Many of those reasons have to do with freedom.
In behalf of all the nations and peoples who do not yet know the name of the one true God and the freedom of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we say, “Thank you, Lord, for the gift of this land, this place, this people, and for every other blessing that you bestow upon us. We would not be without you; we would not be here without you. We thank you for this grace.”
All God’s people say…Amen.
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