Sermon for Thanksgiving Eve - Saint Luke 17:11-19

It's that holiday season again. Friends and loved ones are making plans for a visit. Christmas decorations are out in the store windows. Once again people's hearts are swelling with optimism. Jack frost has left his calling card. The smell of wood fires curls from the chimneys, and inside, mothers work their magic as fathers are heard to say, "Make some of those peanut butter blossoms that you made last year, the ones with the Hershey's kisses in the middle.

Yes, it's Thanksgiving week, and I'm supposed to preach on gratitude. And you're supposed to be thankful. Ah, but the civil courtesy of gratefulness does not come with the picture-perfection of a Currier and Ives print. The years can be hard to muster.

Our Gospel Reading for this evening tells us it happened to nine out of ten people in Jesus' day. Remember the story? Ten men. Ten severe cases of leprosy. Chalky skin. Loss of feeling. Highly contagious. Wrapped in rags. Made to dwell apart. Ten different stories of life interrupted. Careers ruined. Families broken. Dreams shattered. Then came Jesus. He healed them all, and pell-mell they began to rush back into the city. Each had an agenda, a thirsty desire to pick up the life they'd had to abandon.

One man, seeing he was healed, returned to fall at Jesus' feet to give gratitude. The other nine? They were "no shows." Perhaps they felt lucky. Or maybe they were just plain impolite. Or could it be they were just in a hurry and didn't have time?

Christ looked at the thankful man at his feet. He looked at the trail over which the others had fled. He said, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?"

Since it is the season for great feasts and big family gatherings, I'd like to share one of my recipes with you. It is a recipe for the best Thanksgiving ever! Where did I get this recipe? I got it from God himself. It comes from the Bible.

All you really need is a mixing bowl and several simple ingredients. Its not a very complex recipe. Why, your very life can be the mixing bowl. And here is what you first put in it. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says. "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." So the first ingredient in this happy Thanksgiving recipe is "Thanksgetting!"

Many of you are familiar with the old spiritual that goes "Count your blessings, name them one by one." Well, this is not such a bad song to be whistling or singing while you mix in several cupfuls of thanksgetting. Just stop and think for a moment! Which of you has gone hungry during the past year? Consider your clothing. How many pairs of shoes do you have in your closet right now? How about that job and your health and your family? My, my! When we count our blessing one by one we just have to thank the Lord! Our list of blessings is longer than your arm! We feel like the country woman who said, "The Lord has blessed me so good He's done filled my cup and run it over into the saucer too!

Jesus, while he was here on earth, gave a group of people something to be thankful for. He healed ten men with leprosy. Flesh that had been cancerous was made pure as a baby's skin. And the healed ones were so excited that they ran into the village for a reunion with their families. But one of the men took time to stop and thank Jesus for his healing. Now one out of ten is not a good average. I suppose we still live in that same kind of thankless world today. When you do something nice for somebody else, they are just too busy or too tired or too something to say a sincere thank-you. Why, it seems like the words than-you are becoming more and more rare. Thanksgetting is sort of like an endangered species these days. Why don't we just stop for a moment and see how much thankgetting we can find. After all, there's no use going on with our recipe if we cannot find all the ingredients. How about you? Can you find any thanksgetting? Is there something for which you would like to say thank you?

The second ingredient you will need for this happy Thanksgiving recipe is a heaping amount of pure "Thanksliving!" You don't have to be particular about it. Just stir it right in there along with the thanksgetting. Use the same bowl. It will be big enough to hold it all.

Now it's easy enough to thank God for the healings, the food, the peace, the luxuries he sends our way. But how about the setbacks, the pain and grief? Can we be thankful for them too? 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. This is not just an isolated verse either. The same recipe is taught in Ephesians 5:20. There, God says, "Always and for everything give thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father."

What is the first thing we should do when something upsetting happens? When we are driving down the road and you have a flat tire, do you curse and fume at you delay? What's the first thing you should do when you find out you have a terminal disease or the TV is burned out or your in-laws are coming for a two-week visit? You should stop and praise God. You should stop and thank him. "That ridiculous, Deacon!" you say. "Aw, come on now. We're not really supposed to thank God for our misfortunes, are we? The text says we should thank God in all circumstances. Not for the woe! But for God who has brought us to this day to show his power.

So, why be thankful to God during times of misfortune? Because the Bible commands it. "Rejoice always," says 1 Thessalonians 5:16. Why give praise to God continually? Why be thankful at all times? Because gratitude is a powerful healing force. Praise is an acknowledgement of God's goodness. It is faith, pure and simple. Thanksliving replaces complaint with satisfaction, self-pity with joy, and whining with creative love. Those who refuse to praise God and live with thanks during difficult times will grow bitter and pessimistic. But those who live thankfully will open themselves up to God's blessing. He can put their faith where it will be seen. Others can be blessed. All things work together for good.

If our recipe for a happy Thanksgiving is going to be complete we have to have some Thanksliving. Do you have any? Is there some problem or setback or pain that you are willing to praise God for, and thank him for bringing you your way?

Use your life as the bowl and stir in a little thanksliving with the thanksgetting. Now we need one final ingredient. As we return to the cookbook to see what it is, we find written, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). This is our final ingredient. In with the thanksgetting and the thanksliving we pour at least a gallon of thanksgiving.

Giving is nothing new to the holiday scene. Mothers work hard to give their family the best meal. Fathers work overtime at the plant to buy extra gifts for loved ones. Giving is a joy. It is such a privilege. Why, anytime we catch ourselves feeling really good and warm inside, if we check we will find that we have been giving to others. Jesus promised to bless the giver. If you give a single apple seed to the soil, you will reap an apple tree and thousands of apple seeds. Truly when we give, our blessings are multiplied. As Jesus puts it, "It is in giving that you receive."

What does it take to make a real Thanksgiving recipe? The family all at home? Health? Turkey and dressing? No not really. All you need for the happiest Thanksgiving of all is a mixing bowl. Your own heart can serve the purpose quite well. Just mix in several heaping cupfuls of Thanksgetting, an abundance of Thanksliving, and a large quantity of Thanksgiving. Then bring it to a boil with all of the warmth and love of our Savior Jesus Christ. You will have the best dish ever served!

Is there a legitimate reason for this tradition we will observe tomorrow? Shall we have another Thanksgiving? Oh, sure, it is the traditional thing to do. But is it worth it? One more? Shall we? Yes! Yes! Once more with real feeling - let us have Thanksgiving!

Thanks be to God!!!!!

Amen!!!