Kenneth L. Nelson - "Are You Ready to Give Thanks?" (November 22, 1998)
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Transcript
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Priest | Hear now, the word of proclamation for this day, | 0:12 |
as recorded in the fourth chapter of the book | 0:15 | |
of Deuteronomy. | 0:17 | |
Listen now for this portion of God's word. | 0:19 | |
So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances | 0:25 | |
that I am teaching you to observe | 0:30 | |
so that you many live to enter and occupy the land | 0:33 | |
that the Lord the God of your ancestors is giving you. | 0:36 | |
See, just as the Lord my God has charged me, | 0:41 | |
I now teach you the statutes and ordinances | 0:44 | |
for you to observe in that land that you are | 0:47 | |
about to enter and occupy. | 0:50 | |
You must observe them diligently, | 0:53 | |
for this will show your wisdom and discernment | 0:56 | |
to the peoples, who when they hear all these statutes | 0:58 | |
will say, surely, | 1:02 | |
surely this great nation is a wise | 1:05 | |
and discerning people. | 1:08 | |
For what other nation has a god so near to it | 1:10 | |
as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him? | 1:13 | |
And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances | 1:17 | |
as just as this entire law | 1:21 | |
that I am setting before you today? | 1:24 | |
But take care, and watch yourself closely, | 1:27 | |
so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen, | 1:32 | |
nor to let them slip from your mind | 1:36 | |
all the days of your life. | 1:38 | |
Make them known to your children, | 1:40 | |
and your children's children, | 1:43 | |
how you once stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, | 1:45 | |
when the Lord said to me, assemble people for me, | 1:49 | |
and I will let them hear fear and words | 1:53 | |
so that they may learn to fear me as long as they live | 1:57 | |
on the earth, and may teach their children, | 2:00 | |
so that I approach you, and stood at the foot | 2:03 | |
of the mountain while the mountain was blazing | 2:07 | |
upon the very heavens, shrouded in dark clouds. | 2:09 | |
Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire, | 2:13 | |
you heard the sound of the words but saw no form. | 2:17 | |
There was only a voice. | 2:20 | |
He declared to you his covenant which charged you | 2:22 | |
to observe all of it, the ten commandments, | 2:26 | |
and he wrote them on two stone tablets. | 2:29 | |
And the Lord God charged me at that time to teach you | 2:32 | |
the statutes and ordinances for you to observe | 2:35 | |
in that land that you are about to cross | 2:39 | |
and that you are about to occupy. | 2:42 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 2:46 | |
(audience murmurs in unison) | 2:49 | |
Let us pray. | 2:51 | |
Come now, Holy Spirit, with all of your quickening power. | 2:56 | |
Pour out your spirit afresh upon us, | 2:59 | |
that as we hear your word proclaimed, | 3:02 | |
it may move us to obedience. | 3:04 | |
In the name of Christ our Lord, amen. | 3:07 | |
Today is November the 22nd, are you ready for Thanksgiving? | 3:13 | |
Have you picked out just the right turkey, chicken, or ham? | 3:19 | |
Of course you have. | 3:25 | |
Have you done the last minute shopping? | 3:27 | |
Of course not. | 3:30 | |
The shopping never seems to be done, | 3:32 | |
it seems that there are never enough eggs | 3:34 | |
or you just ran out of milk or something of the kind. | 3:36 | |
Are the kids home from college yet? | 3:41 | |
Having spoken with some of our students | 3:44 | |
it comes to my attention that a significant number of you | 3:46 | |
are flying out tomorrow, | 3:49 | |
although the break begins on Wednesday. | 3:52 | |
(audience laughs) | 3:54 | |
Have all of the out of town relatives started arriving yet? | 3:57 | |
Have you mowed the grass or raked the leaves yet? | 4:01 | |
After all, you know how your mother or mother-in-law | 4:05 | |
gets about those leaves. | 4:08 | |
Have you figured out how you're going to get the pies | 4:11 | |
and cakes and breads done in time for dinner | 4:14 | |
without undercooking the turkey? | 4:17 | |
More importantly, have you figured out how to schedule | 4:20 | |
the meal time so that it doesn't interrupt the football | 4:23 | |
and basketball games? | 4:26 | |
Now you're ready for Thanksgiving, right? | 4:29 | |
Well, I guess if you've gotten all | 4:32 | |
of those tasks accomplished, | 4:35 | |
you're off to a pretty good start. | 4:36 | |
Yet I have a sneaking suspicion | 4:39 | |
that we're just not quite ready for Thanksgiving yet. | 4:42 | |
It seems like we've forgotten something. | 4:46 | |
I don't know, maybe it's all of those Santas | 4:50 | |
that I've seen in the malls | 4:52 | |
or all of those Christmas lights downtown. | 4:53 | |
Maybe it's all of those advertisements | 4:57 | |
saying only 32 more shopping days until Christmas. | 4:59 | |
Maybe it's all that Christmas music | 5:04 | |
piped into every elevator and grocery store that you enter. | 5:06 | |
Maybe the reality is, | 5:11 | |
is that I'm not ready for Thanksgiving. | 5:13 | |
Or perhaps could it be that | 5:17 | |
in the midst of all of the cultural trappings, | 5:18 | |
that we've learned to ask the wrong question. | 5:22 | |
I submit that the real question at hand is not | 5:28 | |
are we ready for Thanksgiving, | 5:31 | |
but rather, are we ready to give thanks? | 5:34 | |
Perhaps a simple question, | 5:39 | |
but one which deserves a poignant response. | 5:42 | |
Are you and I ready to offer up mind and body and spirit | 5:46 | |
in giving thanks for all of God's bounty? | 5:51 | |
Are you and I willing to acknowledge that indeed, | 5:56 | |
God is the source of our being, the giver of all good gifts? | 5:59 | |
Thanksgiving is a odd religious holiday, | 6:06 | |
one that had tremendous meaning in a former age, | 6:09 | |
but which has suffered quite an ironic twist. | 6:12 | |
How did we go from the bleak austere pilgrim beginnings | 6:16 | |
in Puritan New England, to the self-indulgent, | 6:19 | |
self-reliant Shenandoah mentality of today? | 6:22 | |
Being as young as I am, people are often surprised | 6:27 | |
to discover that I am an old movie buff. | 6:31 | |
In an age long gone, there was | 6:34 | |
a wonderful classical movie called Shenandoah. | 6:35 | |
Jimmy Stewart was the leading man. | 6:39 | |
Do you remember Jimmy Stewart's prayer | 6:42 | |
at the dinner table in that film? | 6:44 | |
O Lord, we tilled the ground, | 6:47 | |
we planted the seed, | 6:51 | |
we watered the crops, we harvested the grain, | 6:53 | |
but we thank you anyway. | 6:58 | |
(audience laughs) | 7:00 | |
There was a time when the Puritans came to this land | 7:06 | |
seeking first a place to worship God. | 7:09 | |
Despite its hardship they were more than a little surprised | 7:13 | |
to find such an abundant country so filled with life. | 7:16 | |
Naturally, they saw this as God's blessing, | 7:21 | |
recalling the words of Moses to the children of Israel | 7:24 | |
just before they entered the Promised Land. | 7:27 | |
Do you remember those words which were read | 7:30 | |
in your hearing this morning | 7:32 | |
from the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy? | 7:33 | |
Surely. | 7:36 | |
Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people. | 7:38 | |
For what other great nation has a god so near to it | 7:43 | |
as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him? | 7:46 | |
And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances | 7:50 | |
as just as this entire law | 7:54 | |
that I am setting before you today? | 7:56 | |
But you must always be careful, he went on, | 7:59 | |
and watch yourselves closely, so that you neither forget | 8:03 | |
the things that your eyes have seen, the escape | 8:08 | |
from bondage, the miracles in the wilderness, | 8:11 | |
the gift of the Holy Presence, nor ever let them slip | 8:14 | |
from your minds as long as you live. | 8:18 | |
Put them in the forefront of your memory, | 8:23 | |
write them down on pieces of papyrus | 8:25 | |
and bind them to your foreheads | 8:28 | |
so that you never go anywhere without them. | 8:30 | |
Teach them to your children, | 8:34 | |
and to your children's children. | 8:37 | |
For it is in remembering God | 8:40 | |
and not becoming complacent | 8:43 | |
that you will always find | 8:46 | |
life. | 8:49 | |
Maybe this is why in divine providence | 8:51 | |
we observe Thanksgiving. | 8:54 | |
So that we will remember God, | 8:56 | |
and not become complacent. | 9:00 | |
For what other nation in the history of the world | 9:03 | |
has been more like Israel with the God who is near to it | 9:06 | |
when we have called upon God's name? | 9:10 | |
From those bleak austere beginnings in Puritan New England | 9:13 | |
to the heyday of immigrant arrivals in New York City, | 9:16 | |
from the rolling fields of Virginia, and the south, | 9:20 | |
to the courageous adventures of wagon trains in the west, | 9:24 | |
from the great mills and factories of the north, | 9:28 | |
to cattle drives in the southwest, | 9:32 | |
from Mississippi river boats to gold towns of California, | 9:35 | |
from the halls of Congress in Washington, | 9:39 | |
to the redwood forest of the Pacific, | 9:42 | |
from Silicon Valley and the Alaska pipeline, | 9:45 | |
to the pineapple fields of Hawaii, | 9:50 | |
God has been | 9:53 | |
our God, | 9:55 | |
blessing our people, grieving over our sin, | 9:57 | |
hallowing our dreams, and hearing our prayers. | 10:01 | |
No, we must never forget in an age of cynicism | 10:07 | |
and politics, that it was the conviction | 10:12 | |
that God is with us, that brought the first small boatload | 10:15 | |
of settlers to these shores. | 10:19 | |
It was that same God that inspired the signers | 10:21 | |
of the Declaration of Independence | 10:25 | |
and the founders of a new nation, | 10:27 | |
that put grit and fortitude in the (mumbles) | 10:29 | |
of the pioneers for their westward journeys, | 10:32 | |
that led to the founding of an entire network | 10:35 | |
of churches and schools and colleges, | 10:39 | |
which include Duke University, | 10:41 | |
that allows us to rejoin as one nation under God, | 10:44 | |
after a horrendous civil war, | 10:48 | |
and that kept us strong and made us victorious | 10:51 | |
in two world wars. | 10:55 | |
Yes, that same God allowed us to become introspective | 10:58 | |
and repentant over centuries of slavery | 11:04 | |
and our treatment of Native Americans | 11:07 | |
and immigrant Orientals and Hispanics. | 11:10 | |
And yes, it is certainly that same God | 11:13 | |
that remains our surest hope for world peace | 11:17 | |
and personal salvation and wholeness. | 11:21 | |
There's good news, my brothers and sisters. | 11:25 | |
We get a second chance. | 11:28 | |
It is only in remembering, | 11:31 | |
as Moses pointed out to his people, | 11:33 | |
that we truly know who we are and whose we are, | 11:36 | |
and are able to face the future with hope and courage. | 11:41 | |
Thanksgiving, then, is about remembering. | 11:46 | |
Unfortunately, the characteristic mark of our age | 11:51 | |
is that we do not really believe that God intervenes | 11:54 | |
in the world of our affairs. | 11:59 | |
We act in such a manner that says that economics | 12:01 | |
and public and private politics are independent | 12:04 | |
of the moral and divine realm. | 12:07 | |
Folks, Thanksgiving is really not the humanistic story | 12:11 | |
of a group of pilgrims who overcame the first harsh winter | 12:15 | |
and went on to form a great nation. | 12:18 | |
We do not give thanks for the pilgrims. | 12:21 | |
Rather, we give thanks for the God that they adored. | 12:25 | |
We do not give thanks for Thanksgiving | 12:29 | |
as simply a story of how we've overcome. | 12:33 | |
Thanksgiving is the story of a people who came to worship | 12:37 | |
and found that even in the midst of their darkest hour, | 12:40 | |
and most difficult of circumstances, | 12:44 | |
that God was with them. | 12:46 | |
It was God who provided for and sustained God's people | 12:50 | |
by the bounty of God's own hand. | 12:54 | |
Thanksgiving, then, begins and ends | 12:58 | |
with God. | 13:02 | |
It is God's own story. | 13:03 | |
Today is Christ the King Sunday, a day in which | 13:07 | |
we celebrate the coming reign of Jesus Christ, | 13:10 | |
and the completion of creation. | 13:13 | |
And next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. | 13:16 | |
Thanksgiving day is not very far away | 13:19 | |
from Advent and Christmas. | 13:21 | |
Purely, it is an accident of the calendar. | 13:24 | |
But it does represent a very important relationship. | 13:28 | |
For it is in Advent and Christmas that we look forward | 13:31 | |
to coming again of the second chance. | 13:34 | |
It is the great expectation that the season of hope | 13:38 | |
is reborn, and with it there is rekindled within each of us | 13:42 | |
a sense that we can perhaps start afresh, | 13:46 | |
that we can be begin with a new slate. | 13:49 | |
That is why it is such a welcomed time, | 13:53 | |
why it is such a high claim upon the affections | 13:56 | |
of people of great and little faith. | 13:59 | |
We are not washed up. | 14:02 | |
The book is not closed. | 14:04 | |
The last word has not been spoken or written. | 14:06 | |
Thanksgiving then is about how we will respond | 14:11 | |
to the goodness of such a magnificent God. | 14:15 | |
What then should our response be to such a great God? | 14:19 | |
Gratitude. | 14:24 | |
People who are grateful live their lives giving to | 14:27 | |
and sharing with others of what they have received. | 14:30 | |
My gram once said something to me | 14:34 | |
that I think bears repeating on this occasion. | 14:36 | |
Perhaps it was the summary of what Moses was trying | 14:39 | |
to tell the children of Israel and of what I want | 14:42 | |
to say to you this day. | 14:44 | |
Gram said, remember your roots. | 14:47 | |
Your history. | 14:51 | |
And the forebearers' shoulders on which you stand. | 14:52 | |
And there, in the midst of it all, | 14:56 | |
there in the midst of all that makes you you, | 14:59 | |
you will find | 15:04 | |
God. | 15:06 | |
Thanksgiving is about remembering | 15:09 | |
not to forget. | 15:13 | |
Are you ready for Thanksgiving? | 15:17 | |
Are you ready to give | 15:21 | |
thanks? | 15:24 | |
Thanks be to God. | 15:27 | |
Amen. | 15:30 |