Give thanks to Our Lord who meets us in troubled times.

(Note: this is Father Tim’s sermon from our Lake Wales Unity Thanksgiving Service on November 24th)

In many respects, our family’s Thanksgiving plans are unchanged from prior years. Three of our four children will arrive on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning with their spouses. The other, our oldest, will host his in-laws at their home on Thanksgiving and bring his family over on Friday. The groceries have been bought and the bird is thawing. We will pray together, laugh together and very likely eat too much together. Memories will be shared. Stories will be told. Some will play games. Others will very likely fall asleep in front of a football game. We’ve contributed to the needs of others, including through the Care Center’s holiday food drive and to our sister church in Honduras.

We have so very much to be thankful for in the opportunity to continue all of those traditions.

But these are strange times. We gather as a family, and here tonight, with a sense of caution, knowing there is unusual risk this pandemic. We gather in the wake of an election that some call divisive, but it runs much deeper than that. The election is like a fever, a symptom of the patients’ condition. The truth is that people have real disagreements on the very nature of our problems and the solutions we ought to pursue to address them. Among the issues of deep concern are how we respect, encourage and care for each other across racial, cultural and economic differences. Trust in our institutions in place to address those issues is low almost across the board.

All of that is layered over the ongoing sorrows that afflict God’s people every day.  Perhaps you’ve either had yourself or have had family suffering through other illnesses or accidents. Perhaps you’ve lost family and/or friends to all manner of death, be it COVID or accidents or cancer or other causes. So many will grieve those losses much more this week.

Our Episcopal Church designates this famous passage from Matthew’s Gospel for reading at Thanksgiving. It is also one of my personal favorites because my wife and I have turned to it again and again over the years to get through our hardest times; times of real want, when we weren’t sure how we were going to get through the next month financially; times when the responsibilities of young children, sick parents, work demands and our own health seemed about to break us; times when I was so down in grief and despair that I couldn’t see a path ahead through my tears. I’m talking about those times that drive us to our knees begging for God’s mercy and help.

In those moments, when I really did not know what to do or where to turn, I’ve found this passage offers astoundingly helpful advice. It is so very true. The truth of God’s provision. The truth that I cannot add a single hour to my life by worrying. The truth that my anxieties are indications of my lack of faith.

But this passage goes far beyond the value of Jesus’ words. Reading them, praying over them in those dark and confusing moments, I have found – Him. In my experience, that He is most clearly present. He brings the peace that passes understanding. He shows a glimpse of His Kingdom that strengthens us for the next steps toward it.

Abraham Lincoln had a dour face and it was customary in his era to look somber for pictures and portraits. This has led to an inaccurate reputation for melancholy and depression. He was, on the contrary, a gifted story teller who would routinely delight and amuse people. This gift was most acutely evident in the midst of crises, of which there were many in his life and in his presidency.

Even so, in October of 1863 much of his world looked very grim. Although the Union had won the battle of Gettysburg 3 months earlier, they did not yet know that it was a turning point. He had issued the Emancipation Proclamation at the start of the year, but slavery was far from over and Civil Rights for all Americans were much farther still. He was very unpopular with much of the country and his reelection doubtful. Worst of all, he and his wife Mary had lost their middle son, 11-year-old Willie – to a fever 18 months prior. He remained deep in grief and Mary was inconsolable. In short, he had a lot to worry over, a lot to cause anxiety and a lot to invite depression.

In those dark and difficult days, President Lincoln called for a national day of Thanksgiving, which has been observed annually in this country ever since. We’ve provided a copy of his Thanksgiving Proclamation. I encourage you to share it with your families and friends. It is easy to find and share online. It proclaims the bright light of hope and comfort that God shines into the darkness at a time much darker than our own.

We are conflicted, but we are not at war. We have a pandemic, but their medical capacities were crude and horrific by our standards. Joined with this passage from Matthew, and the passage from Philippians, which Paul wrote from prison while very ill, and the joy of Psalm 100, we see the depth of God’s love and grace shine in the midst of our strife. Praise be to God!

Above all, we give thanks for God’s greatest gift of Christ Jesus, whose own sacrifice on that darkest of days atones for our sin and through whom we have His invitation to eternal life.

The other side of this Gospel passage is that God will very likely meet the needs of some desperate soul through someone like you, and maybe specifically you. He calls us to share his grace and truth and love to all people, to care for the widows and orphans, the poor and the sick, the prisoners and the outcast.

Christ calls us, Christ commands us, to overcome our divisions and conflicts by seeking first the Kingdom of God, by looking for Christ in our brothers and sisters and by bearing each other up when we fail. And this is spade work, tilling the garden, day by day, week by week, month by month and year by year. He is transforming the world.

So let’s recap our Thanksgivings:

We give thanks for all God does for us.

We give thanks for all the ways God comes to us.

And we give thanks for all the ways that God works through us.

May God bless and watch over your Thanksgiving, touch you and continue to use all of us as agents of his healing grace in our community. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done.

AMEN