Loving God, you provide all that is needed to those who put your concerns above all else.  Grant us the ability to be able to see your blessings and your abundance all around us, even as we give thanks to you through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    This week I was curious about how the celebration of Thanksgiving started in Canada.  As might be expected, some of the earliest feasts of thanks in Canada were held on the East coast, giving thanks for safe passage across the Atlantic or for the end of the Seven Years’ War.  However, the current celebration of Thanksgiving actually originates with a proclamation of Parliament in 1957 that we would have “a Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed” (www.twilightbridge.com/hobbies/festivals/thanksgiving/canada/).  When we give thanks, it does remind us that we have been blessed.

    Actually, it is no accident that some of the earliest feasts of thanks in Canada came after particularly difficult times.  Nobody really wants to experience seven years of war, and a journey across the Atlantic in 1578 was full of danger and scarcity.  It is easy to see how people would be ready to give thanks after finally reaching dry land, or after finally experiencing peace time.

    The experience would be very similar to what is described in our Psalm for today, where all of the laughter and the joy that is expressed comes after times of weeping and times of war and times of exile.  It seems that it is usually after being deprived of the good things in life that we are most thankful for what we have and most ready to celebrate and rejoice.

    Yet, it is in our gospel for today that we find how many of us actually spend our time.  Many of us do not spend our time giving thanks or counting our blessings.  Instead, we spend our time worrying.  Many of us have what you might call an attitude of scarcity rather than an attitude of abundance, and the messages that we hear all around us keep us focussed on scarcity.

    For example, how many advertisements do we hear and see every day that tell us that there is something that we need that we don’t currently have?  Whatever we have, it’s not good enough.  There’s always something new that we now need.  We’ve never needed it before, but now we do!  At the same time, we are constantly asked, “Will you have enough?”  Will you have enough for retirement?  Will you have enough for some security?  Will you have enough to give you peace of mind?  Will you have enough to support the lifestyle that you both want and deserve?

    Of course, once we start to believe that we will not have enough, this leads to fear and worry, as well as seeking out those who promise to protect us and to make sure that we have what we will need.  However, we so easily forget that there is no such thing as security in this world.  Ultimately, God is the only one with power over life and death and the ability to give and to take away.  And so Jesus directs us to the source of true peace and security and abundance: God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness.

    In order to do this, Jesus points us to the wonders of creation.  Look at the wildflowers that get all the plant food that they need and water without any of us helping them.  Look at how beautiful they are, with only God caring for them.  And look at the tiniest birds of the air, so delicate and small, and yet they survive quite well without our help.  It is God who looks after them and provides all that they need to live.  And so, if God looks after such tiny and beautiful things in creation, won’t God also look after us?  And then we look at those who are hungry and those who don’t have enough clothes and those without enough to live on and wonder why God isn’t looking after them.

    However, there are two commands that are part of today’s gospel.  The first is “do not worry” (Mt. 6:25).  The second is the alternative to worrying: “But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Mt. 6:33).  “All these things” includes food and drink and clothing.  So what about those who don’t have enough?

    In order to answer this, we need to know what it means to strive first for God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness.  That word “righteousness” seems to trip up a lot of people, so let’s start there.  One of the best ways to understand righteousness is as a right relationship with God.  We are in a right relationship with God when we have confessed our sins, put our faith in Jesus Christ and received God’s forgiveness.  That right relationship is revealed by living in a God pleasing way – in other words, trusting Jesus, loving God and loving others.  All of this happens through the power of the Holy Spirit at work within us.

    This right relationship with God also involves putting God above everything else.  Strive first for the kingdom of God, and all these things will be given to you as well.  This idea of the kingdom of God, of course, also trips people up and is the subject of most of Jesus’ parables.  (The kingdom of God is like this...)  Ultimately, it is a community made up of the whole human family living in right relationship with God and with one another.  However, here and now, we generally get little glimpses of the kingdom of God in those places and people that reflect a caring community in Christ.  It will only be experienced in all its fulness when we are part of God’s heavenly kingdom.

    Meanwhile, wherever there is a community of people living in right relationship with God and with one another, nobody goes without.  Just like in the early church, Christians who have plenty share with those who are in need.  As Pastor Harry Wendt has so rightly said, the problem is not with God’s providing, but with human dividing.  People go without because others are greedy – pure and simple.  And sometimes God actually uses other people in order to provide for those in need.

    And so, rather than worrying that we will not have enough, we are invited today to focus on our relationship with the one who continues to provide all that we need.  For, as long as we are seeking God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness above all else, all that we need will be provided.  This is true not only for individuals who belong to Jesus Christ, but for congregations as well.

    It is so easy for us to slip into constant negativity and focussing on the things that we don’t have.  As soon as we do that, we are no longer putting a right relationship with God and with others above all else.  We also stop seeing the wonderful abundance that God provides.  Truly, we have been given so much more than many other Christians around the world.

    We have been given financial resources, if we would only free them up for God’s work.  We have been blessed with wonderful, gifted people who are part of this congregation.  We have a beautiful sanctuary in which to gather, in a building that has heat and running water and electricity.  And we have been given the treasure of the good news of Jesus Christ – forgiveness and eternal life and a right relationship with God through him.

    It is good to give thanks to the Lord – good for your health – good for your attitude – and good for your relationship with God.  God has made it possible through Jesus Christ for us to have a right relationship with God and with others.  Let us then continue to walk in the power of the Spirit, placing God’s concerns above all else, and all that we need will, indeed, be provided.  Amen.

Thanksgiving Sunday(B)                        Matthew 6:25-33
October 7, 2012                            Psalm 126
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2012 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved