Psalms 107:1-2 O GIVE thanks unto the LORD, for HE is good: for HIS mercy endureth forever.
[King James translation]
Luke 17:11-19 Now on HIS way to Jerusalem, JESUS traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As HE was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met HIM. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "JESUS, MASTER, have pity on us!" When HE saw them, HE said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising GOD in a loud voice. He threw himself at JESUS' feet and thanked HIM—and he was a Samaritan. JESUS asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to GOD except this foreigner?" Then HE said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well. [New International Translation] [The King James translation of Luke 17:19 states "...thy faith hath made thee whole.]
Thanksgiving
The Thanksgiving story of the 1621 New England Pilgrim colonists and the Wampanoag native people is a story with many themes. For some it is a story of a group of people (the native people) from one culture embracing immigrants (the Pilgrims) from another culture. For some it is a story of celebration for a people seeking economic opportunity in a new world and their meal of thanks as they looked to the future. Some see it as a day when a group of people who sought religious freedom gave thanks to God for seeing them through a rough winter. Others see it as a day of sharing—each person brings something to the table. Some see it as a symbol of unity--how people from different ethnic backgrounds can sit down at the table together in friendship and fellowship. Others see it as a day of victory to look back at those who braved the past danger in order to give honor and glory to God. The Thanksgiving celebration of the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people lasted three days.
There are some that speculate that the Pilgrims modeled their thanksgiving after the Biblical holiday of Sukkot, the Feast of Booths or Feast of Tabernacles. Sukkot, like Thanksgiving, was connected with the gathering of food. Exodus 23:16 refers to a feast of ingathering (i.e., after the harvesting), which is in the end of the year (i.e., the fall season). It was a time to give GOD thanks for the harvest and to remember how GOD had blessed the Israelites in the past, bringing them through persecution, out of slavery, through the wilderness and harsh times to the present. Sukkot also became associated with GOD's Temple and GOD's GOODNESS. Solomon dedicated the first Temple on Sukkot (1Kings 8:4). After the rebuilding of the Temple, following their return from Babylonian captivity, one of the first celebrations the people observed was Sukkot (Ezra 3:4). In Leviticus 23:40 the LORD instructed Moses that during the celebration, the people were to live in booths to remind the people that they lived in these temporary shelters in the wilderness and to remind the people that it was GOD who brought them out of their past state. It was GOD who kept them from generation to generation. Like Sukkot, for the Pilgrims, Thanksgiving was "a Feast of the LORD."
On November 27, 2014, people across the nation will be celebrating "Thanksgiving," a day that President Abraham Lincoln declared a national holiday by proclamation in 1863. Prior to Lincoln's proclamation, each colony or state scheduled and celebrated its own individual day of Thanksgiving. In an attempt to bring a nation together that was torn by the civil war, Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November a national day of Thanksgiving.
In Luke 17:11-19, we are given a lesson on thankfulness. According to Luke by giving thanks to GOD and praising HIM, we enter into right relationship with GOD and are blessed even more. The nine leapers were just physically healed. But, the Samaritan was made whole. Only the Samaritan was spiritually in right relationship with GOD, a relationship of gratitude.
Like the ungrateful lepers, it is easy to get caught up "in the physical" or "the material" aspects of life. All the rushing around, the meal preparation, the eating, the arrangements, the guest lists, the shopping, the clean-up and a myriad other activities can easily become the focus of the day. Sometimes, the simple act of giving thanks to a giving GOD gets lost.
Last Sunday, in order to remind us of how important it is to say "Thank You," my pastor asked this one simple question: "What would you have today if you woke up this morning with only the things you thanked GOD for yesterday?" It is a sobering thought.
I believe the elders in the church understood what it meant to be grateful for every single thing when they prayed and thanked GOD:
- For waking us up this morning and not into eternity;
- For articulation of speech and blood that still warms warm in our veins;
- For our last night laying down;
- That our bed was not our cooling board and that our covers were not our winding sheets;
- That we can come before GOD as wayward children and confess our sins and that HE
gives us one more chance;
- For life and breathe;
- That we can see and that we are not being seen;
- For everything---because YOU are just a MIGHTY GOOD GOD—and YOU are GOD all by YOURSELF!
GIVE GOD THANKS
Today, on this day before Thanksgiving, take time to remember. Take time to pray. Remember the elders who prayed for you. Take time to think about your many blessings.
On Wednesday, Thanksgiving Thursday, Friday and every day---give thanks.
Be well, be whole and BE BLESSED.
