Thanksgiving
Apostles’ Creed
November 23, 2016

“Part 1: Thank You for Creation”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

That thing I just said there, the invocation…we do that for a reason.  It tells us who we are.  We are Trinitarian people.  We live in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Trinity.  Sure, you don’t think about it that way every day, but there’s a reason that Luther said in the Catechism that we should begin and end every day in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  And the reason is because that’s how you live as a Christian.  Every day the Father gives you life and breath, every day the Son forgives all your sins, and every day the Holy Spirit gives you faith to trust God and His Word.  That’s how you live every day.

So, first of all tonight then, thank you, Lord, for the life and breath that You give us every day.  Not just thank you, Lord, for the roof over my head and the clothes on my back.  Thank you, Father Almighty, for all of it.  Thank you for those angels that right now are watching over me and keeping me from the countless times I would hurt myself.  Thank you, Father, for the air that I breathe, that is continually being received into my lungs and pumped through my blood to my entire body so that I can focus and think and see and move and live. Thank you, Father, for earwax.  If you really want to shake up your thanksgiving prayer tomorrow, say that.  Thank you for earwax.  Thank you for it because it keeps my ear from hurting, itching, and getting infected all the time.

Thank you, Father, for work.  That doesn’t sound right, does it?  I thought at Thanksgiving we were thanking God for time off from work, right?  But where would you be without work?  Thank you, Father, that I can work, that there’s work to be done, that people need my work, and that through work I can provide for all the necessary things of life.

You kinda see what I’m getting at, right? In short, we say, “Thank you, Father for making me, making the world I live in, and giving me everything I need to support this life.  Thank you, Father, that you continue to provide and protect me every day even though I’m often ungrateful and oblivious to it.  Thank you, Father.  Amen.

“Part 2: Thank You for Jesus”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Thank you, Jesus, for bruising the serpent’s head exactly as promised in Genesis chapter 3. We don’t often stop to think about how great an enemy Satan really is.  Think about how many times a day He tempts you to sin. Right now he’s tempting your mind to wander.  Tempting you to fall asleep.  Tempting you to think, “Church is boring.”  Right now he’s tempting you to think bad thoughts about somebody else that’s in church.  Or tempting you to ruminate in your mind how much you don’t like so-and-so.  Right now he might be tempting you to think about what food is going to be served tomorrow and how much of it you’re going to eat.  The Tempter works hard.

But you have Jesus.  Jesus has taken away the Tempter’s power because there’s no temptation that’s too great for you.  Every temptation can be overcome because you have Jesus by Your side.  The devil’s already beaten—he just doesn’t want you to know it.

But even more than that, you have Jesus for when you give in to those temptations.  That’s another thing we don’t stop to think about often enough—how often we give in to temptations and break God’s Word. Just our very thoughts alone are enough to fill pages and pages in just a single day.

So tonight then, we thank You, Jesus, that You have come to be our Savior from Satan and from our own sin.  Thank you, Jesus, that Your forgiveness and love are great enough to cover the greatness of our sinful words and thoughts and actions.  Thank you, Jesus, for giving me Your own body and blood on the cross and to eat and drink in the Lord’s Supper.  And thank you, Jesus, that You rose on Easter morning that I might rise from sleep every morning forgiven and new.  Thank you, Jesus.  Amen.

“Part 3: Thank You for the Spirit (for Faith)”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Thank you, Holy Spirit, because I wouldn’t know any of us this stuff about the Father or the Son if it weren’t for You giving me faith to know and believe it.  The Holy Spirit does what Paul calls in our reading the “washing of regeneration and renewal”.  That’s a mouthful. In short, He makes you new.

Now Black Friday is in two days and just think of all the new things people are going to buy.  Here’s a few crazy statistics for you.  In 2015, over 70 trillion dollars was spent on Black Friday. That’s 70 with nine zeros behind it. 133 million people shopped and the average amount they spent was over $400. Isn’t this crazy? What we’ll do for new things?

But the best new thing that you are given every single day is a new spirit from the work of the Holy Spirit. He does this by giving you faith in Jesus Christ so that the forgiveness of sins Jesus won on the cross are all yours.  And you are washed and made new through faith in Jesus Christ.

Thank you, Holy Spirit, that you bring all of us new spirits into the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints. Thank you, Spirit, for the one faith, the one baptism, the One Church, where we are all made new together through faith in Jesus.

So much to be thankful for.  Thank you, Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Part 4: Thank You for Everlasting Hope”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Finally, we have one more thank you to talk about.  Yes, there’s only three persons of the Trinity but I wanted to add one more part to make the picture complete.  And that is…thank you, Lord, for the hope of something to look forward to.  Thank you, Lord, that we can look forward to the final resurrection when our bodies will be raised perfect and look forward to the final new heavens and new earth where the entire creation will be perfect.

This is a big deal for us.  Because even on a day like tomorrow when we’re with family and we’re eating big meals and we’re watching football and parades and there are so many good things to be thankful for—even tomorrow there’s still so much sadness all around us.  Families will fight tomorrow or not get along or ignore each other.  People will be sick in the hospital or nursing home tomorrow.  Soldiers won’t be home tomorrow because they’re overseas fighting evil.  People will be persecuted tomorrow and people will be mistreated.  People will die tomorrow.  So we, finally tonight, thank you, Lord, for hope of a better day.  Thank you for the hope of the life of the world to come.

Thank you, Lord, that You promise a day when all sorrow and tears will be gone and we will see You face to face and know the complete joy of paradise.  Thank you, Lord, for hope.  Keep that hope alive in us.  Even as we thank You for all the joys that You give us in the here and now, we thank You for the hope of what’s to come.  Thank you, Lord. Amen.