Dear God, we do thank you for Sabbath.
We thank you for so many things that you have poured out in our life.
Forgive us for the times that we have forgotten.
Guide us and bless us.
In your name we pray.
Amen.
So, I'm assuming that many of us, maybe most of us, had some sort of Thanksgiving dinner
this week with family or friends.
How many maybe ate too much?
Did anybody eat too much?
Did anybody's dinner go the way that it was supposed to?
Or did anybody have any mishaps?
Something got burned, forgot to put the sugar in the pie, anything like that?
I saw one story of a lady who had gone to purchase mashed potatoes.
My wife would never do that, but she went to purchase mashed potatoes and she brought
them home and they went to scoop them on Thanksgiving morning and it wasn't mashed potatoes, but
it was shepherd's pie, so it had all kinds of other stuff underneath.
So I'm not sure if they were happy about that or a little bit disappointed about that, but
sometimes mistakes happen.
There was a story from a few years ago where a grandmother wanted to invite her family
or let them know the setting, the timing of Thanksgiving dinner, and so she ended up sending
out a text message saying Thanksgiving dinner will be at whatever it was, 3 o'clock.
She sent a text message to her grandchildren to let them know, to be nice, to let them
know the timing.
And a few minutes later she got a text message back from one of her grandsons and it said,
who is this?
And she said, well it's your grandmother.
And he's like, well send a picture.
So he sent a picture and a few minutes later the text came back and said, you're not my
grandmother.
And so she had been trying to do something good, she had been trying to do something
kind, and in that moment it ended up not quite working out the way that she had hoped that
it would.
And sometimes, as we're preparing something, sometimes things don't always go as they should,
as we hoped that they would.
So I wanted to start off with a little survey here.
I'm going to show two items and then I'm going to ask for a show of hands.
Which is your favorite?
These are some traditional Thanksgiving food.
Maybe you had some this week.
So stuffing or dressing, I'm not sure what you happen to call it in your family, or mashed
potatoes.
Which of those two is your favorite?
You probably like them both, but which is your favorite?
How many prefer mashed potatoes?
How many prefer stuffing or dressing?
That's not quite as popular.
Let's go quickly to dessert.
Pumpkin pie or apple pie?
How many prefer apple pie?
How many prefer pumpkin pie?
Is that both hands up or you really prefer pumpkin pie?
So now the next one could be controversial because some families debate this, argue this.
It's a traditional Thanksgiving food item, but how you eat it is what is controversial.
So cranberry sauce.
Do you like the homemade cranberry sauce?
Or do you prefer it where you just open up the can and it's got the ridges from the can?
How many like the homemade cranberry sauce?
How many like it from the can?
They prefer it that way.
How many don't really like cranberry sauce, but you only eat it for several hands back
there?
So we all have different preferences.
We all like things different ways.
And it seems like many of our celebrations that we have often have to do with food in
some way.
It has something to do with a feast.
You can think of Thanksgiving.
We just experienced that meal.
You can think of Christmas.
You know, there's often food associated with Christmas.
Or even a birthday.
If you go to a birthday party, there's going to be birthday cake.
If you go to a wedding, there's going to be wedding cake.
Even the Fourth of July, we think fireworks, but Fourth of July often there's hot dogs
or watermelon or something that goes along.
And we consider something about food that is associated with many of our celebrations.
And I can assure you that I'm all for that.
I like having celebrations with food.
And as we've just come off of this Thanksgiving time, we have to realize or we have to remember
that this particular Sabbath kind of comes at an odd time in the calendar.
Now let's be clear.
It's the seventh day of the week.
So that's the perfect day for Sabbath.
But here we are just a few days.
We're still talking about Thanksgiving.
And yet we recognize that a lot of attention has already moved forward down the calendar
to exactly one month from today to December 25.
And sometimes we forget about giving thanks and we start thinking about getting gifts.
And so this is kind of an odd time of year.
The Advent season has begun, but I want to pause before we rush past Thanksgiving and
just think about what God has done for us.
And think about whether or not we are able to celebrate so many things with feasting.
In the Bible it talks a lot about feasts.
There's feasts for different days.
They had whole weeks where they would gather together for feasts with the sanctuary services
and all these different days that are spelled out through the Old Testament.
And they had lots of time when they would gather together to eat.
But in Scripture they also had many times when they would call for fasting, for not
eating.
And in the Bible there were different reasons for fasting.
Sometimes they would fast and it would have to do with some sort of devotional prayer
time, trying to come closer to God so they're fasting to put all of their attention and
put all of their focus on God.
Sometimes they're fasting from one particular food item, like Daniel and his friends, for
ten days they only ate very specific things in order to show that God's way was the best
way.
But sometimes in Scripture they also fast and it has to do with the fact that they are
in mourning.
There's some sort of grief or some sort of loss that is going on.
And so they're fasting because of the sense of loss that they are facing.
And so as we consider these stories in Scripture we have to think, should we be feasting or
should we be fasting?
I want to turn to the story of Abraham, but before we go to Hebrews 11 I want to go to
Genesis chapter 12.
I don't have that one on the screen so let's go to Genesis chapter 12.
We find a Bible hero, a Bible character, he's called Abram in this chapter.
We know him perhaps better as Abraham as his name has changed a little bit later.
But in Genesis chapter 12, we're just going to read one verse, Genesis 12 and verse 1.
It says, Now the Lord had said to Abram, Get out of your country, from your family and
from your father's house, to a land that I will show you.
So God is telling Abraham to go somewhere else.
He's not telling him where, he's not giving him a destination, he's not giving him a point
on the map, he's not giving him any GPS coordinates, he just says get up and go.
And I'm going to let you know when to turn left, when to go north, when to go east, I'm
going to let you know where you're going.
And we begin to see a picture of Abraham here echoing the story of the Bible.
Because the story of the Bible from beginning to end is the story of people who are in exile,
people who are not where they are supposed to be.
You can think to the very beginning, in Genesis, God had created a perfect situation, a perfect
setting in the Garden of Eden.
And by the time we get to the third chapter of the book, Adam and Eve had made a decision
to go in a different direction and they're cast out of the garden.
And in fact, flaming swords are there to prevent them from eating from the tree of life.
And so they are separated from where they're supposed to be.
They are in exile.
And we see this story with Abraham as God calls him to go somewhere and he's not even
sure where he's supposed to go.
Let's pick up this story.
We're going to go to the New Testament.
We're going to continue the story of Abraham, but in the New Testament.
So we're going to go to Hebrews chapter 11.
Now who can tell me what Hebrews chapter 11 is kind of known as?
The faith chapter, this hall of faith where hero after hero is listed and it always says
by faith.
Abel did this, by faith Noah did this, by faith Abraham.
And so we see this story here in verse 8.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out of the place which he would receive,
excuse me, go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance.
And he went out not knowing where he was going.
It goes on in verse 9.
By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country dwelling in tents with
Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.
And then it says in verse 10, for he waited for the city which has foundations whose builder
and maker is God.
So we find Abraham going from place to place, wandering, taking whatever directions God
gave him, uncertain of where he might be the next month or the next year, just trusting
that God was going to lead him.
And so he was searching, wandering, looking for something that was better, looking for
something that was promised, this city whose builder and maker was God.
And this is the story of God's people from Genesis, they're cast out, they're wandering.
Abraham is called out, he's wandering.
The children of Israel, we find them in slavery and bondage in Egypt.
They're delivered, but what are they doing for the next 40 years?
They're wandering, they're exiles, they're searching for what is promised, but they hadn't
gotten it yet.
And even after they make it to the promised land, the story of scripture goes on and we
come to the days of Isaiah and Jeremiah and because of disobedience, because the kings
are leading them in different directions, well here come the enemies.
And they conquer Jerusalem and they conquer Palestine, the Holy Land, and we read about
characters like Ezekiel and Daniel and they are carried away to another land.
They're carried away to where?
To Babylon, and they are exiled, they are not in the place that they are meant to be,
they are found somewhere else.
And so for them, when they were living in exile, was it the time to feast or the time
to fast?
How could they celebrate when they weren't where they were supposed to be?
I want to turn over to Psalms, the 137th Psalm, Psalm 137, that's not a chapter we probably
go to very often, but the 137th Psalm kind of tells the story of, it's a prayer, a lament
of these people who are living in exile.
And so think about people who are far from their home, who are not where they're supposed
to be, and they begin to recognize that.
And so Psalm 137, it says, by the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and yea we wept
when we remembered Zion.
So these are people, they're in exile, they're in another land, and they're thinking of their
homeland, they're thinking where they're supposed to be, and what are they doing?
They're weeping, they're crying, and it says, we hung our harps upon the willows in the
midst of it.
They're musical instruments, they just hung them up, they couldn't even play them.
And then it goes on in verse 3, for there those who carried us away captive asked of
us a song, and those who plundered us requested mirth, saying sing us one of the songs of
Zion.
So these people who had captured them are like, entertain us, play us some music, play
us your old folk tunes from home, make us smile, make us laugh, sing us songs of Zion.
And notice how they respond, how?
How can we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?
We're not in a place to make you smile, we're not in a place to bring you entertainment.
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill, let me forget how to
play this instrument.
If I do not remember you, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not exult
Jerusalem above my chief joy.
And so they are in a foreign place, and they're like, how can we sing?
How can we be happy when we are in exile?
And so here we sit in the glow of Thanksgiving, with Christmas lights starting to blink on
around us, in the midst of this holiday season, and yet living in a world that is not our
home.
Living in a world where we are totally in exile, a world full of sorrow and full of
grief.
Think of some headlines maybe you saw this week, you know, some kind of war happening
in the Middle East, and hostages and people killed and different things happening there.
Or a potential volcano they were talking about in Iceland not long ago, a whole country about
to blow up as a volcano.
Financial uncertainty.
What about your grocery bill for Thanksgiving this week?
Have mercy.
It was probably a little bit more than it has been at some point.
And even as we look out around us, because of the dry season that we've had, if you've
seen the little weather map, almost every time I see it there's like, you know, a little
part of the southern states, and there's a little red section and it says, extreme drought.
And it's right here in Chattanooga in north Georgia, extreme drought.
And it was the last time I was here at church three weeks ago, three Sabbaths ago, I was
looking out this door in this foyer area, and you can see an amazing view of Lookout
Mountain up there.
And as I looked out that window on Sabbath morning, there was smoke billowing off the
top of Lookout Mountain.
And it was a fire up there a few weeks ago, you probably remember, it damaged the radio
towers to J-103, the Christian radio station.
And so for a couple days that station didn't play.
And there's other fires around.
On the other side of Lookout Mountain, and just all around, there's a haze, there's a
smoke in the air.
And as you, thankfully we had some rain this week, but as you just see that, we're reminded
that things are not as they are supposed to be.
And yet here we are.
But if I think about it, that's really the story of what Thanksgiving is all about.
You know, if we think about the first Thanksgiving that we traditionally talk about, that's kind
of the story of what happened then.
Does anybody remember the year, quick social studies quiz, what was the year of the first
Thanksgiving that we typically talk about?
All right, 1621.
That's my son, way to go, Brandon.
So yeah, 1621.
There was a group of people, we refer to them most often as the Pilgrims, also known as
Separatists.
What was going on?
They lived in England.
They were Separatists because there was some religious persecution that was going on.
And so they had separated from that main church, the Church of England there.
And a few years before, they had gone to Holland, to the Netherlands, and they had spent some
time there.
And then they heard about a place that perhaps they could have some religious freedom.
And so after some starts and stops, they made their way back to the England.
They got on a ship called the Mayflower.
All right, social studies is coming back.
And they sailed across the North Atlantic, headed for America.
But where were they supposed to go?
Yeah, they were going to Virginia, and because of storms or tides or whatever, they ended
up in New England, of all places.
In December, not the place to be.
And they show up there, they sign the Mayflower Compact, this promise that they're going to
have some democracy going on and different things.
And 100 of them get off of the boat, the Mayflower, 100 people.
And we say 100, and we can just think of a big blob, a big group of people.
This graphic kind of breaks it down and shows some family units of that 100 people.
You can see some single men, you can see some mother and father and three children, or you
can see some brothers, or you can see a father with two children whose mother had passed
away.
Whatever the situation was, it kind of breaks it down.
100 people approximately got off the Mayflower in December of 1620.
Now, there was no Walmart, there was no place to buy food or sleeping bags, it's frigidly
cold.
They'd just come several weeks across the cold ocean, and so it wasn't long.
By the time they made it to the next Thanksgiving in September, things had changed, because
approximately 50 of them had died during that first winter.
So almost half of the people.
And you can see the breakdown there.
A single male passed away, an entire family passed away, a mother passed away, leaving
a father and children, a father passed away, leaving a mother.
And so half of the group that first winter had passed away.
And yet when they made it to September, they gathered together for this thing that we call
the first Thanksgiving.
Now what could they have to give thanks for?
Half of their friends and family had died in freshly dug graves, and yet they were willing
to give thanks.
Because over that time, they had learned how to fish.
They had met a Native American by the name of Squanto, who had taught them how to fish.
Anybody know what kind of fish they caught the most of?
Cod.
And there's another one that's a little eel.
There's a lot of eels that they caught.
I've caught an eel before.
I have not consumed an eel, but I have caught an eel while fishing down in Florida.
But they caught cod and eels, and the Native American helped them to know how to plant
corn and how to grow their different crops.
And so by the time the next fall came around, they had warm homes to live in.
Well, let's say warmer homes to live in.
This was still log cabins with a fireplace, so warmer homes.
They had food stored away for the winter, so they knew they weren't going to starve.
They knew how to hunt a deer or whatever was needed to get some other food.
And so even though they were still grieving for the loss of their 50 family and friends,
they knew that they had something that they could be thankful for.
They knew that they had a reason to give thanks.
And so those 50 people were joined by about 90 Native Americans, and they had what we
know as the first Thanksgiving.
So I want to read a paragraph I saw.
Just think about your Thanksgiving dinner.
How many people were at your house?
Maybe some are still having Thanksgiving dinners later today or this weekend.
It says, the feast was cooked by four adult Pilgrim women who survived their first winter
in the New World.
And it gives their names, along with young daughters and some servants.
So four women and some kids.
So were they helping or hindering?
Maybe it depends.
And how many people?
There was 50 plus 90.
That's 140 people that were gathered together.
And four people did most of that cooking.
I don't think your numbers were quite that extreme.
Probably not.
So what did they have?
They had corn, squash, eels, cod.
The Native Americans brought some deer and also some game birds, turkey or duck.
And as they gathered, very close to the graves of 50 of their family and friends, they could
give thanks.
They could gather for food.
They could celebrate.
They could play games.
Because it wasn't perfect, but they could see something hopeful in the future.
Things were still difficult, but they had something to be hopeful for.
Let's turn back to Hebrews chapter 11.
Hebrews chapter 11, continuing this story of Abraham by this time.
Hebrews chapter 11, it says in verse 13, Hebrews 11 verse 13, these all died in faith.
Talking about Abraham, talking about all these people in Hebrews 11, this faith chapter.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off,
were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the
earth.
These were God's people living in faith, and yet they didn't receive the fullness of the
promise.
And yet they continued to have faith because they could see it coming.
They could hear and remember that God had promised it to them.
They knew that they were just strangers and pilgrims.
They were in exile.
They weren't where God had promised they would be yet, but that day was coming.
I want to go down to verse 16.
It says, but now they desire a better.
That is a heavenly country.
Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for
them.
They know the promise is coming.
They haven't received it yet, but they haven't given up hope.
They're still trusting that what God had promised is going to come to fulfillment.
God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
And guess what?
God has prepared a city for us, and we too have that same promise.
We too have something that we can be thankful for.
We are all like pilgrims, still longing for something that is promised.
And it's true, there are still reasons in this world to grieve.
There are things to mourn about.
Our church suffered a loss just this week.
A reason to grieve, a reason to mourn, a reason to fast even.
But even living in this world, we can find reasons to be thankful.
We can remember the promises that God has.
We can think to our life the last week, the last month, the last year.
And if we really sit and ponder, we can remember what God has done, what God is doing, and
we can look forward to the promises of what God will do.
We have reasons to be thankful.
There was a stack of mail out there for the pastor, and there was something I was thankful
for.
There was a sweet little card from Elena Evans.
So that was a sweet little card.
Happy Thanksgiving, turkey pie, maybe some soup, I'm not sure what that one is.
So just little things that we can be thankful for.
What about you?
What is something that you are thankful for this week?
Just think about that.
We took some time in Sabbath school sharing some things that we were thankful for.
Think about what God has done for you.
Think about the blessings that you have received.
Write at least one thing down.
Text somebody and say, I am thankful for you, or I am thankful for what God has done in
my life this year, and here is something that I am thankful for.
Even as we go through challenges of this world, we can be reminded that God has a blessing
for us.
Here's a couple of verses that we can think about.
Just a few.
Just a few verses that we could read from scripture.
But John 16, 33, it says, these things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace.
In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
So notice what Jesus says here.
In the world you might have troubles.
In this world you're going to have some troubles.
We live in a sinful world.
There's an assurance that we wish it wasn't there, but there's going to be challenges
in this world.
And God says, Jesus says, you're going to have problems in this world.
But even in the midst of the challenges, Jesus says, cheer up, be happy, give thanks, because
Jesus has overcome the world.
Yes, we face difficult times, but when we trust in Jesus, when we're on His side, Jesus
says I have overcome the world.
There's one more to look at, Galatians chapter 6.
If you can't think of anything else to be thankful for, here is something.
Genesis 6 and verse 14, it says, but God forbid that I should boast, that I should rejoice,
that I should give thanks.
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the
world has been crucified to me and I to the world.
No matter what else we're facing, we have this promise of grace.
We saw in our pre-time before church that we have a Savior who died for us to give us
grace, that that's what the story of the Bible is all about.
Jesus is on our side.
The world may seem to be falling apart, and when we read the paper or look at the news,
have mercy.
It seems like it's falling apart faster and faster, but Jesus is on our side, and Jesus
invites us to be strong.
I want to close with two thoughts, two different stories.
It rained this week, so there's not quite as much smoke as there was earlier in the week,
but there's still some fires going around, and with the fire on Lookout Mountain on the
other side, I saw some pictures of the fire, and we can think, oh no, the forest is on
fire, there's smoke, things are burning up, but don't just think about the problem, because
recognize that there's people that are taking care of the problem.
Someone posted some pictures of the fire.
They're on Lookout Mountain, the smoke's billowing off, but then there's also helicopters.
The Forest Service or whoever it is, they're flying over, they're scooping up water, and
they're dropping it on the fire.
So don't let the smoke just remind you of the problem, let the smoke remind you that
there's somebody that's on your side, that there's somebody that's helping solve the
problem, get rid of the problem.
When you see that difficulty, remember that there's hope, because Jesus says, in this
world you will have trouble, but I have overcome the world.
Now I started with a story about eight years ago, 2016, where a grandmother, Grandma Wanda,
sent a text message to her grandkids to say, come over for Thanksgiving, and there's some
screenshots of that conversation.
Thanksgiving dinner is at my house, 3 p.m., let me know if you're coming, and then here's
the response, who is this?
Your grandma.
Grandma, can I have a picture?
Of who?
Of you?
And so she sends a picture of herself at work that day.
There she is, yes, here I am at work.
And then the person on the other side sends back a picture, and he says, you're not my
grandma.
This was a young man, Jamal, who happened to be sitting in class, he was a high school
student.
What Grandma Wanda didn't know is that her grandson had changed his phone number, and
so she thought she was texting her grandson, but it turns out young Jamal, 17-year-old
high school student sitting in class says, you're not my grandma.
But then notice what he says next, can I still get a plate?
And she says, of course you can, that's what grandmas do, feed everyone.
And so sure enough, on Thanksgiving Day, Jamal came over and got some food from Grandma Wanda.
In 2016, eight years ago, and every year since then, they've gotten together at Thanksgiving
time, and they've become friends.
Wanda's husband passed away in 2020 due to COVID, Jamal's brought his girlfriend over,
and even this year, the eighth year, sure enough, I saw something this week in the news
that they were still getting together, all because a mistake had been made.
Jamal sent the message to the wrong person, and yet through that mistake, something good
was able to come.
Through that mistake, they were able to bring a blessing from that.
Through the challenges of this world, we can remember that we desire a better country.
There's challenges, yes, but something better is coming, and God is not ashamed to be called
our God, for He has prepared a city for them, but we can also read it, God has prepared
a city for us, and I think Jesus is coming soon to take us to that city forever and ever.
Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.
Dear God, forgive us for the times when we have forgotten your blessings, when we have
looked at the troubles of this world, when we have thought, oh, all we can do is fast
because there's so much challenges of this world.
The Lord help us to look at the blessings, help us to remember your love and your grace
and your presence in our life and your promise of coming soon.
Be with us in all that we do.
In your name we pray, amen.