In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, it's my joy to greet you
on this bright Thanksgiving day. President Abraham
Lincoln set aside Thanksgiving in, I guess it
was 1863, and he wrote beautiful and compunctionate
and repentant words about the state of the Union
at the time. Words of thanks, words of repentance.
But before him, President George Washington made
a Thanksgiving Day proclamation of 1789. And
he set aside a day for the thanksgiving to God
of all the people in the country. And this is
something that he wrote, an excerpt. He said
this, we gather today, we give thanks today.
we acknowledge the providence of Almighty God
to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits,
and humbly to implore his protection and favor,
to offer public thanksgiving and prayer with
grateful hearts for the many signal favors of
Almighty God, who is the beneficent author of
all that is good, all that was, All that is and
all that will be. You don't hear words like that
anymore unless they're looking for votes, and
they're not that profound. That's for sure. But
note what he says here. All that was, we give
thanks. All that is, we give thanks. And all
that will be. Our thanksgiving, our offering
of thanksgiving, especially the divine liturgy,
is not merely for the benefits we've received,
which even in the midst of so many troubles and
so much suffering are very many. But we also
give thanks with an eye towards God's continued
providential care for us. We thank him for yesterday.
We thank him for today. We thank him for every
tomorrow. Case in point, the ten lepers. The
ten lepers were told to go. They came to Christ.
They shouted at him. It took some faith to do
that. They weren't looking for money. Not when
pieces of their hands and their noses are falling
off because of Hansen's disease. They come to
Christ and he tells them, go to the priests to
be certified that you are clean. That's why they
went. Go to the priest and they will certify
that you are no longer leprous. But they were
told to do this by Jesus before they were healed.
Before they were healed. And that going to the
priest involved a good measure of faith for blessings
to come. Now why do I say that? Just kind of
expect it's going to happen? No, it wasn't about
that. According to the law of the day, a leper
was forbidden to go near anyone and to go into
the town upon immediate penalty of death. They
weren't going to ask questions. You would just
be killed immediately. So there was faith in
the action of those men. They acted on faith
and were invited to do the same. Like the one
healed from leprosy that returned to Jesus, that
leper. Let each of us, let each of us, deliberately,
intentionally, and continually turn our inner
gaze, our mind, to thanksgiving to God, especially
in the midst of trouble. Yes, even during 2020,
as it's drawing to an end, especially during
2020. we're going to turn deliberately and intentionally
and continually our gaze to Thanksgiving, not
in an attempt to make ourselves feel good. You
can take a pill if that's what you really want.
And it's not an attempt to minimize the suffering
of so many people and the hunger and the alienation,
like those lepers, of so many people. The headlines,
massive lines of cars, miles long waiting for
food. Poverty. COVID increase, spiking. Joblessness
and jobless frauds in the millions in California.
Especially 2020. How dreadful. These days are.
But into it is the opportunity to have faith
on what is to come. I'm not a politician. I'm
not going to tell you better days are ahead.
Working together, we can make things right. Working
together, everyone's going to get ahead. Working
together, you'll be fine. I'm not a politician.
I'm here to tell you what St. Paul says. This
slight momentary affliction is preparing us for
an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
Because we look not to the things that are seen,
but to the things that are unseen. For the things
that are seen are transient, they pass away.
But the things that are unseen are eternal. St.
Paul says he rejoices in his tribulations. Let
us not take God for granted. Let us deliberately
focus on gratitude, knowing that Christ is guiding
us during difficult times. We mature spiritually.
We pray more. We give alms more. We pray for
those less fortunate more. How do we pray? Not
a nod to God. Oh God, please remember Bob. We
fall down on our hands and knees in prostrations.
We fast for them. We offer an akathist, a supplicatory
canon. We say Jesus prayers for them. We, secondly,
don't want to take God for granted. And if we
forget to be grateful, we will do that. Listen,
the prophet Moses said, do not say to yourself,
my power and the might of my own hand. have gotten
me this wealth. Let's practice active, prayerful,
liturgical giving of thanks, not blame God, not
complain about the things of this life that are
often given to us directly by God's hand to help
us and guide us. We're Christians. It's an odd
thing to say, but we have given God permission
for our lives to be in his hands. And so all
that comes to us as Christians because we have
given God this authority in our life. We say,
our Father, thy will be done on earth, here in
my heart, in my life, in my daily work, as it
is in heaven. We have given God this great trust.
So we give thanks to him for whatever comes to
us. We rejoice even in them. Father Alexander
Schmemann said these wonderful words, his last
sermon, just two weeks before he died. The sermon
of Thanksgiving Day. You've all heard it numerous
times. Thank you, Lord, for the sufferings you
bestow upon us, for they are purifying us from
selfishness and reminding us of the one thing
needful, your eternal kingdom. Thank you, Lord,
for giving us this country where we are free
to worship you. Thank you, Lord, for this parish
where the name of God is proclaimed. Thank you,
Lord, for our families, husbands, wives, and
especially children who teach us how to celebrate
your holy name in joy, movement, and holy noise.
Thank you, O Lord, for everyone and for everything.
Great art thou, O Lord, and marvelous are thy
works, and there is no word which sufficeth to
him thy wonders. O Lord. It is good to be here.
Amen.