1st Reading Joel 2:21-27
"Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great
things! Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the
wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and vine give
their full yield.
"Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God, for
he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down
for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before.
"The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow
with wine and oil. I will restore to you the years that the swarming
locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great
army, which I sent among you.
"You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the
LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people
shall never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the
midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God and there is none
else. And my people shall never again be put to shame.


2nd Lesson 1 s t Timothy 2:1-7
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in
high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and
dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of
God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the
knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all,
which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was
appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not
lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.


Gospel Lesson Matthew 6: 25-33
"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will
eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is
not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the
birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and
yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than
they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his
span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the
lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you,
even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if
God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and
tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you,
O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we
eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the
Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows
that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.


Message
Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and from our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

Let us pray. Dear Lord God, may the words of my mouth and the
meditations of our hearts, be acceptable to you. I pray this in the
strength and the name of our Redeemer Jesus Christ. Amen.

As we gather this Thanksgiving Day, as we gather to give thanks to
God our creator, I have a confession, I have had a tough time living
last week's message of “Growing down and have faith like a little
child”. God put me to the test and I failed. Last Sunday afternoon, I
came back here to do a little work and found about 7 or 8 individuals
huddled behind some bushes in the church's front yard. As I walked
by, I saw some drug paraphernalia being passed around and I really
did not want to deal with them and I didn't. I walked inside and called
the RCMP and let them deal with them. And my actions or lack there
of, troubled me this week. Instead of meeting those people and
bringing Jesus to them, I left them to themselves. I left them to Satan.

And again yesterday, God gave me and this time the MAP group a
chance to reach out. As we were getting ready to have our time
together and share a simple breakfast, one of the local street people,
James, came into the coffee room wondering if he could join us for
breakfast and warm up. This time I, we faired a little better, we invited
him to join us and as we sat down we began to bless our meal with
the singing of the Doxology and ended with a simple blessing over our
time and food. James continued with singing Amazing Grace, we
joined in on the first verse and left James to sing the second verse.
And as we finished up, I brought out a Bible a read from it and from
“Our Daily Bread” Devotions, yesterday's devotion on speaking the
truth in the face of opposition and we began to discuss it. And James
participated for a couple of minutes, then he got and left.

And as our discussion ended, we talked about the primary
responsibility Jesus gave us: to bring the Word of God to the people.
And how if next Saturday James shows up, there is going to be a
condition to the meal and warming up. And that is to stay for the
entire time to hear the Word of God and the discussion.

And you may be wondering what do these events have to do with
today, Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is all about second chances and
third chances and fourth chances and more.

We gather today with an emphasis or theme today of thanksgiving,
of thanking God for all he has done for us this year. There are many
things we are to be thankful for, and although this has been a difficult
year for many of us, we still have much to be thankful for. And I could
list of many things and many individuals who are thankful, but the
primary thing we really need to be thankful for is second chances, the
second chances God give us; that second chance, third chance and
fourth chance, comes to us through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

God loves each one of us so much that He provides us second
chances to make up for the mistakes we have made. He forgives us
for the opportunities we have turned our backs upon and allows us
another chance. And so we come together today, to worship and
praise our Lord Jesus Christ and His Father in Heaven. We also
gather to say “Thank You God for second chances, thank you for
loving for us. We come together to give thanks. To express our
gratitude to our Creator and to Jesus who gave Himself up for us and
paid the price for each of us to have that second chance.

And in thinking of gratitude and giving thanks, I am reminded of
Martin Luther's comment about gratitude, “Gratitude consists of more
than the expression, I thank you, Lord.1”

It is more than just telling God we are thankful, giving thanks is
about showing we are thankful for second chances. What good is a
second chance if we do not take it? What good is asking for a second
chance, thanking God for a second chance and then turn our backs on
it as well?

Briefly during last Sunday's Before Service Study the discussion
turned to what is our primary goal as a Christian. And that is to make
disciples of Jesus Christ. Not to make believers, because only God
can do that, we are called to make disciples, to make students of
Jesus. We are called to bring the Word of God to those who have not
heard it. We are called to introduce people to Jesus. That is our
primary goal, but first it has to begin with ourselves.

In following through with making disciples, are we introducing
people to an acquaintance to someone we know in passing.
Someone we acknowledge as we walk down the street. Or are we
introducing our best friend to them? To our best friend who not only
cares for us but laid His life down for us. Are we introducing people to
that best friend, who has desire and longing to know everyone as He
knows us?

Because it is one thing to introduce one acquaintance to another,
but it is another thing entirely to introduce your best friend to someone
in need. In introducing acquaintances to each others, we can have an
almost, “Oh well if it doesn't it happen – nothing lost” attitude. But
when it comes to our best friend, do we have that same opinion - “Oh
well, it didn't happen nothing lost – maybe next time.” Sometimes we
do, and sometimes we don't. Last Sunday, for me that is how I felt.
And that is where second chances come in. We are given second
chances to change our opinion from “Oh well, it didn't happen –
nothing lost” to “This is important and we, I have to do it.” And that
change will only come about, if Jesus becoming our best friend is a
priority in our lives.

This past week, Melody and I were talking through the Internet as
we do, three or four times a day. And in one of our discussions, we
talked about priorities. We spoke about her priorities and my priorities.
Of how very high on our priority list is for us to be together
and for her to get healthy again. But we also discussed how those are
not our number one priorities. Our number one priority is Jesus
Christ. And how we are thankful He is our number one priority.
This is not a new discussion for us, it is one that we have had in the
past and how we are thankful that He is our number one priority.
Because there are many times in our lives that if He was not our
number one priority, we are not sure where we would be. It is also a
discussion we will continue to have in the future to help us remind
each other of the commitment we have made to Him, the commitment
of making Him the number one priority in our lives.

We are also very thankful that when our focus in our lives moves
away from Him and that does happen to each of us, He is standing
there in the wings of our lives, just waiting to give us another chance.
God is there willing to give us that second chance to make Him and
His Son number one in our lives and to use our lives to express our
gratitude for all that he has done of each of us.

And He has done an enormous amount for us. He has cared for us
when we can't care for ourselves. As Melody and I have placed God
as our number one priority in our lives, he has cared for us and our
needs. He has fulfilled and continues to fulfil His promise to us. The
promise Jesus made in the Gospel Lesson today, “But seek first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be
added to you.”

As I finish today's message, I want to plant a seed in each one of
you, and over the next couple of days as we gather with our friends
and families to share a Thanksgiving meal, as we share in laughter
and in memories and maybe some tears too, I pray that God will
germinate that seed in each one of you. And that seed is this, “Giving
thanks, expressing gratitude for all that God has done for you is more
than saying, 'Thank you God.” Amen.

Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, You made each one of us a
priority in your Being. Help us Lord to make You a priority in our lives.
We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

Now, may the peace of God and the Love of Christ, which passes all
human understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen


1Luther, Martin: Pelikan, Jaroslav Jan (Hrsg.) ; Oswald, Hilton C. (Hrsg.) ; Lehmann, Helmut T.
(Hrsg.): Luther's Works, Vol. 28 : 1 Corinthians 7, 1 Corinthians 15, Lectures on 1 Timothy. Saint Louis
: Concordia Publishing House, 1999, c1973 (Luther's Works 28), S. 28:258

Prayer of the Day ---Give us this day our daily bread,
O Father in heaven, and grant that we who are filled
with good things from Your open hand, may never close
our hearts to the hungry, the homeless, and the poor; We
ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Readings for October 18:
Ecclesiastes 5 :10-20;
Hebrews 4:1-13;
Mark 10:23-31