The Day Before Giving Thanks

By

Art Hendela

Given at St John's Lutheran Church, Clifton, NJ

November 21, 2007

The text for today's sermon, meditation is the epistle lesson that we heard a little bit ago.  I'll read a few selected verses from 2 Corinthians 9: 6-11.

(2 Corinthians 9: 6-11) Sowing Generously

6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times; having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." 10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

What have you been doing on this day before Thanksgiving?  Were you worried about day to day responsibilities?  Were you shopping?  How many of you have been cleaning the house? Cutting the vegetables?  Were you so busy preparing the turkey that you didn’t take any time to prepare yourself to give thanks?

How do you prepare yourself to give thanks?  Do you bow your head and take a little time to think about life. Do you say a prayer for your friends and think about the blessings you have received?  Do you think about what others have gone through in the past year?  All of these are great ways to start the holidays and to remember that God is the source of all of our blessings. Our biggest blessing this holiday season is the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s son.

Today’s sermon text is telling us that being generous is the way to be blessed.  It’s not something we can fake. Verse 7 tells us that you should give according to what is in your heart without being reluctant or because someone made you give it.  The next part of that verse certainly shows that we were made in the image of God. It reads, “God loves a cheerful giver”.  Don’t we all?

The one thing I think gets lost a lot of times with the generosity of God is brought up in Verse 8.  “And God is able to make all grace abound to you”.  God is so generous that not only does he bless the believer, but abundantly supplies the needs of everyone believer and unbeliever alike.  Why does God do that?  Verse 8 clarifies it itself.  “In all things at all times having all that you need you will abound in every good work.”  God wants all of us to come to Him.  Will that happen?  Not while Satan works his evil, but we must try.

Verse 9 encourages us to try. “And God provides the tools for us to be kind and generous to the rest of the world.  He has scattered his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever.”  A lot of the year we focus on getting ahead. We have work pressures; try to attain sports or academic achievements, and we vie for higher social standing.  All these things take precedence over what God is really looking for us to do.

We are promised to be supplied with what we need.  These supplies aren’t just for our own needs, but for us to supply those in need.  We’re promised a reward also.  Verse 10 says, “Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.”  Who supplies this seed?  God does, of course.  He grants us breath for our lungs and bread for our tables.  Not only for ourselves but for those who are in need.  Mathew 25: 40 says “The king will repay, I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”  When you feed the hungry; when you give an encouraging word to someone who is down; when you see a problem and you volunteer to help fix it, you are not doing it just for the hungry person, or the lonely person, or for the person who can not work with a hammer.  You are feeding and encouraging and working to fix things for Jesus Christ, Himself.

This is not the time of year to only worry about ourselves.  We all know what tomorrow means.  For some it will mean going to see the big balloons in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  For others it means a day of lounging around and watching football games.  For many of us it means leaving church and finishing the cleaning and doing the cooking.  For others it means a time of deep depression and sadness at broken families, physical frailties, and unending loneliness.  The happiness of Thanksgivings from our youth have yielded to only bitter memories of a close knit family now spread apart.  It is these people, the homeless, the bitter, and the hurting that we need to share not only our tables and gifts but something more precious, our faith in Jesus Christ.  The two go hand in hand, the food and the faith.  We have the challenge to do this straight from the Bible.

In James 2:16-18, we read,

16 If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

18 But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

When you have true faith, you cannot help yourself but to share your blessings with others.  It’s an outward sign that your faith is alive.

When I worked at the World Trade Center I used to mostly take the train from Little Falls to Hoboken and then the ferry to Manhattan.  On other occasions I’d drive to Hoboken and then make my way into Lower Manhattan to go to work.  It was on these days when I drove in that I have a treasured memory.  Walking from the PATH train station to the parking lot I passed a homeless man, named Bill.  Day after day Bill sat in front of the bank on the corner of Newark and River Streets with his cup in his hand looking for some money.  I’d give him some money and get him some food whenever I saw him.  I’d sit with him a while.  I wonder what others might have thought of someone in a business suit sitting with an old, homeless man that was unkempt, unshaven, and frankly un-showered.  It was a lesson in self-centeredness to sit and watch others walk by and ignore this man in need.  For some they’d take a quick look and then make believe they hadn’t seen him.  They’d turn their head quickly and increase their pace.  For others, they’d look at him and walk by laughing.  If the laughing didn’t hurt Bill, then the people in the finest suits and the best work dresses certainly would.  Some of these well-off business people would stop and curse at Bill as though someone down on his luck had no feelings and no soul.  Those people, in their Wall Street finest, were the ones that hurt me the most, let alone Bill.

I’d ask Bill, “How can you take this abuse?”

He said, “Some people give me money, some people give me food, and some people give me abuse”.  I’m thankful for all of them.

“Thankful?!”, I asked, “Are you kidding me, Bill?”

Bill told me, “Look, Art.  The people who are generous help keep me alive.  Those who aren’t generous, I can’t concern myself with.”

“My situation was my own fault.  I was hooked on booze.  I couldn’t keep a job.  My wife did the bulk of the support for the family.  When my wife died, my children turned against me and threw me out of my own house onto the streets.  I can’t go to the men’s shelter.  It isn’t safe.  I’m too afraid.  I live in an abandoned diner along Route 1/9 in Jersey City and I survive on the generosity of the few people who give me my daily bread.”

I caught those words, “Daily Bread”

I said, “Bill do you mean ‘Daily Bread’ as in The Lord’s Prayer “Daily Bread”.

“Yeah”, he said. “Like that.”

Here’s a man that his family had abandoned.  People passed by all day and all but spit on him.  I suppose some did.  Here he is witnessing to the Lord supplying his “Daily Bread”!

As it turns out Bill was raised Lutheran and attended the Lutheran Church on North Street in Jersey City.  Oddly enough, the same one my mother’s sister attended for years.  Small world, isn’t it? It’s a very, small world.

That Thanksgiving, after dinner, Vega and I took a plate of our feast and brought it to Bill down in Hoboken. We also gave him an old blanket to help him survive the coming cold days of winter.  He was so thankful, he cried.  He didn’t believe me when I had told him I’d bring him a Thanksgiving dinner.  People’s promises are like that.  It’s more surprising when they are actually kept.

Verse 11 tells us of the reward that awaits us for these works that show our faith. “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”

I don’t know what ever happened to Bill. It’s a rare occasion when I travel through Hoboken. When I pass that corner of River and Newark Streets Bill is no longer there to ask people to supply his “daily bread”.  But there’s a Bill in every community.  We know them.  We need to help them.

Happy Thanksgiving.

And now may the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ preserve you and keep you unto life everlasting.  Amen.

The Prayer

Dear Lord, Heavenly Father.  We come before you blessed beyond measure on this day before Thanksgiving.  We ask that you weigh on our hearts to share those blessings with those around us.  We remember especially the homeless, like Bill, the nameless and faceless people of this country that we pass on our city streets. These people are so hungry and so cold, and yet can still witness to your supplying of our daily bread despite a desperate situation.  Give us a generous heart to help those in need, to speak a kind word of encouragement to those who are down, and to spend time with those who feel so lonely even in the midst of so many people. Amen.