The Bethlen Home Messenger, 2002 (1-4. szám)
2002-11-01 / 4. szám
(Eljapiam's (Earner By Rev. Dr. Joseph Posta THANKSGIVING The day of Thanksgiving reminds us once again of the blessings that God has bestowed upon us as individuals, as a community, and as a nation. Our material blessings have been abundant, and our spiritual blessings have had no limit except that of our willingness to receive them. If, somehow, we have neglected to give thanks during the past months of this year, let us now say with the Psalmist: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, Bless His Holy Name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not His benefits. Let us now enter His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise, be thankful unto Him and bless His name, for the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endureth to all generations." As the Psalmist meditated upon what God had done for him, a question that came to him was: What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me? Should that not be the natural reaction of all of us? We cannot purchase His blessings, to be sure, nor can we, in any sense, pay for them. But there are, nevertheless many things we can do here at The Home, though many of us are old and frail, which will be well pleasing to the Father in Heaven. We can give Him our hearts and we can praise Him, remembering all the time His loving and caring goodness toward us. Even in old age, we can dedicate ourselves fully to the doing of His will. Doing these things, thanksgiving will be to us, not a season of the year, but a perpetual attitude of mind, of heart, and of life that will make our lives well pleasing unto Him. The Hebrew people who had their harvest festival of thanksgiving were poor people in that time, who lived in a land of rocky barrenness. With a few goats, a little house, a tiny field of poor grain, a limited water supply, and invading armies, these people wrote psalms of thanksgiving and sang hymns of their faith of the goodness and generosity of the Heavenly Father. Thanksgiving Day is surely an Anniversary Day, and should be observed as such. An Anniversary is characterized by three things: It is a day of remembrance, a day of thanksgiving, and a day of rededication. Thanksgiving should always be a part of our prayer. In his letter to the Phillipians, the Apostle wrote: In everything, by prayer, and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Give thanks in all circumstances, he wrote, and he did his best to live it, too. Apostle Paul, near the end of his life, wrote some revealing words from his cell in Rome. In thanking the church at Philippy for their gifts, he says: "I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed, or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." No doubt, this was something that Paul had to learn. This kind of attitude towards life does not come easily. In fact, it really is a matter of discipline, coupled with an undying sense of life as God's gift... Therefore, not surprisingly, says the Apostle: "And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus." In our yearly calendar, the day of thanksgiving reminds us of the ways in which God has helped us here at The Bethlen Home. It is there to call us to count our blessings and give praise to God the Giver of all good gifts. This means that we not only thank God when things are obviously good and suited to our taste, but we also accept life as we receive it, good or bad. Are we able to accept all that comes our way? And bear in your mind that one more part of thanksgiving is serving. Serving is a true expression of thanksgiving. It moves thanksgiving into thanksliving. Therefore, the genuine gratitude grows out of, and is sustained by, a humble recognition that God is the source of everything. Sure it is, because: "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who dost not change like shifting shadows." Therefore, the people of God are a people of thankfulness and joy, because, in and through Jesus Christ, God gives Himself to us even in the midst of our darkest situation. The New Testament is a collection of books of thankfulness and joyfulness, from the beginning to the very end, This spirit of thankfulness and joy is wonderfully exemplified in the writings of Paul. There are probably few people who knew more of individual suffering than Paul did. Time and again he was beaten, stoned, ridiculed, and imprisoned. Moreover, there were massive social problems that he and others faced in that time: millions of people in object of slavery, millions of people hungry, thousands of Christians dying violent deaths simply because they were Christians. And yet, in the midst of this, again and again Paul writes to his little Congregation: "Be thankful in all circumstances, and rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say: Be thankful and rejoice... and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." This is why the New Testament Christians, in their own particular set of circumstances, could be thankful and rejoice. Surely this is the reason that some of the greatest thanksgivings in our history came not out of abundance and merriment, but out of suffering and sorrow. The Pilgrims' first thanksgiving day sprang not from a good harvest, but from a year filled with crop failure, epidemic, and deaths. If the Pilgrim fathers could set aside a day of thanksgiving when their circumstances were so bitterly hard, certainly we can say together with Apostle Paul: "Be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus."
