Friday, November 24, 2017

sermon, "We Offer Thanksgiving", (more as preached), by Raymond A. Foss, Mountain Heights Healthcare, Patten, ME, November 24, 2017



Mt. Heights Healthcare
Raymond A. Foss
November 24, 2017
Thanksgiving and Advent
Psalm 118
Ephesians 2:8-10
Message, “We Offer Thanksgiving”

Let us pray. Lord I ask You to send down Your Holy Spirit, that the Spirit would be present with us as we worship You today. Lord, be present with us; give me words to share with your people. Speak through me words that You would have them hear. May the meditation of my mind and spirit be pleasing to You, Almighty God.  And it is in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.  

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Please listen to Psalm 118 for this poem for God’s people. I will be reading the King James Version. [read psalm]

Good afternoon; how are you all doing today? Yesterday was Thanksgiving. Did you all have turkey yesterday? What did you have with the turkey?

What does Thanksgiving mean to you?

What is your favorite memory of Thanksgiving?

For what are you thankful?

Who are you thankful for?

To whom are you thankful?


Merriam-Webster’s definition of thankful is:
1 : conscious of benefit received -  for what we are about to receive make us truly thankful
2 : expressive of thanks - thankful service
3 : well pleased : glad -  was thankful that it didn't rain

and Merriam-Webster’s definition of thanks is:
1 : kindly or grateful thoughts : gratitude
2 : an expression of gratitude - return thanks before the meal

We have so much to be thankful for. We have friends and family. We have food on the table. We have the modern comforts of life, indoor plumbing, heat, hot water, telephones, televisions, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Westminster Dog Show (that’s what the girls watched after the parade), cars to get from place to place.

We live in a land of freedom, a land where we can worship in the church of our choice, a land of plenty, we are at peace within our land, even if we are at war far afield.

We are thankful, we give thanks, for health, for our senses, for the ability to see, to move, to function.

We are thankful, we give thanks, for creation, for Mount Katahdin, for the changing of the seasons.

We are thankful, we give thanks, for our memories, for the ability to call up the senses, the feelings, the words, the moments, that we experienced in the past, when we gathered for Thanksgiving with our families.

Yes, we are thankful, yes, we give thanks; but there is more than that. We offer thanksgiving. We celebrate, we worship.

Merriam-Webster, in contrast said the definition of thanksgiving is:
1 a capitalized : Thanksgiving Day
b : a public acknowledgment or celebration of divine goodness
2 : the act of giving thanks
3 : a prayer expressing gratitude

That is a real distinction, a difference, not just in degree but in importance. We don’t just offer thanks. We aren’t merely thankful. We offer thanksgiving. We thank God for our many gifts, all the things we are thankful for.

We acknowledge the gifts, the blessings, the things for which we are thankful. We speak out loud our joy. We raise up our blessings, we quantify, we measure, our cups overflowing, sharing with others the joy that is within us.

“What are you thankful for?”, my wife, Pastor Ruth Foss, asked me on Sunday morning (or maybe Saturday).  I said, “I am thankful for life, and for life eternal”. For everything else flows from that, from the fact of salvation, through the sacrifice of Jesus, through the gift of the cross and the empty tomb. That is nothing we earned but something for which we offer thanksgiving to God.

As Ephesians 2:8-10 King James Version (KJV) says:

“8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

This is the word of God spoke to us, His children. Thanks be to God.

It is God who blesses us, to whom we should offer thanksgiving, speaking out loud our absolute reliance on God.

Thanksgiving, the act of thanking God, that there is someone to whom we lift our thanks, is what the day of Thanksgiving is about. The pilgrims in Plimoth Plantation in 1621 weren’t merely celebrating the harvest. They weren’t merely thankful that they had survived the winter of 1620 and the hard year before the harvest.

They were thanking the Creator, the Savior, the eternal God who provided the growth, the weather, the conditions that led to the harvest. They were acknowledging the divine in the ordinary, in their daily lives.

We stop, we gather, we are thankful, but if we aren’t stopping to thank God it is just another day, nothing special, nothing set apart.

We are getting ready to move into the season of Advent. This too is a time of thanksgiving, of being mindful of the gifts of God, as is every day if we are paying attention, if we are thanking God because God is the source of everything, the touch of the divine in our daily lives, the coming of the Christ-child, Immanuel, “God here with us”.

I want you to think of it this way, maybe. Being thankful and offering thanksgiving are different. It’s like when someone passes away. Some people say, “you’re in my thoughts”. Other people say, “you’re in my prayers”. Or its like some people say, “Happy Holidays”. Other people say, “Merry Christmas”.

That is a real distinction, a difference. We prayer for people because we know God alone can heal them, can walk with them in the shadows, that only God can comfort them. We remember Christ in Christmas. We don’t just offer thanks. We aren’t merely thankful. We offer thanksgiving. We thank God for our many gifts, all the things we are thankful for.

And that starts with the babe in the manger, the man who lived among us, who taught us with his words and his life. It starts with this man, Christ Jesus, who was God incarnate.

It starts with Christ who chose to climb our cross, to suffer and die to set us free from sin and death. It starts with the One who is seated on the throne at the right hand of God, our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ of Nazareth who came in the flesh.

It is to Him we are thankful, to Him we lift up our thanks. It is to Him we offer thanksgiving for all He has done, for all He is doing in our lives now.

I’d like to close with a poem I wrote for today and it is called, “we offer thanksgiving”.

we offer thanksgiving – v3

We offer thanksgiving, our praise, our worship
we raise our prayers up to Almighty God.

We offer thanksgiving for the gifts God gives us
for life, for life eternal, for the gift of Jesus
that God would descend, that God would redeem us,
from our sin, our past, our day to day lives.

We offer thanksgiving, our praise, our worship
we raise our prayers up to Almighty God.

We must thank God not ourselves, others;
our gifts are not vague, they come from our Savior.
we must thank God our source of joy, fulfillment;
our gifts are from God, the living Holy Spirit.

We offer thanksgiving, our praise, our worship
we raise our prayers up to Almighty God.

Our thanks is grounded in the work of our Savior,
climbing Golgotha, choosing the cross.
Our thanks is grounded in the sacrifice of Jesus
choosing to decide to drink of the cup.

We offer thanksgiving, our praise, our worship
we raise our prayers up to Almighty God.

Our thanks is grounded in the rising of Jesus,
in the empty tomb, His throne in heaven above.

Amen.


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edited November 24, 2017
we offer thanksgiving – v3
edited November 24, 2017
like a treasure trove – v2
edited November 18, 2017
we thank you for life – v2
November 18, 2017
giving thanks is not enough
edited November 18, 2017
Our thanks is grounded – v2
November 18, 2017
our thanks is grounded
November 18, 2017
we must thank God
edited November 18, 2017
we offer thanksgiving – v2
November 18, 2017
we offer thanksgiving
November 18, 2017
we thank you for life
November 18, 2017
for grace, for mercy
edited November 18, 2017
offer thanksgiving – v2
November 18, 2017
to our Lord, our Savior
November 18, 2017
Offer thanksgiving
&
Thanksgiving 2017
Psalm 118
Ephesians 2:8-10
sermon, “We Offer Thanksgiving”
text:
video:

worship led by Raymond A. Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Fourth Friday of the month service at Mt. Heights Health Care Facility
November 24, 2017
&
edited November 24, 2017
For so many saints – v2
edited November 24, 2017
our cups overflow – 2 – v2
adding 3rd stanza
November 24, 2017
our cups overflow - 2
edited November 23, 2017
we thank You Lord – 2 - v2
Thanksgiving Day 2017
November 23, 2017
for so many saints
Thanksgiving Day 2017
edited November 23, 2017
on this day of Thanksgiving – v2
Thanksgiving Day 2017
November 23, 2017
on this day of Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day 2017
November 23, 2017
we thank you Lord - 2
Thanksgiving Day 2017
November 23, 2017
like a treasure trove
Thanksgiving Day 2017
edited November 22, 2017
her angels, her saints – v2
November 22, 2017
Thankful - 2
Thanksgiving worship service
Aroostook Cluster of the United Methodist Church
sermon “Thankful”
by Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon blog
meditation blog
“God’s Whisper” blog
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Northern Maine District
service held at Grant Memorial United Methodist Church
Presque Isle, ME
November 19, 2017
&
edited/new name November 20, 2017
changing the world - 2
November 20, 2017
not changing the world
edited November 19, 2017
we walk His path – v2
November 19, 2017
her angels, her saints
November 19, 2017
we walk his path
November 19, 2017
remembering so many names
November 19, 2017
coming home to this place
edited November 19, 2017
fed from the well of God’s hands – v2
November 19, 2017
fed from the well of God’s hands
November 19, 2017
“Thanks-Giving”
cover of bulletin
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Psalm 34:1-10
Matthew 6:1-4
and sermon / testimony, “Who Has Nourished You….”
by Sally Drew
Children’s Message
by Sally Drew
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
November 19, 2017
&
November 30, 2015
We are thankful to those who believed
edited November 30, 2015
We are thankful to you – v2
posted November 30, 2015
edited, new poem November 27, 2013
we are thankful to you
new poem November 27, 2013
Thankful to God – 2
Edited November 27, 2013
Thanksgiving – v2
post to blog
Thankful to God this Thanksgiving
“Let us all #remember To Whom we are #Thankful this #Thanksgiving.
It is to #God to whom we lift our #thanks and #praise. #joy #faith #Christ”
November 29, 2015
We are thankful to those who came before us
November 29, 2015
We are thankful to them
November 29, 2015
We are thankful to the Spirit
November 29, 2015
We are thankful to Christ
November 28, 2015
We are thankful to God - 3
November 27, 2015
For the bounty of our table
Thanksgiving 2015
Psalm 100:4
Philippians 2:6-8
Matthew 26:4
John 14:3
Acts 2:1-4
Romans 8:26-27
sermon, “To Whom Are We Thankful?”
text:
video:
worship led by Raymond A. Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Fourth Friday of the month service at Mt. Heights Health Care Facility
November 27, 2015
&
edited November 26, 2015
Saints and Strangers – v2
Thanksgiving Day
July 24, 2006 22:52
Saints and Strangers
====
November 26, 2015
I am thankful to God - 2
Thanksgiving Day
November 26, 2015
with joyful hearts – 2
Thanksgiving Day
November 26, 2015
To God we are Thankful
Thanksgiving Day
November 26, 2015
Thankful for Your blessings
Thanksgiving Day
edited November 26, 2015
In Thanksgiving – v5
(editing version 4)         
Thanksgiving Day
edited June 2, 2015
In Thanksgiving – v4
(editing original)
edited November 27, 2014
In Thanksgiving – v3
(editing original again)
Thanksgiving Day
edited June 28, 2014
In Thanksgiving – v2
November 27, 2008
In Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day
&
edited August 22, 2014
I am thankful to God – v2
November 28, 2013
I am thankful to God
(Thanksgiving Day)
Christ the King Sunday
6th and final service of Fall Sermon Series:
 “Shepherd Us O God”
Psalm 23:6 King James Version
Jeremiah 29:11 Common English Bible
2 Timothy 4:7-8 Common English Bible
John 14:1-3 Common English Bible
“Shepherd Me O God” by Marty Haugen
Psalm 23
Prayer of Thanksgiving
“For this prayer”
by Raymond Foss
children’s sermon
“we get to live with God for eternity”
by Pastor Ruth Foss
and sermon “From Here To Eternity
by Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon blog
meditation blog
“God’s Whisper” blog
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
November 24, 2013
&
November 23, 2013
Sermon 5 of Fall Series
“Shepherd Us O God”
Psalm 23:5 King James Version
Psalm 144:15 The Message Bible
Psalm 68:3-4 The Message Bible
1 Chronicles 16:30-33 The Message Bible
“Shepherd Me O God” by Marty Haugen
5th service of Fall Sermon Series:
Psalm 23
Prayer of Thanksgiving
“We come to worship You”
by Raymond Foss
children’s sermon
by Pastor Ruth Foss
and sermon “Oh Happy Day
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
November 17, 2013

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 45,530 of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Christ, Faith, God, love, grace, hope, witness, Spirit, Savior, goodness, mercy, Psalm 118, Ephesians 2, Thanksgiving, thankful, praise, bounty, harvest, America, Mountain Heights Healthcare, sermon,

#sermon #Thanksgiving #Christ #Faith #God #love #grace #Spirit #thanks #harvest #America #Pilgrim #saints #strangers #Psalm118 #Ephesians2 #blessings #life #salvation #Advent #MartinLuther #JohnWesley #hope #gifts #prayer

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