Thanksgiving

This morning many pastors from the Dassel-Cokato community met for breakfast. Our guests were from the local funeral homes. I have always appreciated the funeral directors who help people through the hours and days following a loved one's death. When we have a memorial service and there is no other professional there, it's a lot harder. Thank you, Mark and Greg, for the times we have worked together here.

Now I'm getting ready to preach at tonight's Thanksgiving Eve worship. I'm thinking especially of two Bible verses, one from Philippians 3:8 "I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" and 1st Corinthians 15:19 "If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied."

Tonight's worship is full of praise for many things. We'll sing "Come, you thankful people, come; raise the song of harvest home." The last verse goes like this:

Even so, Lord, quickly come to your final harvest home;
Gather all your people in,
free from sorrow, free from sin,
There forever purified, in your garner to abide.
Come, with all your angels come,
raise the glorious harvest home.

It's for the wonderful love of God that NEVER abandons us that we are TRULY thankful. Everything else is just that -- "everything else." Sometimes receive the gifts of God thankfully; sometimes we horde and misuse them. But everything besides the surpassing and eternal love of God will be gone someday. We bring nothing into the world, and we leave with nothing except our relationship with our Lord. Our Lord has done everything needed to make our "leaving" good.

That's what I am really thankful for as we come to Thanksgiving. Not so much the stuff, as needed as it all is. It's the eternal love of God, given to me though I don't deserve it, and given to you and me to share. That's what makes me sing!