WHAT TO PREACH ON THANKSGIVING SUNDAY

 

The holidays, even an American holiday like Thanksgiving, are relentless. They come around every year whether we are ready or not, and we preachers feel the need to leverage the holidays toward the gospel to help our people keep a God-focus in a season of multiple distractions. Even if you are in a series through a Bible book, why don’t you step out of it for Thanksgiving and Advent. It gives your people a break and readies them to view the season through a gospel lens. This will be the 42^nd Thanksgiving Sunday I’ve preached. I thought I’d share some Thanksgiving sermon ideas I’ve used across the decades to prime your pump if you need it.

 

What a Friend We Have in Thanksgiving

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Lifted the idea from a Fred Craddock’s sermon “Doxology.” I personify Thanksgiving and tell stories of taking him along with me into situations both easy and difficult. By the end of the sermon, living 1 Thessalonians 5:18 seems more possible for people.

 

The Richest Man in the World

2 Corinthians 8:9; 9:15

Though rare for me in a sermon, I give personal testimony of the riches I have in Christ: salvation, calling, church, etc. My aim is to prime the pump for people to explore and own the riches they have in Christ … and give thanks.

 

Give Thanks for He Is Good

Psalm 136:1-3

Since Psalm 136 is a recitation of thanksgiving to the Lord for his goodness evidenced by his love that endures forever, I cite stories from the OT and consider how the story might have turned out if God is not good. I finish that survey with Jesus. My aim is that the church gains a fresh understanding of God’s goodness and, like the psalmist, is moved to give thanks.

 

Manna Again?

Numbers 11:4-6

We explore the attitude of the Israelites who were beginning to tire of manna. How often do we take for granted incredible blessings God gives us?

 

Thankful to the Bone

2 Samuel 6:12-23

We join David in Jerusalem as he gets the ark of the covenant into the city and breaks out into a dance of praise. We consider the responses to his dance. My aim is to help our people realize that in the wake of God’s blessings, sometimes you just got to dance.

 

Count Your Many Blessers

Philippians 1:3

The sermon’s aim is to help people think through the many persons God puts in our lives to serve as his agent of blessing. I hope when folks get home from the sermon they will make a call or a text or write a note of thanks to someone who has blessed their lives. (A preacher could use any list Paul makes at the end of his letters of people who have blessed him—even Romans 16.)

 

Grateful No Matter What

Habakkuk 3:17-19

A poignant text in which Habakkuk expresses his desire to give thanks no matter the circumstances in which he and Judah find themselves with Babylon banging on the door.

 

Gratitude Can’t Wait

Luke 17:11-19

The classic story of Jesus healing ten lepers only one of whom comes around to thank him. The aim is to spur immediate thanksgiving when God blesses us. A preacher can have a lot of fun with this text.

 

In All Circumstances?

1 Thessalonians 5:18 or Ephesians 5:20

How does a person give thanks when times are hard?

 

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I hope these ideas stir up some of your own ideas as you preach on Thanksgiving Sunday this year. By the way, for more ideas on Thanksgiving preaching, check out David Allen’s Preaching Coach Podcast episode on preaching the Thanksgiving sermon.

Our Grand Old Flag

On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress of the United States adopted the stars and stripes as our national flag. That's why we call June 14 Flag Day. I usually let this day pass without much thought of our flag. Sometimes I don’t even realize it’s Flag Day till the day is past. I penned these reflections in 2017, a time of growing division in our country. It's worse now. I am not a "Christian nationalist." I am a Christian American. I love our country, but I do not worship our country. Nor do I fail to notice her many flaws. In fact, I worry about our country's future. We have no moral compass or common set of moral values anymore. We have largely told God, "We got this. We don't need you anymore." I fear that much of what we're seeing today is a result of God saying, "Okay, America, you can have your wish." But in spite of our moral, economic, border, narcissistic, and political corruption problems, I still love America. I still respect our flag. So despite failing to even remember Flag Day most years, I want to to pause for a few minutes and reflect on my memories of the United States flag in hopes they will prime the pump for your memories too.

Standing in my first grade class room, facing the flag in the corner, hand over my heart, saying with my class, “I pledge allegiance to the flag ….”

The flag at Meadowcliff Elementary School in Little Rock flying at half-mast in the days after President Kennedy was assassinated in November, 1963. That’s the first time I saw a flag at half-mast—but sadly, not the last.

Images of the flag-raisers on Iwo Jima after our brave Marines wrestled Mt. Suribachi away from the Japanese at the cost of much blood and death.

Taking my turn in sixth grade raising and lowering the flag at Branson Elementary School and learning how to fold it properly.

Watching fuzzy black-and-white images of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin staking our flag on the moon in 1969. I understand it’s still there today.

Feeling anger and sadness as crowds in Tehran burned our flag after seizing our embassy there and taking 52 hostages in November 1979.

Watching the USA Hockey Team in the 1980 Olympics waving our flag after their improbably gold medal. “Do you believe in miracles?” Al Michaels uttered after we beat the Soviets in the semifinals.

The Lee’s Summit, Missouri, High School Band belting out “Stars and Stripes Forever” at their annual spring concert.  It always brought everyone to their feet.

The uncountable numbers of little flags attached to trucks and cars in the days after September 11, 2001.

A display in the Smithsonian of the tattered flag that flew over Fort McKinley—the very flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write our national anthem during the War of 1812.

Numerous flag draped caskets at the graveside services of veterans—including the flag that draped my father’s casket, now folded into a crisp triangle that we keep in our home.

The presentation of the colors at numerous ballgames and thousands of voices singing The Star Spangled Banner.

Those are some of my memories. Not everything done under our flag has been good and right. But on balance, our flag has represented some of the noblest, highest ideals in human history. We have not achieved all our ideals. America continues to work out its promise of liberty and justice for all. Still, we are blessed to live in the good old U.S.A. Our freedom has been bought with the price of others' blood. I encourage you on this Flag Day 2017 to take a moment, remember, and give thanks.