A Concord Pastor Comments: A short homily for Thanksgiving

Because I believe:
that God is with me 24/7/365…

Because I believe:
   that God watches with care every step I take…
   that God hears every prayer I offer…
   that God wants nothing for me
      apart from all that is good…

Because I believe:
that God’s grace and mercy are inexhaustible…

And because I know:

   how lazy and foolish I can be…
   how inattentive and self-centered I can be…
   how often I fail to respond to God’s love,

how often I sin…

And because I know

there’s so much about God that I cannot know…

Because of all of this, I’m sure:

that I often miss many of the gifts God gives me…
that I leave many of God’s gifts undiscovered, unopened…

And I'm sure
   that God often gives me what I need
      just not packaged as I had expected or hoped
      and so I fail to find it…

And I'm also sure
that I often don’t know what I really need
so I fail to recognize it when it comes…

I believe that besides everything I’m grateful for

on this Thanksgiving morning,
there are countless other gifts and blessings from God
that have totally escaped my attention

because I've been distracted or inattentive

or lazy or ungrateful or self-absorbed

or impatient or foolish or selfish…

And perhaps the same is true for all of us.
in fact, I believe the same is true for all of us.

So this Thanksgiving morning,

let’s thank God not only for all the gifts and blessings

we're aware of and grateful for

but also for all the blessings and gifts

we've missed and failed to find and open…

And let’s pray that we learn to look, to search -- every day --

with prayerful hope and expectation,
for the many gifts God so generously gives us: 24/7/365…

And especially let us open our hearts this morning

in grateful praise and thanks

for the greatest gift God has ever given us:
the gift of Jesus, our Lord and Brother,
given to us in his Body and Blood,
in the Bread and Cup of the Eucharist

we celebrate at the altar this morning.

-->