Thanksgiving 2020 Fr. Lawrence Margitich

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit, it's my joy to greet you

on this bright Thanksgiving day. President Abraham

Lincoln set aside Thanksgiving in, I guess it

was 1863, and he wrote beautiful and compunctionate

and repentant words about the state of the Union

at the time. Words of thanks, words of repentance.

But before him, President George Washington made

a Thanksgiving Day proclamation of 1789. And

he set aside a day for the thanksgiving to God

of all the people in the country. And this is

something that he wrote, an excerpt. He said

this, we gather today, we give thanks today.

we acknowledge the providence of Almighty God

to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits,

and humbly to implore his protection and favor,

to offer public thanksgiving and prayer with

grateful hearts for the many signal favors of

Almighty God, who is the beneficent author of

all that is good, all that was, All that is and

all that will be. You don't hear words like that

anymore unless they're looking for votes, and

they're not that profound. That's for sure. But

note what he says here. All that was, we give

thanks. All that is, we give thanks. And all

that will be. Our thanksgiving, our offering

of thanksgiving, especially the divine liturgy,

is not merely for the benefits we've received,

which even in the midst of so many troubles and

so much suffering are very many. But we also

give thanks with an eye towards God's continued

providential care for us. We thank him for yesterday.

We thank him for today. We thank him for every

tomorrow. Case in point, the ten lepers. The

ten lepers were told to go. They came to Christ.

They shouted at him. It took some faith to do

that. They weren't looking for money. Not when

pieces of their hands and their noses are falling

off because of Hansen's disease. They come to

Christ and he tells them, go to the priests to

be certified that you are clean. That's why they

went. Go to the priest and they will certify

that you are no longer leprous. But they were

told to do this by Jesus before they were healed.

Before they were healed. And that going to the

priest involved a good measure of faith for blessings

to come. Now why do I say that? Just kind of

expect it's going to happen? No, it wasn't about

that. According to the law of the day, a leper

was forbidden to go near anyone and to go into

the town upon immediate penalty of death. They

weren't going to ask questions. You would just

be killed immediately. So there was faith in

the action of those men. They acted on faith

and were invited to do the same. Like the one

healed from leprosy that returned to Jesus, that

leper. Let each of us, let each of us, deliberately,

intentionally, and continually turn our inner

gaze, our mind, to thanksgiving to God, especially

in the midst of trouble. Yes, even during 2020,

as it's drawing to an end, especially during

2020. we're going to turn deliberately and intentionally

and continually our gaze to Thanksgiving, not

in an attempt to make ourselves feel good. You

can take a pill if that's what you really want.

And it's not an attempt to minimize the suffering

of so many people and the hunger and the alienation,

like those lepers, of so many people. The headlines,

massive lines of cars, miles long waiting for

food. Poverty. COVID increase, spiking. Joblessness

and jobless frauds in the millions in California.

Especially 2020. How dreadful. These days are.

But into it is the opportunity to have faith

on what is to come. I'm not a politician. I'm

not going to tell you better days are ahead.

Working together, we can make things right. Working

together, everyone's going to get ahead. Working

together, you'll be fine. I'm not a politician.

I'm here to tell you what St. Paul says. This

slight momentary affliction is preparing us for

an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

Because we look not to the things that are seen,

but to the things that are unseen. For the things

that are seen are transient, they pass away.

But the things that are unseen are eternal. St.

Paul says he rejoices in his tribulations. Let

us not take God for granted. Let us deliberately

focus on gratitude, knowing that Christ is guiding

us during difficult times. We mature spiritually.

We pray more. We give alms more. We pray for

those less fortunate more. How do we pray? Not

a nod to God. Oh God, please remember Bob. We

fall down on our hands and knees in prostrations.

We fast for them. We offer an akathist, a supplicatory

canon. We say Jesus prayers for them. We, secondly,

don't want to take God for granted. And if we

forget to be grateful, we will do that. Listen,

the prophet Moses said, do not say to yourself,

my power and the might of my own hand. have gotten

me this wealth. Let's practice active, prayerful,

liturgical giving of thanks, not blame God, not

complain about the things of this life that are

often given to us directly by God's hand to help

us and guide us. We're Christians. It's an odd

thing to say, but we have given God permission

for our lives to be in his hands. And so all

that comes to us as Christians because we have

given God this authority in our life. We say,

our Father, thy will be done on earth, here in

my heart, in my life, in my daily work, as it

is in heaven. We have given God this great trust.

So we give thanks to him for whatever comes to

us. We rejoice even in them. Father Alexander

Schmemann said these wonderful words, his last

sermon, just two weeks before he died. The sermon

of Thanksgiving Day. You've all heard it numerous

times. Thank you, Lord, for the sufferings you

bestow upon us, for they are purifying us from

selfishness and reminding us of the one thing

needful, your eternal kingdom. Thank you, Lord,

for giving us this country where we are free

to worship you. Thank you, Lord, for this parish

where the name of God is proclaimed. Thank you,

Lord, for our families, husbands, wives, and

especially children who teach us how to celebrate

your holy name in joy, movement, and holy noise.

Thank you, O Lord, for everyone and for everything.

Great art thou, O Lord, and marvelous are thy

works, and there is no word which sufficeth to

him thy wonders. O Lord. It is good to be here.

Amen.