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The Message for Nov 19, 2017Matthew 6:25-33Thankful for Rob Miller, Pastor

This is week three of our four week series on Living Faith (image). We live by faith -- that means we live thankful lives. Today our topic is Thankful for . What are you thankful for?

It was a cold, Wednesday night in the city - the night before Thanksgiving. He was pushing an old, beat up shopping cart in a back alley. It was filled with discarded clothes, old newspapers, cardboard, and a couple of cans of food. He didn’t look any better. He wore several layers of clothes, all of them filthy and full of holes. His hair was long and matted, he had a long scraggy beard, and what little you could see of his face was covered in dirt and grease.

Nobody knew his name. The kids called him "Hobo Bob." He would wander through the streets digging through trash cans, begging from strangers. He didn’t bother anyone, so people didn’t bother him either.

That cold night before thanksgiving, "Hobo Bob" was wandering through the alleys, looking for a place to sleep, shelter from the cold. He had no interest in celebrating Thanksgiving. He had nothing to be Thankful for, and no God to give thanks to. How could he believe in God, when God had let all this happen to him?

Then he heard music… an old familiar song that he had heard many years ago. He slowly pushed his cart towards the sound, and found himself standing in front of a church building. The sign out front had the words, "Community Thanksgiving Service, Wednesday Night, 7:30 p.m. Everyone Welcome." "Hobo Bob" just stood there transfixed by the music.

The office building was quiet. The lights were off except for one office space. You could hear the hum of the cooling fan in a computer and the clickety-clack of a keyboard. Everyone had gone home for the Thanksgiving Holiday, except for Maria. She knew that her boss wouldn’t be back until Monday, but if she could finish this report and personally hand it to him first thing Monday morning, maybe she could get that promotion she was striving for.

The strain on Maria’s eyes was getting to her, her fingers were cramping up. She decided to go outside and take a walk in the cool

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November air before she finished the report. As the door to the office building closed behind her, the phone rang. A child’s voice came over the answering machine. "Mommy, when are you coming home? You promised we would have dinner with Grandma tonight."

As Maria walked along the street in front of her office building, she too heard the faint sound of a familiar song, a song she knew from her childhood. Slowly she walked towards the music until she came to a church building. The sign out front read, "Community Thanksgiving Service, Wednesday Night, 7:30 p.m. Everyone Welcome." She stood there next to "Hobo Bob," transfixed by the music.

Mai Ling had been raised a Buddhist. She was faithful to its teachings and traditions. Her parents also taught her to tolerate and respect people of other religions. Even so, when she moved to America with her husband, she had a hard time respecting the Christian religion.

In a country that was supposed to be founded on Christian principles, she noticed that people didn’t seem to take their religion seriously. Here was Thanksgiving, a holiday that was supposed to honor God for all of God’s blessings. And yet, her co-workers called it “Turkey Day.” They bragged about how they would stuff themselves with food and then sit in front of a T.V. and watch parades or football. How could she respect a religion that had commercialized its holy days? She had no interest in celebrating Thanksgiving.

As she was walking home from the subway station, she heard the faint sounds of music in the air. It sounded so joyous. The tune was beautiful, yet unfamiliar to her. Curiosity got the best of her and she started walking towards the music. She came to the front of a church building. The sign read, "Community Thanksgiving Service, Wednesday Night, 7:30 p.m. Everyone Welcome." And she stood there along with Maria and "Hobo Bob," she was transfixed by the music coming from within.

As the tune repeated, the music grew louder, so too did the voices singing. Maria recognized the song was coming to an end. The three looked at each other, then back to the open door of the church building.

They walked in together. An usher was standing at the door. He looked them over for a moment, took a second look at "Hobo Bob," shrugged, smiled, and handed each of them a bulletin.

He led them down the aisle to an empty pew where they could sit together. And for the next hour they listened as the congregation sang and prayed, read from the Bible and listened to a preacher preach.

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"Hobo Bob" began to think seriously about the God he had been trying to ignore. He didn’t understand why he lost his job, and family, and home. He didn’t understand why God had left him to fend for himself out on the streets. And yet, he could see how God had been present in his life over the years.

Something about the worship service spoke to him. He thought about the various shelters he had stayed in on very cold nights, the hot meals that people prepared for the homeless. He thought about the little girl who had shoved a dollar bill in his hand one day and said "God Bless You" as she ran back to her horrified parents. But now, as he worshiped with this congregation, he began to think that maybe God was greater than his poverty, and maybe he did have something to be thankful for.

Maria’s thoughts went back to the God of her childhood. Her parents had taken her to church faithfully, but now as an adult she was too busy to think about God or church or giving thanks. She had been serving other gods – the gods of success and power and promotion.

And yet, something about being in worship spoke to her. She realized that the one true God had been in her life all along. God had richly blessed her with a wonderful son, a son who deserved more of her time, a son who should be raised in the faith too. As Maria worshiped with that congregation, God became her God once again.

Mai Ling was deep in thought. She could sense the love and devotion these people had for their God. There was something about being in worship with these people. Maybe there was more to this holiday than all the commercialization.

What caught her attention was the story of a God who loved all people, no matter how they were raised or what country they were from. A God who loved us so much so that God sent his only Son, Jesus, to die for our sins, so that we might live everyday trusting in a gracious and generous God – so said the preacher that night. As Mai Ling worshiped with that congregation, she realized that Christianity was indeed something to be thankful for.

Can you relate to any one of these three people?

"Hobo Bob" was angry with God and thought that God had forsaken him.

Maria worshiped the gods of wealth, success, and power. She didn’t have time for church or the faith.

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Mai Ling found that the God of Thanksgiving was the God who raised Jesus from the dead - saving us from our sins so that we might have life – real life.

God provided for each one of them. Worship revealed how God was at work in their lives and they were truly thankful…

In our reading for today Jesus gives us some powerful words to consider when it comes to being thankful. Jesus says that God will take care of us.

Matthew 6:25-33

Jesus says, “God provides. God will take care of us. Worry not.”

Maybe you can relate to "Hobo Bob." He realized that God was with him, even when he didn’t always feel God’s presence. God was with him in his anger, in his despair, in his trying situations.

If you are angry with God because of the circumstances of your life, or if you have lost a loved one, and are having a difficult time right now, God is with you to see you through it and will give you peace.

Give your anger over to God this day and God will give you the peace that passes all human understanding.

Maybe you can relate to Maria, she was chasing other gods like power and success. Our God - the God who raised Jesus from the dead will help you discover what is important and what is not. God says to you, "Look I care for the birds of the air and the flowers of the fields… And I care for you too."

If you are worried about your life and what to do next then God is with you to see you through those worries, and will give you peace.

Give your anxieties over to God especially your desire for success and power and God will give you the peace that passes all human understanding.

Maybe you can relate to Mai Ling, the one who found Jesus in worship. Maybe you lost sight of him as the Lord and Savior of your life. Maybe you’ve lost sight of the Easter promise and things seem hopeless to you. Maybe you can’t see past the commercialism of Christianity.

Give your hopelessness about life over to God and God will give you the peace that passes all human understanding.

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Be thankful. God provides. Always has and always will.

Maybe you can’t really relate to any of these three people. Maybe you are having a tough time being thankful. If so then… I invite you to listen to what Nick Vujicic has to say about being thankful. I’ve share similar videos about Nick before… He can teach us a lot about being thankful. Check out this “Be Thankful Video…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJUXjkQNCRc

Question: What are you thankful for?

Why not take a moment right now, right here in worship and give thanks to God. This is the week of Thanksgiving, please remember to give thanks to God.

Amen