In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people” (1 Tim 2:1). St. Paul strongly urges Timothy and the 1st century Christians to pray and by doing so, he also encourages 21st century Christians to pray.

You should pray for your personal needs. You should intercede for others who need God’s help. And … you should give thanks!

In fact, part of the reason we’re here now is to pray, praise, and give thanks. In addition to being the Rock of our salvation, Christ is also the foundation of our lives of prayer. This means that our thanksgiving goes far beyond our Thanksgiving Day remembrances. Some families have the custom of going around the table on Thanksgiving so that everyone can have a turn naming something that they’re thankful for. But because Christ is our life and the source of all our blessings, we Christians can give thanks in a very distinctive and specific way. In fact, we could say that we’re compelled to give thanks … because of Christ’s mercy toward us.

Without Christ, our reason and ability to give thanks is significantly impaired. We might have family gatherings and good food. And we might express some general thanksgiving for certain aspects of our lives. But Jesus changes all of this for us. He was willing to give Himself into death in our place, so that we would have cause to give thanks. By nature, we’re separated from God and without hope. By nature, we have nowhere to go and nothing really to be thankful for because we’re lost and destined for an eternity apart from God in the torments of hell … and nothing could be worse than that!

But Christ came into our sin-darkened world as the true light. St. John describes our Lord’s coming in this way: “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world” (Jn 1:9). We receive forgiveness on account of Christ’s redeeming work of dying on the cross.

And Christ’s resurrection is the guarantee of our eternal life. In Holy Baptism, you became a child of God: marked with the sign of the cross. You’ve been joined to God’s kingdom by water and the Word. And now you now live in Christ and have a profound love in your hearts for Him. He is the foundation of your life … the foundation of your thanksgiving.

Because we’ve been set free from the powers of sin, Satan, and death, we Christians have a new and better way of life. We joyfully give thanks to God for all that He’s done for us. All the things we have in life are gifts of God. Our very life is God’s gift to us. And in Christ, we’re now free to pray for the needs of others which is what St. Paul urges us to do. He tells us to pray for all people.

For example, he tells us to pray “for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tim 2:2).

Now think about this for minute. When Paul wrote this by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Nero was the emperor of Rome. He was an exceedingly evil man and a terrible ruler. He had a habit of murdering people and was especially active in his persecution of Christians because the Christians wouldn’t participate in emperor worship. Yet St. Paul still admonishes us, as God’s people, to pray for kings and those in high positions, that they may lead well … so that our lives might be blessed and the work of the Church might continue without hindrance.

This is good in God’s eyes. He wants the truth of His saving Gospel to be proclaimed to all nations and confessed by all people. So, throughout the year … in the Prayers of the Church … we’ve prayed for our nation and for others. We’ve prayed for God’s wisdom to guide all those who are in high position … that our leaders and our people might join together in giving thanks to God for the freedoms that we enjoy: especially the freedom we have to gather for worship and for giving thanks to God, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We pray for our nation and her leaders that we might freely confess Christ as Savior. We pray that we might be set apart by God as the Communion of His Saints rather than having fellowship with the darkness of this world. We pray for those in authority “that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life” (1 Tim 2:2) so that the Church can freely carry out the Lord’s work and nourish her people by Word and Sacrament with great thanksgiving.

The idea of ‘thanksgiving’ is profound for us Christians. When we think of the word ‘thanksgiving’, we should think of gratefully acknowledging the past mercies of God … leading us to make our requests to God in faith and humility. We have so very much to thank God for. He gives us the living voice of our Savior in Holy Scripture. He’s brought us into His kingdom through the water and the Word of Holy Baptism. He’s nourished and given us renewed strength for the responsibilities and challenges of life in the Sacrament of the Altar, where we receive the very body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And God continues to care for our earthly needs as well. He provides us “with all that [we] need to support this body and life”. Our Lord makes sure that we have just what we need for our bodies and souls.

What more can we do than receive His gifts with grateful hearts and offer to Him our prayers of thanksgiving where we remember what God has done for us individually, beginning with Baptism and continuing with everything else since we became His children.

Such prayer is always connected to the Word of God, by which we are enriched and strengthened. As we gather for the Divine Service, we join together with our congregation and with Christians throughout the world in prayer. We ask God to continue to bestow His grace on us, as we pray for our church, for the world, and for our nation. We lift up the needs of God’s people before His throne of grace. That’s what the pastor means when he invites the congregations to pray saying: “Let us pray for the whole people of God and for all people according to their needs.”

And hearing the truth of God’s Word, we’re made confident in our prayers. We have God’s promise that He will hear and answer our prayers. Whether the place we gather as the people of God is humble or grand, when we gather to receive Christ’s gifts it is God’s house, from which the prayers of God’s people go forth … a holy place, set apart for worship and prayer, so that we’re able to pray, praise, and give thanks together. And we’re strengthened in our faith as we pray for – and receive – Christ’s gifts: holy things for His holy people.

We gather this evening in this house of God for a special purpose. Yes, it’s a national holiday. But as Christians, we carry our thanksgiving so much further. We confess Christ as Lord and Savior … and as the Giver of all good gifts: both spiritual and temporal.

So on this national day of Thanksgiving, let us give thanks in our worship, in our prayers, and in renewed lives of service to our neighbors … renewed lives that we have only on account of Christ who redeemed us by His blood and enlightened us with His gifts.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Pr. Jon Holst