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Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19)
Proper 12C
Few phrases seem harder to learn and say than, “Thank you.” After all, few responses mature more slowly than thanksgiving. In fact, gratitude hasn’t yet fully ripened in me, even after nearly more than sixty-one years’ worth of reasons for feeling it. I, after all, naturally assume that I deserve nearly everything I have. […]
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Advent 3B
[…] writes in verse 18, “God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” It’s not God’s will for God’s dearly beloved people, however, just because God deserves our thanks. Thanksgiving is also part of God’s loving will for us because it’s among the things for which God created us. Christians are at our best when we’re […]
Colossians 3:12-17
Christmas 1C
[…] of a new year, Colossians 3 invites us to not just look ahead, but also to look back. It suggests that God’s dearly beloved people reflect with thanksgiving on, among other things, God’s great faithfulness throughout 2024. Of course, as we’ve already noted, as any uncle, aunt, parent or grandparent knows, gratitude is notoriously […]
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
Lent 4B
Psalm 107 was originally a liturgy of thanksgiving offered at one of Israel’s great festivals, as evidenced by the opening call to give thanks and the repeated refrain, “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.” The theme of this thanksgiving is the often-repeated word, […]
Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19
Easter 3A
Clearly, Psalm 116 was chosen for this Third Sunday of Easter because it is a Psalm of thanksgiving for deliverance from death. It reverses the order of things in ordinary life, where we move from life to death. Here the Psalmist moves from death.to life, like Jesus in his crucifixion and resurrection. Indeed, Jesus […]
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Easter Day C
[…] it is the last in a series of Psalm known as the Egyptian Hallel (Psalm 113-118). In post-Exilic Israel, these Psalm were sung in a liturgy of thanksgiving for national deliverance at the great religious festivals (Passover, Weeks, Tabernacles, Dedication, and New Moon). Particularly, at the Passover Psalm 113 and 114 were sung before […]
Psalm 100
Proper 29A
[…] “Trump, Trump, Trump,” or “Kim, Kim, Kim,” or “Putin, Putin, Putin.” With those names drummed into our brains 24/7, it is tough to find joy and gladness, thanksgiving and praise. Psalm 100 beats the drum for a different name. “Shout for joy to Yahweh, all the earth. Worship Yahweh with gladness. Know that Yahweh […]
Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37
Proper 26A
[…] the great truth that stood at the center of Israel’s faith. But true as it may be, the mere repetition of that truth won’t move us to thanksgiving and praise. That’s why Psalm 107 tells these stories of people had lived through hard time and had actually seen Yahweh’s chesed at work in their […]
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Proper 24A
In this season that lies between the Canadian and American Thanksgiving Days, 2020, this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson seems highly appropriate. After all, it’s not just that we’re “surrounded” by holidays on which we at least ostensibly give thanks. It’s also that so many things threaten a spirit of thanksgiving right now. Our world continues […]
Psalm 30
Easter 3C
[…] is a perfect post-Easter Psalm. Its purpose is to keep the memory of our deliverance from death alive by voicing the deliverance again and adding our profound thanksgiving for it. It is, as one scholar put it, a prayer that is wholly praise, but the praise comes out of answered prayer. From beginning to […]
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