Homily for Thanksgiving Day

This year for our Thanksgiving Day Matins service I chose to use the readings for "Harvest Observance" in Lutheran Service Book. What a refreshing change for this national - not ecclesial - observance. (After all, preaching on the ten lepers in Luke 17 can get a bit repetitive after awhile, especially when the reading pops up in both the One-Year Lectionary and the Three-Year Lectionary not too long before Thanksgiving Day!) The readings for Harvest Observance are: Deuteronomy 26:1-11; 2 Corinthians 9:6-15; and Luke 12:13-21. From these readings came the central thought that real thanksgiving cannot happen without giving that precedes it. Hence, the title of the day's homily: "Thanks Comes After Giving."

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