Last Sunday of the Church Year
Text: 1 Timothy 2:1-4
Vicar Gary Schultz
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
First of all, then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people…
We often think that prayer is setting before God a list of wishes and hoping that he will favorably answer the way we want. We may forget the phrase “Thy will be done” altogether or pray it halfheartedly and desire God’s will to line up with our thoughts, rather than the other way around.
Notice how in our text Saint Paul places thanksgivings right along with supplications, prayers, and intercessions. In addition to asking for things from Our Father, we are also to give thanks to Him. Our current intercessions to God are made within the context of His past blessings to us. Praying for our current needs cannot be separated from giving thanks to God for His gracious gifts previously bestowed. This helps us to pray for our supplications with “Thy will be done” in our minds because as we give thanks to God for His blessings, we see how His will was done in the past.
Our nation has set aside this day as a day to give thanks for our blessings – for our freedom, our stable government, our bountiful harvests, our medical and technological advancements – all the things that our people are blessed to enjoy. It was in the midst of the Civil War that President Lincoln declared a National Day of Thanksgiving. It might not seem as though this was a good time to start Thanksgiving. The nation was in the midst of a brutal war within its own boundaries. Yet Lincoln asked the nation to give thanks for the blessings that people still had in the midst of great turmoil and tension. Today, we continue to give thanks for blessings received, even in the midst of the troubled world in which we live.
As we give thanks to God, we also make supplications, prayers, and intercessions for all people. We pray for those among our parish, families, and friends who are sick, injured, depressed, despairing, or recovering from various ailments. We pray those who have lost loved ones. We intercede for the safety of our government leaders and those who serve and protect our communities and our nation. We pray for the needy, for those who are unemployed, and those going through difficulties and disappointments of any kind. As we make these requests, we do so in the context of and with thanksgiving for the many blessings we have received.
In the church, we take this day even farther. We are not just giving thanks to some general force in the sky, a higher power, the god that is on our money, a god of American spirituality.
We give thanks to the one true God, the God who shows Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. In verse three of our text, Paul identifies God as “Our Savior.” And who is God our Savior except for Christ Himself? It is only through Christ that we are able truly to give thanks to Our Father for all the physical blessings He has given us in this life. It is only through our forgiveness in Christ that we able to approach Our Father at all. For after our Epistle text today, 1 Timothy chapter two continues: For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time (1 Tim 2:5-6).
Our Old Testament for today relates why God sustained His people with manna in the wilderness – a blessing they grew to dislike: And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. In addition to food for this life, God’s people needed food from heaven – the Word of the Lord. Now that Word has become flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the Word of the Lord, the True and Living Bread from Heaven.
Our observance of Thanksgiving goes even further than our temporal blessings – the gifts we have been given right now for life on this earth. Our daily needs are more than met. We have an abundance of choices at a variety of stores to obtain food and clothing. We have new, cutting-edge medical technology and treatment to help us in our physical concerns. We have computers and cellular telephones and communicate with friends and family across the world. We can contribute to organizations and societies to help those in need. Our needs are fulfilled by Our Father beyond the bare minimum. While it’s wonderful that we have so many gifts to enjoy on this earth, the gift of life after our life on this earth is what we give thanks for above all other blessings.
Christ Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all. Sin required payment. God would not sit idly by while sin separated His creation from Himself. So Christ, true God and true Man, came to be the one mediator between God and men. Christ the Son, our Mediator, bridges the gap of sin that separated us from Our Father. Now we are blessed with the greatest gift: assurance of eternal life in heaven with Our Lord face-to-face.
Now we can give thanks to God our Father, whose mercies are new every morning and who graciously provides for all our needs of body and soul (Collect), because of Jesus our Mediator, giving us full access to Our Father to bring our supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings before Him, in thankful confidence in His forgiveness. On the cross, He gave up His own life as the ransom for all.
We are now free to proclaim gladly and with a clear conscience to Our Father: The eyes of all look to you, O Lord, and you give them their food in due season. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing (Ps 145:15-16). Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever (Ps 118:1). Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Vicar Gary Schultz
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
First of all, then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people…
We often think that prayer is setting before God a list of wishes and hoping that he will favorably answer the way we want. We may forget the phrase “Thy will be done” altogether or pray it halfheartedly and desire God’s will to line up with our thoughts, rather than the other way around.
Notice how in our text Saint Paul places thanksgivings right along with supplications, prayers, and intercessions. In addition to asking for things from Our Father, we are also to give thanks to Him. Our current intercessions to God are made within the context of His past blessings to us. Praying for our current needs cannot be separated from giving thanks to God for His gracious gifts previously bestowed. This helps us to pray for our supplications with “Thy will be done” in our minds because as we give thanks to God for His blessings, we see how His will was done in the past.
Our nation has set aside this day as a day to give thanks for our blessings – for our freedom, our stable government, our bountiful harvests, our medical and technological advancements – all the things that our people are blessed to enjoy. It was in the midst of the Civil War that President Lincoln declared a National Day of Thanksgiving. It might not seem as though this was a good time to start Thanksgiving. The nation was in the midst of a brutal war within its own boundaries. Yet Lincoln asked the nation to give thanks for the blessings that people still had in the midst of great turmoil and tension. Today, we continue to give thanks for blessings received, even in the midst of the troubled world in which we live.
As we give thanks to God, we also make supplications, prayers, and intercessions for all people. We pray for those among our parish, families, and friends who are sick, injured, depressed, despairing, or recovering from various ailments. We pray those who have lost loved ones. We intercede for the safety of our government leaders and those who serve and protect our communities and our nation. We pray for the needy, for those who are unemployed, and those going through difficulties and disappointments of any kind. As we make these requests, we do so in the context of and with thanksgiving for the many blessings we have received.
In the church, we take this day even farther. We are not just giving thanks to some general force in the sky, a higher power, the god that is on our money, a god of American spirituality.
We give thanks to the one true God, the God who shows Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. In verse three of our text, Paul identifies God as “Our Savior.” And who is God our Savior except for Christ Himself? It is only through Christ that we are able truly to give thanks to Our Father for all the physical blessings He has given us in this life. It is only through our forgiveness in Christ that we able to approach Our Father at all. For after our Epistle text today, 1 Timothy chapter two continues: For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time (1 Tim 2:5-6).
Our Old Testament for today relates why God sustained His people with manna in the wilderness – a blessing they grew to dislike: And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. In addition to food for this life, God’s people needed food from heaven – the Word of the Lord. Now that Word has become flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the Word of the Lord, the True and Living Bread from Heaven.
Our observance of Thanksgiving goes even further than our temporal blessings – the gifts we have been given right now for life on this earth. Our daily needs are more than met. We have an abundance of choices at a variety of stores to obtain food and clothing. We have new, cutting-edge medical technology and treatment to help us in our physical concerns. We have computers and cellular telephones and communicate with friends and family across the world. We can contribute to organizations and societies to help those in need. Our needs are fulfilled by Our Father beyond the bare minimum. While it’s wonderful that we have so many gifts to enjoy on this earth, the gift of life after our life on this earth is what we give thanks for above all other blessings.
Christ Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all. Sin required payment. God would not sit idly by while sin separated His creation from Himself. So Christ, true God and true Man, came to be the one mediator between God and men. Christ the Son, our Mediator, bridges the gap of sin that separated us from Our Father. Now we are blessed with the greatest gift: assurance of eternal life in heaven with Our Lord face-to-face.
Now we can give thanks to God our Father, whose mercies are new every morning and who graciously provides for all our needs of body and soul (Collect), because of Jesus our Mediator, giving us full access to Our Father to bring our supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings before Him, in thankful confidence in His forgiveness. On the cross, He gave up His own life as the ransom for all.
We are now free to proclaim gladly and with a clear conscience to Our Father: The eyes of all look to you, O Lord, and you give them their food in due season. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing (Ps 145:15-16). Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever (Ps 118:1). Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
11/29/2006
