In case you forgot, this coming Thursday is Thanksgiving Day. You will want to get an early start for church that morning. First of all, for the extra traffic that will be heading for church; and second of all, for a place to sit in church, due to the large crowds that will be attending that day. At least that is the way it should be.
Reflecting when I was a boy: There was no such thing as a Thanksgiving without going to church to thank God; otherwise, you were only thanking yourself. Remember, you have the day off because Thanksgiving is a day our nation has set aside to remember to give thanks to our God.
What should you give thanks for?
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Rev. Arie Bertsch
Give thanks for your body and soul, eyes, ears and all your members, your reason and all your senses; clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, spouse, children, land or animals. For all these things it is our duty to thank and praise God.
More than anything else, thank God for the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation that is yours because of the sacrificial death of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise God that he is the God who through his Son, Jesus Christ, brings life out of death and joy out of sorrow. Praise him in those crisis situations of illness and accident, loneliness and death. Praise him that even though it seems terrible at the moment, he is using these things in a way to work out his ultimate and good purpose for your life and those around you.
Remember to thank God for all of this. Especially for Jesus Christ, who is our heavenly Father's gift for you and for me. Forgiveness of sins is yours! The resurrection is yours! Eternal life in heaven is yours! Therefore, on this Thanksgiving Day, get an early start, so that you may thank God in his house for all his gifts.
The Rev. Arie Bertsch is pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Minot.