Good Evening People of God

Our Pastor greets us each service by addressing us as "People of God." He does this was a huge grin on his face.

His sermon last night, at our Thanksgiving Eve Service, was based on the text 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

He began by telling us the story of Felix Powell, who along with this brother, George, authored the World War I song, "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag." (Thanks to my Mom and her fabulous repertoire of songs, I was familiar with that song.)

The last lines of the chorus are:

What’s the use of worrying?
It never was worth while, so
Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,
And smile, smile, smile.

Well, despite this cheery refrain, Felix's life was one of disappointment and he ended it by killing himself in 1942.

Pastor reminded us of various situations where we "smile, smile, smile" because that's what's expected even though we may not feel like it. As I've often heard my husband say (although Reader's Digest currently is crediting Kevin Costner with it), "Second place is just the first looser." Pastor recalled how he supposed the first runner-up in the Miss America pagent might feel. It was quite comical and made us laugh out loud (yes, in a Lutheran church!) :-)

Then, just for emphasis, he reminded us, twice, that "you have committed no sin for which Christ's blood has not cleansed you." Christ is "with us always" to comfort, heal, encourage, and to ease our burden of sin.

Then he shared with us situtuations where he personally knows of people keeping their focus on "giving thanks in all circumstances" which doesn't necessarily mean we like the circumstances, but that we remember to thank God for everything and we ask him to "increase our faith and help our disbelief." (Luke 17:5 and Mark 9:24)

He ended with telling us it isn't enough for us to "pack up our troubles in our old kit bag and smile, smile, smile" we need God. He alone will preserve us.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!