Give thanks

From Chestnut Ridge Conference Center in Blairsville, PA while on Convocation. Yesterday I shared these thoughts. Saint Jude's hospital over the years has a great fund raising ads on TV that has a number of well known persons telling the story of Saint Jude's and the wonderful work that they accomplish. At the end of the piece each person looks into the camera and says very simply - give thanks! Those two words are a clear reminder to us of our call and our purpose in life. From the very first moment of our encounter with God we are called to give him thanks for all that he has done for us. Our scriptures this past weekend pointed this out - first with the word to Cyrus, the king of Persia whom God had chosen for a specific purpose, that he should give thanks to this unknown God for everything that he had. God assured him that for the sake of Jacob, for the sake of Israel,the Lord empowered him to provide for his people to return home from exile and rebuild a temple in order to give the Lord his due and to sing his praises. This Cyrus and the Persians did. Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy remind the Thessalonians that they give thanks every day for that local church. Why? Because this church give thanks with their lives lived well. And in the gospel we are told to give to God the things that belong to God - namely our gratitude. In other words, to give thanks. Our very gathering for worship is called Eucharist, to give thanks. This is what we do best on the day dedicated to the Lord. Let us GIVE THANKS at every moment of every day our lives.