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Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.

The Lord doesn’t need your thanksgiving and praise; He demands it! You owe Him unconditional thanks, as well as praise, obedience, fear, love, compliance, and, well…everything else. You bristle at such perfect (and unattainable) thanksgiving. You can give thanks to the Lord, sometimes, when you remember it; for good and gracious things that happen to you. Tomorrow you will thank God for your families, your homes, your nation, and your bountiful food and beverage intakes; good!

But it is a sin to take the Lord’s gifts for granted anytime. Yes you thank Him for recoveries from sickness but He commands you thank Him for every breath, every morning; every minute of every day is a gift of life and a gift of living in His Kingdom of Grace. Yes you thank Him for your abundances of house, field, cattle and good but He expects you praise Him for every old shoe, crackerbox apartment and macaroni dinner.

And, besides the First Article gifts enumerated in Luther’s explanation in the Creed, you are to daily give your hearts to God in thanksgiving for Second and Third Article blessings: really the greatest of all.

It’s wonderful to have clothes and food and shelter here on this pilgrimage through the valley of shadow; but it is infinitely greater to have Salvation from death and hell; and the blessings of the Holy Ghost are the cherry on the topping. I know that every day you thank God for your deliverance and your sanctification; why I expect you pray and meditate on Scripture and remember your Baptism and share your conviction with the “lost” and give abundantly to your parish and missions and talk constantly of your love and gratitude for Jesus. Or, if you are like most other Christians you thank God only for the big events but rarely for the mundane regularities.

The Lord also demands praise for the tribulations and setbacks. Ah, there’s another “rub.” How dare He demand faith and fortitude in the face of suffering and cross-bearing; but He does.

He always gives you what you need not only for body, but especially for soul. The Lord blesses you daily with faith, and with what will best strengthen your faith. You are not just to thank God for difficulties but to righteously-revel in them—“to the Lord.” “We glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in your hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto you.” [Rom. 5. 3-5]

Rest easy Saints of Christ. Take a deep breath and sigh in relief for Jesus has relieved you. For all the ungratefulness that permeates your old nature, Jesus was perfectly grateful to His Father. Jesus spent His entire life thanking God for everything: the good, the normal, the not-so-good, and the horrible. Jesus thanked His Father for the privilege of keeping the Commandments inviolate which you break daily. Jesus even thanked the Father for the joy of the Cross and the joy of giving His Body and Blood to win you all back from treason, ingratitude, selfishness, and sloth.

Giving thanks is a work of the Law. Jesus has accomplished and finished all the Law Keeping that will ever matter. Those who are in Jesus—in His Body the Church, in His Body (His glistening red wounds) by faith, and in His loving heart because He has made His home in their heart by Absolution and Supper—are now in His perfect good works as well. The greatest good work, the only thanksgiving that is of any relevance is that of worship. But correctly understood (thanks be to Luther and our Confessional Fathers) worship is no longer the anthropocentric works of man but the Christocentric giving of the Lord. That’s why we call this Gottesdienst (the Divine Service) and not worship and praise.

How do you “thank God” and “sing His praises?” You give thanksgiving the way the healed Leper did. You are drawn to Christ by the Holy Spirit. You are place in the living presence of the living Incarnate God/Man the same way the Lepers were—the Word comes to you and finds you. You are cured of leprosy. You are healed from Leprosy. Leprosy is the corruption of flesh; the rotting of the pure and good; the decay of the living. Jesus healed you at the font of your Baptisms and He continues to restore you in His Word: You are much loved. You are forgiven. You have paradise waiting for you. You are my brother and sister. Fear not my lamb for I am with you; peace to you.

How best to celebrate a secular Thanksgiving? Well you can thank God for your country and freedoms; you can watch the Lions loose again on the big-screen; and you can eat your full.

How best to thank and praise Christ your brother? You are doing it right now by the power of His Spirit. Your perfect and infinite thanks is given Him when you fall on your face at His feet, i.e. when you come to the rail, and let Him touch you again with affection, release, and concord.

In the Name of The Father and of + The Son and of The Holy Ghost