Looking out at the body gathered here, I see well-satisfied, well-sated people. I see people who have recently consumed pie! I see people who still wear the glory of football, stuffing and cold beverages! Yes, I see folk who know how to celebrate THANKSGIVING!

Thanksgiving, that holiday often overshadowed by the coming of Christmas, is a day that is good to us and good for us. The feast day began on this continent when weary ill-prepared settlers from the Old World realized that they had escaped certain death for one more winter. They took three days off from the daily toil necessary for their survival and gave thanks for their deliverance. The dedicated Christians who had fled the comforts and security of their homeland to put down roots in a hostile, uncharted land, set aside time for prayers, blessings and feasting. They gave thanks to God for His hand in their lives. They recognized that all that they had came from his providence. 

Nearly a century later, just a few years after our country’s independence, the American Congress designated Thanksgiving as a national holiday. In all the other legislation, in the complex design of our three branches of government, in the beginning years of our Constitution and our Bill of Rights and our Penal Code and the establishment of our currency and our postal system and our interstate transportation and our tax code, our federal government said, along with all these other national concerns, our country needs a dedicated day, to give thanks! Gratitude, the affirmation of our blessings, is a practice beneficial to our citizenry. Our people need to honor the good things in their lives. Our people need to look beyond themselves and their moment to moment work and enterprise and give thanks to their God for his care and presence in all their endeavors. The founding fathers of this great democracy, the greatest minds of a golden age, declared that giving thanks is a noble, worthwhile pursuit.

Two hundred and sixteen or so years later, modern psychologists are saying the same thing. In well documented studies, behavioral scientists have found that giving thanks is good for human mental health! Gratitude, that awareness that good things beyond our control are present in our life increases our maturity and stability. Apparently, counting our blessings, enumerating the graces that surround us helps to make us well-adjusted! People who say, “Thank you God for all the things you have given me, for all the ways you take care of me,” these folk are happier, healthier, better able to cope in this world. Men and women, boys and girls who say grace, who offer prayers of thanks, who see the hand of a benevolent presence in their life are less likely to be bitter, resentful, angry, depressed or despairing. So, according to this research… “Thank you, Jesus!” and “Bless you, Father!” and “Thanks be to God!” is a recommended part of a healthy lifestyle. 

How we give thanks and what we designate as a “blessing” changes with our age. When we are children, we are most grateful that our immediate needs are satisfied. We consider ourselves greatly blessed if we find ourselves in homes where our mothers and fathers love and respect one another. We are thankful when the general tone of the home is gracious and accepting. We express thanks when our homes are stable and routines are predictable.

Parents who show up, every time on time make us grateful. Meals on the table, enforced bed times, kisses good night, clean clothes that don’t draw negative attention to ourselves help us feel secure and so we give thanks. Puppies and hermit crabs, siblings that don’t embarrass us at school, these are additional blessings for the young.

When we leave home for college or the world beyond, our gratefulness shifts. We are thankful when our roommates are halfway responsible. We give thanks when we find a new supportive set of friends is a new and foreign place. We feel blessed when we find a subject or work that engages our mind. Mastery, mastery, a feeling that we do something well is so important to our sense of well-being. When we find that “thing” that we think we’re good at we are sooo grateful. The growing sense that we can cope and maneuver in the world as an independent young adult is a major relief and when we come to that determination we give thanks.Few sensations are as powerful or comforting as the realization – “I can handle myself in most situations the world throws at me.” Such confidence is a true blessing.

Later, when we create families of our own, our gratitude shifts again. We give thanks when God sends us that partner that initially makes our hearts beat faster. We give more fervent thanks when 7 years, 14 years later it still beats for the one we’ve committed ourselves to. We’re grateful when our children arrive healthy. We give thanks when they develop according to schedule. We give real thanks that when problems come up, we have the resources, the emotional wherewithal to meet the challenges. It’s amazing how blessed we feel with every accomplishment, every success our child experiences. It’s surprising how often we go to our knees when something good happens to someone we care about. Good report cards, raises, negative test results, blue ribbons, a three point shot well executed, a passing grade in trigonometry – at this stage of life – we give thanks for the well-being of others – those whose lives are closely linked with ours. 

As older adults, as folks with more experience with loss and disappointments, our gratitude turns once more. We are deeply, deeply thankful for the safety and well-being of our family. We’re keenly aware of the dangers in the world and we’re grateful when those we love navigate through them. Every year that passes with loved ones intact makes us more and more thankful. Accidents avoided, careers launched, bills paid, children safe, parents in their right minds – these are reasons to celebrate.

“Thank you God for looking after us!” With more age and experience on us, we’re also thankful when we find ways to forgive past hurts and betrayals. We’re blessed when we come to places of peace about things done and left undone to us by people who should have known better, done better by us. Forgiveness and acceptance is hard won and when we find it, we are exceedingly relieved and thankful.

In our later years, when the end of our life is closer than the beginning, our gratitude shifts for the final time. Our thanksgivings typically center on two things. We are extremely aware of our health. Every day we’re mindful of our physical and mental state. As we become “aged persons,” we notice how our bodies become contrary! They don’t do what they once did. It is aggravating and perplexing that, in our minds, we’re still all robust and agile, but in our hips and knees, we’re all titanium and screws! How did this happen? It is aggravating and perplexing that in one part of our minds we are brilliant and erudite and in another part, we can’t remember where we parked the car! Where did all these pills come from and why can’t we see at night? Getting old is no fun and going through it with grace requires real strength of character. When faced with pains and aches and frustrating, diminished capacities to move and think quickly and clearly, our gratitude is tested. 

From this place our prayers of thanksgiving often focus on “Thank you God, it’s not worse!” Grateful, well-adjusted folk will accentuate the positive. “Thank you God I can still do these things…Thank you Father I have people who love me and keep me in their hearts…I give thanks for my caring, competent doctors, for my friends still here, for the resources that keep me comfortable and not out on the street.”

At this time in our lives, our gratitude also centers on our legacy. We give thanks for a life well lived and we give thanks for what we will leave behind. In our later years, we have the luxury to reflect on our contributions to the world.   And we find ourselves grateful for the blessing of experiences, for work well done, for families raised well, for values instilled and character formed. We’re blessed by our children and their children and the good t hey will do in the world. For now, the sacrifices and the worry is replaced with pride and peace. Here we often say, “Thanks be to God for his sure hand protecting those I love. And thanks be to God for blessing them so well.”

In every stage of our life, we have much for which thanks are deserved. And as thankful, faithful people, we probably do a good job in offering our gratitude to God. But in all the prayers and praises for our health and relationships, our pets and accomplishments, do we remember to give thanks for the most pervasive, the most enduring blessing? Do we remember God’s greatest gift to us and is it a lectionary coincidence that Christ the King Sunday always falls so close to Thanksgiving Day?

And do we all understand the meaning and significance of “Christ the King” Sunday?

On this day, each of the assigned readings point to the superior gift God gave humankind in sending his Son to earth. At the very beginning of our worship this morning the collect called us to remember that God’s well-beloved son, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords was sent to restore all things to God. Christ came among us to bring back together all peoples of the earth who were divided and enslaved by sin. Once his Son accomplished this work, he was to return to the Father to reign over heaven and earth for eternity.

In today’s Old Testament reading of the prophet Jeremiah, a promise of a king is foretold. “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” A righteous branch refers to documented lineage. David was the youngest son of Jesse, a prosperous shepherd from Bethlehem. Generations later, Jesus was born as a descendant of David. Christians believe that this Jesus is the king Jeremiah predicts.

Three times in the appointed psalm this morning we repeat the line “The Lord of hosts is with us.” The name Jesus, the name Emanuel means “God is with us.” Today our thoughts are to remain focused on God’s son, God’s son as active, as with us, as a powerful agent.

Coming at seemingly odd times of year, the Gospel passage from Luke centers on the crucifixion. Christ is nailed to the cross, mocked by soldiers, gawked at by strangers. A sign hangs over his head “This is the King of the Jews.” Once again the king image is introduced. But here there is a disconnect between the idea of a king in glory and power and the man broken and sacrificed on the cross.

Jesus Christ, God’s own and only Son left heaven and came to earth for one purpose. He came to restore all things to the Father’s good grace. Humanity fell from grace by their own arrogance. Christ came to lift us up and return us to the Father. He came to undo the effects of the fall. 

The restoration, the reconciliation, the reunion was accomplished by and in the Son’s crucifixion. In giving his divine life in exchange for all the brokenness of human life, we were redeemed.

This is an amazing, most gracious gift, one for which we should give exuberant, persistent thanks.

The image of the crucifix, Christ fixed to the cross, hanging there for our sins, for our waywardness, for our headstrong choices is powerful and convicting. We should hold this image in our hearts and give thanks for the son’s sacrifice but this is not the final image…

Remember the last words of our Gospel passage? The criminal nailed next to Christ has a change of heart and says “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus replies, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise!”

The cross is not where Christ ends up. The cross does not hold Christ long. The cross is true and powerful and brings us salvation, but it is not the end of Christ’s work for us.

Christ crucified is a moment. But then Christ rises. Christ goes back to paradise. Christo Rex, Christ the King, is who we celebrate. Look at that window. That is not Christ broken, despairing, powerless. That is Christ victorious; Christ glorious, Christ alive and active in heaven and on earth. Christ, the King of the World, now reigns in heaven with his Father. He completed his work of salvation on our behalf and now he continues to look after us. Today he is our advocate! 

Every day Christ looks down on us and holds us in his heart. Every day he speaks to his father on our behalf. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” “Father, look after them, they are trying to do better.” “Father, they are your children.” “They are my brothers and sisters, treat them well. Love and protect them. 

In heaven, in glory, in majesty, above the angels, ahead of the saints, on the right hand of God Almighty, Christ the King resides. Perfect in all things, most beloved of the Father, he reigns and rules.

In this season of thanksgiving, in this time for counting numerous blessings and remembering all good things poured into our lives, let us give might thanks for the most impressive, the most enduring gift of all…

Thanks be to God for the gift of his Son! Thanks be to God for Christ born, crucified, risen and ascended.

Thanks be to God for Christ our King!