Do any of you recall who Bobby McFerrin is?  He is a vocalist and conductor, and he has been active in the music industry since the late Seventies.  Well, I thought about him as I read our Thanksgiving texts.  Actually, I thought about his 1988 hit song more than I thought about him.  Remember that song, “There’s a little song I wrote, you might want to sing it note for note, don’t worry, be happy!”   Every time I read this text, that song comes to mind.  And now that I have somewhat sang it for you, it will probably ring in your ears throughout the holidays.  It’s been 21 years since this song was at the top of the charts, but this notion of worrying has been around for thousands of years.  Jesus tells us not to worry, but can we really live in our world today and not be worried?

So how do we begin to make sense of this command?  Well, let’s start at the beginning.  Our text tonight starts with the word “therefore” (Matthew 6:25), and I have learned over the years to ask one question whenever I see this word; what is the “therefore” there for?  You see, whenever you see the word “therefore,” you need to take special note of what came before it.  In this case, Jesus has just told his disciples, “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Matthew 6:24)  “Therefore” Jesus says, “do not worry.”  When Jesus says, “Do not worry,” he is still focused on how we treat our possessions and our desire for possessions.  This is about the disciples’ attitudes toward material things and possessions and their trust, or lack thereof, in their Heavenly Father.  For Jesus, when one worries about things they cannot control or affect it is as good as saying, “I have no faith in God.” 
Now, I have to be honest with you, I struggle with these texts because, while I don't want to serve my wealth or fall into the sin of greed, I also know that having sufficient funds or income can greatly reduce worries and anxieties in my life.  I know that having a steady and sufficient income means I can be assured I will not lose my home and that I will be able to provide food, clothing, and shelter for my family.  Unlike the birds and the plants, in the culture in which we live we have to think about these things, and in difficult times like these, worries are bound to enter our lives.  But Jesus isn’t calling us to be so carefree with our lives that we don’t sensibly provide for our future.  Sensibly providing for the future and worrying about the future are not the same.  The more I study this, the more I am convinced that Jesus is once again challenging us to stop focusing inward on ourselves and to remember to focus our lives on God’s mission. 

So how, in this incredible time of anxiety, how do we get rid of our worries?  Well, I don’t think it is as easy as the song says.  I don’t think we can just sing our way into being worry-free.  No, I think Jesus is telling us to find something else to fill our lives.  So how do we do that?  I remember one of my high school science teachers holding up an empty glass one day in class and asking us, “If you wanted to get all of the air out of this glass, how would you do it?  Do you know?  (Hold up a glass.)  You fill it with something else!  (Pour water into the glass).  As I fill the glass with water, it replaces the air.  That is what Jesus expects us to do with our worries, particularly those that we cannot change.  Jesus is commanding us to fill our lives with thanksgiving for all we do have, and then we should seek to discover how we can use those blessings to bring about God’s Kingdom.  Worry often stems from what we do not have and how we can get more of whatever that is; thanksgiving, however, deals with what God has given us. Worry usually thinks about what bad things might happen in the future, and thanksgiving trusts that the future is in God's hands.

So, what do we, the faith communities of Lenexa United Methodist and Salem Lutheran, have that we ought to be giving thanks to our Lord for?  Well, many would say the obvious, Look at our communities, we each are blessed with people who strive to be faithful disciples, both of our communities are in the process of expanding our facilities, and the list of such things goes on and on.  I will let each of you discern tonight and tomorrow as you celebrate this holiday as to what else you are thankful for.
But when I think about what we can be thankful for, I think of this table, or as we Christians often call it, the altar.  For you see, it is at this table that we Christians gather whenever we worship to receive an incredible gift, the gift of forgiveness.  In his first letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul tells us “For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.’  In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.”  (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

Jesus says, “Do this.”  What is “this”?  We call it the Eucharist, which come from the Greek, eucharistas, meaning the giving of thanks.  You see, when we come to the table, we receive this gift that has been given for us for the forgiveness of sin, our sin.  It is given freely, and we call it Eucharist because we come filled with thanks for such an incredible gift. 

Now, to be honest, theologically speaking, our two denominations have many significant differences; however, when it comes to the core of our faith, we have much in common.  We believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, and we believe that he gave his life for us, not because we deserved such a gift but because God first loved us.  Recently, our two denominations agreed to put our differences aside and agree that we should be in full communion so that we can celebrate and focus on the very core of our faith.  Tonight, for the first time ever, our two communities will celebrate the Eucharist together.  In just a few moments, Pastor Peggy will preside over the meal and she will invite all of us to come to the table to receive this incredible gift.  I do not know about you, but I am extremely excited to break bread with all of you, and I pray that as we come to the table we realize the many blessings for which we all can be thankful for to God.

In addition to this meal here tonight, my prayer is that as you gather with all of your family and/or friends for dinner on Thanksgiving Day you also remember to give thanks and praise to God.  And to help you remember to do this, I am going to ask each family here to come forward after worship and to take one of these loaves of bread home with you for your meal.  May this bread remind you of the many blessings you can give thanks for as you begin your new, worry-free life.  Amen