Revised Common Lectionary - Thanksgiving Day, USA, November 28, 2013

Revised Common Lectionary - Thanksgiving Day, USA, November 28, 2013

PRAYER: Thematic

O God,

in your Son Jesus Christ

you richly bless us with all that we need,

bread from the earth and the bread of heaven,

which gives life to the world.

Grant us one thing more:

grateful hearts to sing your praise,

in this world and the world to come. Amen.

Intercessory

God clothes the grass of the field

and feeds the birds of the air.

On behalf of the church and the world,

we offer our prayers

more from our need to be transformed

by our awareness of them

than from any need of God to be reminded of them.

Prayers of the People, concluding with:

Free us from all fear and worry

that, trusting in your goodness,

we may always praise your mighty deeds

and give you thanks for the bounty of your gifts.

We make our prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Scripture

Generous God,

you brought us into the abundance of our inheritance.

Grant us the faith to be people

blossoming with honor and truth,

so that we may produce bountifully

the firstfruits of justice and compassion,

which are pleasing in your sight. Amen.

Deuteronomy 26: 1 It shall be, when you have come in to the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance, possess it, and dwell in it, 2 that you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you shall bring in from your land that the LORD your God gives you. You shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which the LORD your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there. 3 You shall come to the priest who shall be in those days, and tell him, “I profess today to the LORD your God, that I have come to the land which the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.” 4 The priest shall take the basket out of your hand, and set it down before the LORD your God’s altar. 5 You shall answer and say before the LORD your God, “My father* was a Syrian ready to perish. He went down into Egypt, and lived there, few in number. There he became a great, mighty, and populous nation. 6 The Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. 7 Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers. the LORD heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs, and with wonders; 9 and he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 Now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, the LORD, have given me.” You shall set it down before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God. 11 You shall rejoice in all the good which the LORD your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the foreigner who is among you.(Messianic WEB)

Psalm 100: A Psalm of thanksgiving.

1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all you lands!

2 Serve the LORD with gladness.

Come before his presence with singing.

3 Know that the LORD, he is God.

It is he who has made us, and we are his.

We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,

into his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him, and bless his name.

5 For the LORD is good.

His loving kindness endures forever,

his faithfulness to all generations.(Messianic WEB)

Philippians 4: 4 Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, “Rejoice!” 5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Messiah Yeshua.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think about these things. 9 The things which you learned, received, heard, and saw in me: do these things, and the God of peace will be with you.(Messianic WEB)

John 6: 25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”

26 Yeshua answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled. 27  Don’t work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has sealed him.”

28 They said therefore to him, “What must we do, that we may work the works of God?”

29 Yeshua answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

30 They said therefore to him, “What then do you do for a sign, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven‡ to eat.’”✡

32 Yeshua therefore said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, it wasn’t Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread out of heaven. 33  For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”

34 They said therefore to him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”

35 Yeshua said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.(Messianic WEB)

John Wesley’s Notes-Commentary for:

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

XXVI A form of confession made by him that offered the first- fruits, ver. 1-11. A prayer to be made after the disposal of the third year's tithe, ver. 12-15. He binds all these precepts upon them, by the divine authority, and the covenant between God and them, ver. 16-19.

Verse 2. Thou shalt take - This seems to be required of each master of a family, either upon his first settlement, or once every year at one of their three feasts, when they were obliged to go up to Jerusalem.

Verse 5. A Syrian - So Jacob was, partly by his original, as being born of Syrian parents, as were Abraham and Rebecca, both of Chaldea or Mesopotamia, which was a part of Syria largely so called, partly by his education and conversation; and partly by his relations, his wives being such, and his children too by their mother's. Ready to perish - Either through want and poverty; (See Gen. xxviii, 11, 20; xxxii, 10,) or through the rage of his brother Esau, and the treachery of his father-in-law Laban.

Verse 10. It - The basket of first-fruits, ver. 2.

Verse 11. Thou shalt rejoice - Thou shalt hereby enabled to take comfort in all thy employments, when thou hast sanctified them by giving God his portion. It is the will of God, that we should be chearful not only in our attendance upon his holy ordinances, but in our enjoyment of the gifts of his providence. Whatever good thing God gives us, we should make the most comfortable use of it we can, still tracing the streams to the fountain of all consolation.

Psalm 100   

PS 100 An exhortation to praise God and to rejoice in him, ver. 1- 5 A psalm of praise

Philippians 4:4-9

Verse 5. Let your gentleness - Yieldingness, sweetness of temper, the result of joy in the Lord. Be known - By your whole behaviour. To all men - Good and bad, gentle and froward. Those of the roughest tempers are good natured to some, from natural sympathy and various motives; a Christian, to all. The Lord - The judge, the rewarder, the avenger. Is at hand - Standeth at the door.

Verse 6. Be anxiously careful for nothing - If men are not gentle towards you, yet neither on this, nor any other account, be careful, but pray. Carefulness and prayer cannot stand together. In every thing - Great and small. Let your requests be made known - They who by a preposterous shame or distrustful modesty, cover, stifle, or keep in their desires, as if they were either too small or too great, must be racked with care; from which they are entirely delivered, who pour them out with a free and filial confidence. To God - It is not always proper to disclose them to men. By supplication - Which is the enlarging upon and pressing our petition. With thanksgiving - The surest mark of a soul free from care, and of prayer joined with true resignation. This is always followed by peace. Peace and thanksgiving are both coupled together, Colossians iii, 15.

Verse 7. And the peace of God - That calm, heavenly repose, that tranquility of spirit, which God only can give. Which surpasseth all understanding - Which none can comprehend, save he that receiveth it. Shall keep - Shall guard, as a garrison does a city. Your hearts - Your affections. Your minds - Your understandings, and all the various workings of them; through the Spirit and power of Christ Jesus, in the knowledge and love of God. Without a guard set on these likewise, the purity and vigour of our affections cannot long be preserved.

Verse 8. Finally - To sum up all. Whatsoever things are true - Here are eight particulars placed in two fourfold rows; the former containing their duty; the latter, the commendation of it. The first word in the former row answers the first in the latter; the second word, the second and so on. True - In speech. Honest - In action. Just - With regard to others. Pure - With regard to yourselves. Lovely - And what more lovely than truth? Of good report - As is honesty, even where it is not practiced. If there be any virtue - And all virtues are contained in justice. If there be any praise - In those things which relate rather to ourselves than to our neighbour. Think on these things - That ye may both practice them yourselves, and recommend them to others.

Verse 9. The things which ye have learned - As catechumens. And received - By continual instructions. And heard and seen - In my life and conversation. These do, and the God of peace shall be with you - Not only the peace of God, but God himself, the fountain of peace.

John 6:25-35

Verse 26. Our Lord does not satisfy their curiosity, but corrects the wrong motive they had in seeking him: because ye did eat - Merely for temporal advantage. Hitherto Christ had been gathering hearers: he now begins to try their sincerity, by a figurative discourse concerning his passion, and the fruit of it, to be received by faith.

Verse 27. labour not for the meat which perisheth - For bodily food: not for that only not chiefly: not at all, but in subordination to grace, faith, love, the meat which endureth to everlasting life. labour, work for this; for everlasting life. So our Lord expressly commands, work for life, as well as from life: from a principle of faith and love. Him hath the Father sealed - By this very miracle, as well as by his whole testimony concerning him. See chap. iii, 33. Sealing is a mark of the authenticity of a writing.

Verse 28. The works of God - Works pleasing to God.

Verse 29. This is the work of God - The work most pleasing to God, and the foundation of all others: that ye believe - He expresses it first properly, afterward figuratively.

Verse 30. What sign dost thou? - Amazing, after what they had just seen!

Verse 31. Our fathers ate manna - This sign Moses gave them. He gave them bread from heaven - From the lower sublunary heaven; to which Jesus opposes the highest heaven: in which sense he says seven times, ver. 32, 33, 38, 50, 58, 62, that he himself came down from heaven.

Verse 32. Moses gave you not bread from heaven - It was not Moses who gave the manna to your fathers; but my Father who now giveth the true bread from heaven. Psalm lxxviii, 24.

Verse 33. He that - giveth life to the world - Not (like the manna) to one people only: and that from generation to generation. Our Lord does not yet say, I am that bread; else the Jews would not have given him so respectful an answer, ver. 34.

Verse 34. Give us this bread - Meaning it still, in a literal sense: yet they seem now to be not far from believing.

Verse 35. I am the bread of life - Having and giving life: he that cometh -he that believeth - Equivalent expressions: shall never hunger, thirst - Shall be satisfied, happy, for ever.

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