A Thanksgiving Prayer

As Marlene and I prepare for hosting a family Thanksgiving dinner at our house, I have written the prayer that follows. Join with our family in celebrating God's faithfulness during this Thanksgiving season.

Our Father in Heaven, we give thanks for your presence at this table, and we praise you for the privilege and pleasure of gathering on this Thanksgiving Day. We pray for your blessing on those who are here in person and those who, although not physically present, are here in our hearts.

As we gather, we say with the Psalmist, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever” (Psalms 118, 136), and “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him and bless his name” (Psalm 100).

Even though we are in this time of thanksgiving, we recognize that there are many who are hungry, lonely, fearful, oppressed, imprisoned, persecuted, victims of mass violence, and sick, including those impacted by the coronavirus. We pray for all of these, and we ask for your grace, mercy, strength, justice, and love to prevail. May the realization of the needs and needy in the world stir us to acts of service. For you have commanded, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 19:19) and “Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).

As we are about to enjoy this meal, we give thanks to God the Father, who is “Lord of the harvest” (Matthew 9:38) and has abundantly provided for us, both physically and spiritually. We offer praise to our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Bread of Life, the Living Water, the Light of the World, the Good Shepherd, and the Resurrection and the Life. We rejoice in the Holy Spirit, who nurtures us and cultivates in our lives the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

We offer this prayer in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with thanksgiving. Amen

 

 

Veterans Day

 “You are welcome.”

 We celebrated Veterans Day yesterday and enjoyed some free offerings from area businesses. We got “The Works” from Tommy’s Car Wash, a haircut coupon from Great Clips, wings and fries from Buffalo Wild Wings, and preferred parking and a 10% discount from Lowes. These gifts typically include the words “Thank you for your service.” To which I responded,

“You are welcome.”

I come from a family of vets. My father, Uncle Bill Braunius (survivor of the Normandy invasion), Uncle Norm Jonkman, and Uncle Bill Sharp served in World War II. My brother Roy and I were in the Naval Reserve and each on active duty for 2 years during the Vietnam era.

Our service was in response to a commitment as citizens of the United States. While I cannot speak for other family members, we can be proud of our service to this country. It is a place where we have freedom to acknowledge a history that proclaims, “We the people,” “In God we trust,” and “that all men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

This is not to say that I am proud of everything about our country. I lament slavery, racial discrimination, and the relocation of indigenous peoples. I grieve over the government’s position on abortion. And, I am frustrated by authoritarian political leaders who govern by deceit, lies, and manipulation.

Yet, “this land is your land, and this land is my land.” I thank God for our country and continue to consider it a privilege to have defended it. We are the “land of the free and the home of the brave.” While, not a perfect country, I think that we are better than most. There is no place where I would rather be. The freedoms that we enjoy are because of those who serve and have served. So, it is fitting that we express appreciation to our veterans, and when the words “Thank you for your service” come my way I say,

“You are welcome.”

Trees

Trees are around us all year long, but the Fall is a season of special splendor. In the Winter, we pretty much ignore most of these brown stick-like figures. In Spring, we welcome back their emerging blossoms and bright green leaves. During Summer, we think more about the shade that they provide than the trees themselves. But in Fall, as if not being able to tolerate passivity any longer, we are forced to acknowledge their brilliance as they pop into bright yellows, oranges, and reds.

Acknowledging this awakened brilliance, many Michiganders take to the roads to “ooh” and “ah” over this wardrobe change. We call these road trips “color tours.”

Marlene and I recently took our color tour up to the Harbor Springs, Michigan area for a drive along route M-119, also called the “Tunnel of Trees.” Focusing on these beauties opened up a compartment in my brain where tree memories are stored. So, here are a few of my cranial memories. I think psychologists call this cluster of thoughts a “schema.” The following are excerpts from my schema on trees as they were organized in my head. Click on the titles to link with the full text.

The first was Joyce Kilmer’s poem, “Trees.”

“I think that I shall never see/A poem lovely as a tree…

Poems are made by fools like me, 

But only God can make a tree.”

Then came words from a picture book by Shel Silverstein called “The Giving Tree.”

"Once there was a tree and she loved a little boy. and every day the boy would come and he would gather her leaves and make them into crowns and play king of the forest..." 

After that, the “Tree Song” by musician Ken Medema came to mind.

“I saw a tree by the riverside/One day as I walked along,/Straight as an arrow,/And pointing to the sky,/Growing tall and strong./ ‘How do you grow so tall and strong?’/ I said to the riverside tree./ This is the song my tree friend sang to me…”

The “Tree Song” led my thoughts to a biblical song, Psalm 1, where a righteous person is compared to a healthy tree.

“Blessed is the one (vs.1)…

whose delight is in the law of the Lord (vs. 2)…

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in season (vs. 3).”

The words of Christ also came to mind.

“So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit” (Matthew 7:17).

Thinking further, I am finding trees throughout Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. For example, the Tree of Life appears in Genesis, Proverbs, and Revelation and at least 19 Bible books have references to trees.

Finally, I started brainstorming about the many functions of the trees that are all around us. Trees are:

bearers of blossoms and fruit,

changed into fossil fuels,

chopped into firewood,

converted into treehouses,

cut into lumber,

designed to be climbed,

made into furniture,

preservers of soil,

preventers of erosion,

providers of oxygen,

contributors of pulp for paper,

nests for the birds,

sources of maple syrup,

supporters of wildlife, and

symbols of Christmas.

While the above “tree-mendous” thoughts have “branched out” in a number of different directions, they point to the wonderful role of trees in teaching us about life. They remind us of beauty, service to others, nourishment, strength, and righteousness. They are icons of nature that God uses to tell us about himself and how we should be rooted, grow, and bear fruit.

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The tree-related images in this blog are as follows.

--Michigan’s tunnel of trees

--A view of our house with trees in the background (7^th house from the left)

--Tree of Life by Joel Schoon Tanis in atrium of Fellowship Reformed Church, Holland, Michigan

--Cartoon about supporting and being supported by trees