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<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=3>The following are SermonWriter materials for Nov.
26 (Thanksgiving). They <BR>focus on Matthew 6:25-33, where Jesus says, "Do not
worry about your life."<BR><BR>These materials consist of the exegesis of
Matthew 6:25-33, links to several <BR>Thanksgiving sermons, and several Thought
Provokers.<BR><BR>Dick Donovan<BR><BR><BR>SCRIPTURE: Matthew
6:25-33<BR><BR><BR><><BR>SERMONS:<BR><BR>I have several Thanksgiving
sermons posted on my web site at <BR></FONT><A href=""><FONT
size=3>www.lectionary.org</FONT></A><FONT size=3>. While only one is on
this text, you can find ideas for <BR>your sermon in the Thanksgiving sermons
for other texts as well.<BR><BR>TO SEE THESE THANKSGIVING SERMONS, go to
</FONT><A href=""><FONT
size=3>http://www.lectionary.org/</FONT></A><BR><BR><FONT size=3>Then click on
the "Sermons" link on the left side of the page (in the blue).<BR><BR>Then click
on the "Special Days and Occasions" link.<BR><BR>Then scroll down to
Thanksgiving, which will be near the end of the page.<BR><BR><BR>I AM ASKING YOU
TO GO THROUGH THESE STEPS to make you aware of the many <BR>sermons for various
Special Days and Occasions that I have posted on <BR></FONT><A href=""><FONT
size=3>www.lectionary.org</FONT></A><FONT size=3>. You will probably find
them helpful on some occasion in <BR>the future.<BR><BR>If you prefer, you can
go directly to the one sermon on this text by <BR>clicking the following
link:<BR><BR></FONT><A href=""><FONT
size=3>http://www.lectionary.org/Sermons/Stray/Matt/Matt%2006.25-34,%20NotPlatitudes.htm</FONT></A><BR><BR><BR><FONT
size=3>THOUGHT PROVOKERS:<BR><BR>Thank God every morning when you get up<BR>that
you have something to do that day which must be done,<BR>whether you like
it or not.<BR><BR>James Russell Lowell<BR><BR>* * * *
* * * * * *<BR><BR>If only the people who worry
about their liabilities<BR>would think about the riches they do possess,<BR>they
would stop worrying.<BR>Would you sell both your eyes for a million
dollars.<BR>or your two legs.or your hands.or your hearing?<BR>Add up what you
do have,<BR>and you'll find that you won't sell them for all the gold in the
world.<BR>The best things in life are yours, if you can appreciate
yourself.<BR>That's the way to stop worrying -- and start living!<BR><BR>Dale
Carnegie<BR><BR>* * * * * * * *
* *<BR><BR>We should spend as much time in thanking God for His
benefits<BR>as we do in asking Him for them.<BR><BR>Vincent de
Paul<BR><BR>* * * * * * * *
* *<BR><BR>If anyone would tell you the shortest, surest way to happiness
and all <BR>perfection,<BR>he must tell you to make it a rule to yourself<BR>to
thank and praise God for everything that happens to you.<BR>For it is certain
that whatever seeming calamity happens to you,<BR>if you thank and praise God
for it, you turn it into a blessing.<BR><BR>William Law<BR><BR>* *
* * * * * * * *<BR><BR>The best way in
which we can say, "Thank You, God,"<BR>is to live that way in our relationship
to him and to our fellow man,<BR>to live graciously and winsomely in our
everyday experience<BR>so that this world will be a better world because we live
in it.<BR><BR>A. Reuben Gornitzka<BR><BR>* * * * *
* * * * *<BR><BR><BR><BR><><BR><BR>HYMN
STORY: Now Thank We All Our God<BR><BR>Martin Rinckart (1586-1649 A.D.)
was born in Eilenburg, Germany -- a small <BR>city near Leipzig, which in the
20th century ended up behind the Iron <BR>Curtain in East Germany for several
decades.<BR><BR>Rinckart studied for the Lutheran ministry, and was called to
serve as <BR>pastor of the church at Eilenburg, his home town. He
arrived there just <BR>before the beginning of the Thirty Years War, a war that
devastated Germany <BR>in general and Eilenburg in particular. Being a
walled city, Eilenburg <BR>became a place of refuge and soon became badly
overcrowded, rendering it <BR>susceptible to disease. The plague of 1637
decimated the town, killing <BR>8,000 people, including Rinckart's wife.
Rinckart often conducted forty or <BR>fifty funerals a day for plague
victims.<BR><BR>It seems incongruous that a hymn like "Now Thank We All Our God"
should come <BR>out of such circumstances. However, Rinckart wrote the
first two stanzas, <BR>not as a hymn for public worship, but as a table grace
for his family. At <BR>the end of the war, his hymn was sung to celebrate
the signing of the Peace <BR>of Westphalia -- the treaty that ended the
war.<BR><BR>But we would know nothing of this hymn except for the good work of
Catherine <BR>Winkworth, an English woman who translated many German hymns into
English -- <BR>this hymn and "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" being the
best known.<BR><BR>NOTE: See additional hymn stories at <BR></FONT><A
href=""><FONT
size=3>http://www.lectionary.org/hymnstories.htm</FONT></A><BR><BR><BR><FONT
size=3><><BR></FONT><A href=""><FONT
size=3>www.sermonwriter.com</FONT></A><BR><BR><A href=""><FONT
size=3>www.lectionary.org</FONT></A><BR><BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>