Subject: Thanksgiving
THANKSGIVING DAY, 2014
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
Thanksgiving Day invites us
to reflect on the blessings we enjoy and the freedoms we cherish. As we gather with family and friends to take
part in this uniquely American celebration, we give thanks for the extraordinary
opportunities we have in a Nation of limitless possibilities, and we pay
tribute to all those who defend our Union as members of our Armed Forces. This holiday reminds us to show compassion
and concern for people we have never met and deep gratitude toward those who
have sacrificed to help build the most prosperous Nation on earth. These traditions honor the rich history of
our country and hold us together as one American family, no matter who we are
or where we come from.
Nearly 400 years ago, a group
of Pilgrims left their homeland and sailed across an ocean in pursuit of
liberty and prosperity. With the
friendship and kindness of the Wampanoag people, they learned to harvest the rich
bounty of a new world.
Together, they shared a
successful crop, celebrating bonds of community during a time of great
hardship. Through times of war and of
peace, the example of a Native tribe who extended a hand to a new people has
endured. During the American Revolution
and the Civil War, days of thanksgiving drew Americans together in prayer and
in the spirit that guides us to better days, and in each year since, our Nation
has paused to show our gratitude for our families, communities, and country.
With God's grace, this
holiday season we carry forward the legacy of our forebears. In the company of our loved ones, we give
thanks for the people we care about and the joy we share, and we remember those
who are less fortunate. At shelters and
soup kitchens, Americans give meaning to the simple truth that binds us
together: we are our brother's and our
sister's keepers. We remember how a
determined people set out for a better world ‑‑ how through faith and the
charity of others, they forged a new life built on freedom and opportunity.
The spirit of Thanksgiving is
universal. It is found in small moments
between strangers, reunions shared with friends and loved ones, and in quiet
prayers for others. Within the heart of
America's promise burns the inextinguishable belief that together we can
advance our common prosperity ‑‑ that we can build a more hopeful, more just,
and more unified Nation. This
Thanksgiving, let us recall the values that unite our diverse country, and let
us resolve to strengthen these lasting ties.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK
OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby
proclaim Thursday, November 27, 2014, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage the people of the United States
to join together ‑‑ whether in our homes, places of worship, community centers,
or any place of fellowship for friends and neighbors ‑‑ and give thanks for all
we have received in the past year, express appreciation to those whose lives
enrich our own, and share our bounty with others.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have
hereunto set my hand this twenty‑sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord
two thousand fourteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America
the two hundred and thirty‑ninth.
BARACK OBAMA
Hymn 73
Based on the Dutch of Abraham Rutgers
Glory, honor, praise and pure oblations
Unto God the Lord belong;
Come into His presence with thanksgiving,
Come before Him with a song.
In His hand is all the power of nations,
Sing to Him, ye joyous congregations,
Psalms of gratitude and praise
Unto God the Father raise.
God is Mind and holy thought is sending;
Man, His image, hears His voice.
Every heart may understand His message,
In His kindness may rejoice.
Lo, He speaks, all condemnation ending,
Every true desire with Love's will blending;
Losing self, in Him we find
Joy, health, hope, for all mankind.
Readings from the Bible.
Colossians 1:3‑6,9‑13,16,17
We give thanks to God and the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, Since we heard of your
faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, For the
hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of
the truth of the gospel; Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and
bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and
knew the grace of God in truth:
For this cause we also, since
the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might
be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual
understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being
fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience
and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath
made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who
hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear Son:
For by him were all things
created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things
were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all
things consist.
II Peter 1:2‑8
Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his
divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and
godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and
virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that
by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust.
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to
virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and
to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly
kindness charity. For if these things be
in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Silent prayer, followed by the audible repetition of the Lord’s prayer, with its spiritual interpretation as given in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy
Our Father which art in heaven,
Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Adorable One.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Enable us to know – as in heaven, so on earth
God is omnipotent, supreme.
Give us this day our daily bread;
Give us grace for today; feed the famished affections;
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And Love is reflected in love;
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;
And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All.
Hymn 150
William P. McKenzie
In mercy, in goodness, how great is our King;
Our tribute, thanksgiving, with glad hearts we
bring.
Thou art the Renewer, the Ancient of Days,
Who givest, for mourning, the garment of
praise.
We thank Thee for work in the wide harvest
field,
For gladness that ripens when sorrow is
healed;
Made strong with Thy goodness that meets every
need,
We gather the fruit of the Sower's good seed.
Dear Father and Saviour, we thank Thee for
life,
And courage that rises undaunted by strife,
For confident giving and giving's reward,
For beauty and love in the life of our Lord.
Explanatory Note
Friends:
The Bible and the Christian Science textbook are our only preachers. We shall now read Scriptural texts, and their correlative passages from our denominational textbook; these comprise our sermon.
The canonical writings, together with the word of our textbook, corroborating and explaining the Bible texts in their spiritual import and application to all ages, past, present, and future, constitute a sermon undivorced from truth, uncontaminated and unfettered by human hypotheses, and divinely authorized.
The lesson-sermon from the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, read by the First and Second Readers.
The content of the Lesson Sermon may be found in the Christian Science Quarterly. You may also read the Lesson-Sermon for this week online by clicking here.
Solo: “Thanks Be to God”
Sharing of testimonies appropriate for the occasion by members of the congregation.
Hymn 283
From the German of Joachim Neander
Praise we the Lord, for His mercy endureth
forever.
Let us extol Him with joyous and loving
endeavor;
Come let us sing,
Praising our God and our King,
Should we be silent? Ah, never.
Praise we the Lord, who our footsteps still
holdeth
from sliding;
Daily He campeth about us, protecting and
guiding;
E'en while we sleep
Watch doth He tenderly keep;
Ever new mercies providing.
Praise we the Lord with a joyous and glad
adoration;
Lo, unto them that believe there is no
condemnation;
Now will we raise
Songs of thanksgiving and praise,
Christ is become our salvation.
"The Scientific Statement of Being" (S&H p. 468} and the correlative scripture according to I John 3:1-3.
There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p.468
1John.3
[1] Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
[2] Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
[3] And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Benediction
Psalms 100: 4,5
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and
into his courts with praise; be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
For the Lord is good; his mercy is
everlasting; and his truth endureth
to all generations.
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