1 Chronicles 15.1-3; 16.16.1-4 and 1 Thessalonians 5.16-18
On this Thanksgiving weekend we consider Paul’s exhortation to “give thanks.”  Paul tells us that “this is God’s will for [us] in Christ Jesus.”  We often agonize about what God’s will may be in any number of circumstances, but God’s will is clearly set before us in this text. God’s will is that we “give thanks in all circumstances.”  Thanksgiving to God is at the heart of the Christian life.  In fact, it is at the heart of our lives as a community of God’s people.  We see this in David’s establishment of corporate worship in the life of God’s people.  David appoints Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord and they are “to make petition, give thanks, and to praise the Lord.” Giving thanks in all circumstances is the pathway to joy; it is the pathway to prayer.  Thanksgiving is the key to Paul’s injunction to “be joyful always; pray continually” since thanksgiving is prayer directed toward God and it is the fruit of finding joy in even the smallest things in life.  But Paul casts this thanksgiving “in Christ Jesus.” Christ Jesus is the greatest reason for thanksgiving, which we celebrate as we come to Holy Communion.  We it “The Eucharist,” that is, “The Thanksgiving” which Jesus himself established with thanksgiving.   “When he had given thanks” he took bread and wine and gave it to his disciples.  “This is my body … this is my blood … do this in remembrance of me.”