The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1916, Page 81

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The Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

ers

Pusiisuep BY THE EvancentcaL Lurueran SynopicaL Conrerence or Nortu AMERICA.

REV. F. J. LANKENAU, EDITOR.

Entered at the Post Ofice at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.

No. 11.

Vol. XXXVIII.

ST. LOUIS, MO., NOVEMBER, 1916.

Thanksgiving.

As Thanksgiving Day comes around again, we
feel constrained to remember with grateful hearts
the blessings which the Giver of every good and
perfect gift has bestowed upon us during the past
year. When that first New England Thanksgiving,
which lasted three days, was celebrated by the
Pilgrims, they rendered indeed heartfelt thanks
to God Almighty. ‘They had ample cause to do so,
for He had freed them from starvation and pesti-
lence, to which about half of their original number
had fallen victims during that first fatal winter;
He again had supplied them with food and good
health.

Thank God, we have not undergone any ex-
traordinary sufferings. We have been spared the
woes of war and bloodshed. How often were we
sad in the course of the year, and have been made
happy again! Our heavenly Father has blessed us
with an abundance of temporal and spiritual gifts.
Our souls have again been fed with the precious
truth that “God so loved the world that He gave
His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
Tim should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Tfence let us praise the Triune God, from whom
all blessings flow. This Christians should princi-
pally do by listening to the Lord’s Oracles, and by
praying and singing at His sanctuary and in their
homes. But they should even do it by eating their
hounteous Thanksgiving dinner. In 1 Cor. 10, 31
St. Paul writes to fhe Christians: “Whether, there-
fore, ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to
the glory of God.” ‘The spirit of gratitude should
pervade our entire lives. Even by eating and drink-
ing we may, yea, should, glorify God. He gives us
our food not only as a necessity, but also for our

pleasure, as He gives us many other pleasures. As
such we should use it. God is not an austere
master (Luke 19, 21). He does not demand self-
inflicted tortures, as Luther believed in the monas-
tery, before he had learned to know the Gospel.
He is a kind Father, who supplies us with various
and delightful articles of food and comforts of
life in order that we might enjoy them.

True, we should not be mere pleasure-seekers.
We should not forget work and prayer. We should
not make pleasure our god and the chief object of
our lives. We should not be immoderate in our
enjoyments. We should not practise vice, sinful
enjoyment. On the contrary, we should enjoy our-
selves moderately and in the fear of the Lord, ap-
preciating His gifts and recognizing them as such.
If we do this, not only our work and prayer, but
our very pleasures will be well-pleasing in His
sight. If done in the right spirit, even our eating
and drinking is a way of glorifying Him, serv-
ing Him.

By eating and drinking. and by “whatever we
do,” we should glorify God. Our every-day work
often seems monotonous, unpleasant. When we
work in a gloomy, dissatisfied spirit, we thereby
dishonor God. May we, with the assistance of the
Holy Ghost, glorify the Most High by performing
our work cheerfully, faithfully, and efficiently.

Above all, let us thus discharge our religious

duties, especially, those of the First Table, but also
serve our neighbor with charity out of a pure heart.

We should thank God with sincere hearts. To
do this it is necessary to heed Solomon’s counsel:
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it
are the issues of life”? How is this done? By
clinging with our hearts to Christ Crucified in true
faith. To the Colossians St. Paul writes: “What-