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Let us continue in worship now by giving attention to the New Testament reading. The first letter to the Corinthians, the fourth chapter, beginning the reading at the verse numbered one. "This is how one should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.

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But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden

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in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then every man will receive his commendation from God. I have applied all this to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brethren, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What

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have you that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?" May the same Spirit that inspired these words incline our hearts to understand them. Pray with me. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

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Thanksgiving has been quite a challenge to me this year. This is the sixth Thanksgiving sermon that I have preached this week. Now, it may seem to you something of a compliment to be invited to speak on a Thanksgiving theme six times, and I suppose there is something complimentary in that. But I assure you I look upon it not so much as a compliment,

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but rather as a challenge and as a rather profound responsibility. It would be very easy to get up and preach Thanksgiving sermons if I was to focus on the harvest of the fields and talk about the pilgrims, and talk about God and country, and presidential proclamations and things of the like. You can talk about those things at no particular cost. But preaching,

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it seems to me, is to be more than that. Preaching is to be an honest expression of the heart. You see, God does not call us to be advocates. He does not call us to be attorneys on his behalf who climb up into a low or high pulpit and present an argument for him. Preaching is not to be argument. There is no place in scripture where one finds God calling us to

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be lawyers on his behalf. No, no. We are called to be witnesses. Now, as you know, if you have even the most cursory understanding of judicial process, a witness can only testify to what he or she has seen himself or herself. You cannot talk about what others have seen or heard. That is hearsay evidence. A witness can only bear testimony to what is part of

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her or his experience. So I understand that to mean that when I am invited to speak of thanksgiving, I must witness for God on a thanksgiving theme out of my own experience. That means I must reveal myself. Now, it is perhaps easy for you to reveal yourself to other people, multitudes of people, time after time, six times in a week. I do not find that

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easy. I do not find that easy at all. You see, self-revelation is to open a window on your soul. Now, the way in which we open windows on our souls, of course, is through our words. The word is the skin that we wrap around a thought, and the thought is the insight into the soul. That is why, for example, when a new baby is born, we are delighted with the

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arrival of the child, but we have a particular thrill when the child begins to talk, because the moment that child can begin to speak, we suddenly have an insight into that child that is beyond any insight we had before. In the same manner, at the end of life, we gather tight about the deathbed, because we want to hear those last words. And why? Because

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we know that the moment those words are spoken, we will have no more contact with that soul in terms of window into that soul, so long as life is ours here. You see, the word reveals the inner self. So what I've been asked to do is six times this week to get up and speak out of my inner self about what Thanksgiving means to me in this year, 1984. And that's

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a heavy thing to do. The first church I ever had the privilege of serving was in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. And those of you who knew that city years ago know that it was divided by train tracks, and oft times all the traffic stopped while the trains went through. And I remember one night there was a Halloween parade, and there was a band going down the

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street, and somehow or other, the drum major got a little far ahead of the band. And while he was down here blowing his whistle and waving his baton, and the band was back here playing, the black and white fences went down across the tracks, and a train went through. Now, the drum major never noticed this. And so there he was, marching down the street, blowing

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his whistle and waving his baton, and nobody at all was behind him. Now, it seems to me that a lot of communication is like that. A lot of preaching is like that. It's the blowing of whistles and the waving of batons, but nobody follows it. And the reason they don't follow it is because it is not the fruit, the inmost, personal, expensive fruit of the

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soul of the one speaking. So I commit myself, once again, to try to share with you now what Thanksgiving 1984 means to me. And I speak to you from my heart. Thanksgiving this year is, most particularly, an attack upon my pride. Now, we have a saying that we sometimes use. We say, "She's going to get ahead because she really believes in herself." We've all

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used that expression. And I know some people who believe in themselves. I know a man who believes himself to be a Petunia. I know a man who believes himself to be Napoleon, and another who believes himself to be Julius Caesar. Now, these individuals are in institutions for the deranged, but these people genuinely believe in themselves. Now, of course, not

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everyone who so believes in himself is in an institution. We all know actors who should have stopped acting a long time ago, but they keep on acting because they believe in themselves. Somewhere in this city this morning, there's a drug addict who's mainlining directly into his vein, and he's doing it in spite of the medical council and in spite of the law of

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the land because no opinion means as much to him as his own. He believes in himself. We all know debtors who continue to run up debts without any serious thought whatever of their obligation to their creditors, and they do this without any compunction or hesitation because above all of the things, they believe in themselves. Now, all of us have some of

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this believing in ourselves in us. Some have very little. Others a great deal, but in all of us there is the inclination to some degree to look at the reflection of ourselves in the pool of life and occasionally perhaps to disturb that pool just so that like an impudent narcissist, we can watch the picture come back together again and see ourselves

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as we are. Every one of us has certain deep beliefs in ourselves, and thanksgiving attacks me at just that point. It points out that there's nothing in myself in which I should really believe. Thanksgiving, first of all, attacks my pride of place. Pride of place is the desire to want to be on top. This is that dangerous pride of which Macbeth spoke

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when he said, "Balting ambition which o'erleaps itself and falls upon the pricks beyond." This is that desire to be out front which is so possessive of us that we begin to believe we're rightfully there. See, a very awesome thing happened to me this year. I was elected to be the pastor of this church. Now, you know, in the Presbyterian denomination, we

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have a book, not this book, this is the Bible, I'm not speaking of it now, but we have a book. It's about twice this size. It's called the Statistics of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. And listed in that book are all the churches in the denomination and their ministers and how many baptisms they had last

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year and how many deaths and how many members and what their budget is and how much they give to missions and all this kind of...amongst preachers, this is called the Wish Book. So you leaf through it and you think, "Oh, I wish I was the minister of that church," or "I wish I was the minister of that church." Well, the fact is that by some strange providence

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of God, I now happen to be the pastor of one of the churches that most of my colleagues wish they were the minister of. They wish they had a building like this in which to preach. They wish they had a staff like we have with which to serve. They wish they had people like you to love them and uphold them in their ministry. But it's all very dangerous.

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I have discovered, for example, since I've come here, that my opinion on just about everything is worth hearing. I never knew that before. I never had so many people ask me my opinion about so many things as they do now. And that's dreadfully inflating to the ego. It reminds me of when I came back from my study in Europe years ago. Now, I could have told a lot of

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funny stories about what happened to me, mistakes I made in language and cultural and social blunders which were mine, but I didn't talk about those things. Instead, I talked about the benefits of foreign travel and how broadening it was to study in a university in another land. And I took to writing the number seven with one of those little lines across the

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bottom like the Europeans do. And I had a few foreign language magazines about and bought my food in foreign delicatessens. And it was all very, very unreal. But that's the desire, you see, to be on top. Now, it may not be a problem to you. I mean, you may not be the kind of person who knows more about politics and how the country should be run than your

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elected representatives. You may not be the person who knows more about your health than your doctor does. You may not be the person who understands how the preacher should preach far better than the preacher does. You may not think that you stand above others because of the place in life which is yours. But that kind of temptation comes to me, and I fall

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easily into its trap. Another thing that Thanksgiving attacks in me is what I would call pride of face. And pride of face is the desire to look good. Did you hear about the preacher who learned of a new golf course and he wanted to play it, but the only time he could get out to play it was on a Sunday morning. And he didn't want anybody to know he was playing

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golf on a Sunday morning. So he had one of his assistants preach, and he went out very early in the morning, just at the crack of dawn, and he lined his ball up there at the first tee, playing all by himself, of course, because he was trying to keep it a secret. And just as he was ready to tee off, God looked down from heaven and saw him. And St. Peter

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said to God, "That's Reverend Smith down there." He said, "That's right." He said, "What are you going to do?" He said, "Well, I'll fix him good." So just when the guy tees off, God went. And the ball went right down the middle of the fairway, and then it sliced off and hit a tree. And it bounced off the tree into a sewer pipe. And it rolled down

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the sewer pipe, came out at the other end, circled a sand bunker twice, and then began to roll toward a stream. But just then a bird swooped down and grabbed the ball and picked it up and carried it right straight down the fairway even farther, till it was over the green. And just then there was a bolt of lightning. And when the lightning hit, the bird was frightened

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and it opens its mouth and it's dropped the ball. And the ball landed on the green, and it stopped dead. But there was a rabbit there who kicked it with his right foot, and it went over toward the cup, and it stopped right at the edge of the cup. But there was an inchworm there who leaned against it, and it fell into the cup. And St. Peter said, "I thought you

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were going to fix him. You gave him a hole in one." And God said, "Yes, I did. But who's he going to be able to tell about it?" Well, you see, pride at looking good is wanting to be able to tell people about it. I have a friend who's a golf professional who told me about an executive who was advised by his physician that he ought to get more exercise,

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and so he took up the game. He was 56 years of age when he took it up, and he took a lot of lessons before he ever went out on the course. And he was shooting about 100, which isn't bad for someone who didn't take up the game until the second half of their 50s and had never had any experience before. But he didn't look good enough shooting around 100,

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so he went back and he took more lessons for the pro, and by dent of very, very hard effort, he finally got his average score down to about a 95 or a 96, but no lower. And he couldn't stand to play golf because others' scores were so much better than his. He gave up the game. He turned his back on the exercise and the fellowship of his friends and the counsel

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of his doctors, and he did all of that because, you see, he didn't look good enough to satisfy himself. Now, I find this temptation coming into my own life. It comes to me on Sunday mornings at the door. You know, every preacher likes to stand at the door and greet the people as they go by. That's not only pleasant because you get to meet the people, but also because

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they say nice things to you. But you can't be, I mean, you can't be too obvious about it. You can't just suck up everything that they say. You know, that becomes a little conspicuous. So you kind of develop a series of phrases that you use that sound appropriately modest. Someone comes by and says, "Oh, that was a wonderful sermon." The one that I use

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all the time is, "Thank you. I hope it was helpful." Now, you see, that's got a touch of gratitude in it, "Thank you." But then it's got the "I hope it was helpful" bit in it, which turns it, you see, back to them again and doesn't look like you're enjoying the compliment too much. So one Sunday morning about four weeks ago, I was standing at the

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door. It was a beautiful morning and people were going by and they were saying, "That was a wonderful sermon. Thank you. I hope it was helpful." I really was blessed by the service this morning. I thank you. I hope it was helpful. And then there was an older lady who came by and she looked at me and she said, "Isn't this a glorious morning?"

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And I said, "Thank you. I hope it was helpful." And suddenly I realized what I was doing. See, I was enjoying it all so much that I really wasn't paying attention to what was being said. I was so caught up in looking good. You know the emblem of this kind of pride? It's a flaming ulcer rampant on a sea of high blood pressure, always wanting to

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look good. There's one other kind of pride that I find particularly distasteful in myself, and that's pride of grace. And pride of grace is the desire to be popular. Now that's the temptation that besets me right at this very moment, because some of you, you see, might be sitting out there thinking, "Oh, isn't he humble that he can stand up there and talk

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about his pride so openly?" You see, even talking about it honestly, soul to soul, could revert to some kind of, "Well, I'll out-humble you" kind of contest. Like the kid who was a junior in college who said to the freshman, "The trouble with you is you're too conceited. Now I used to be like that, but now I'm one of the nicest kids on campus." I wouldn't

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want you to make that kind of mistake. I'm speaking to you quite honestly and with no attempt to conceal any reality. See, I learned a long time ago that I'm the kind of person who calls other people slow, while I personally am thorough. Other people are lazy, but I am self-disciplined enough to see that I get sufficient rest. Other people overstep the

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bounds. Me? I have initiative. Other people are bullheaded, but I have the strength of my convictions. Other people are apple polishers, but I have respect for authority. Other people, well, they get ahead by the breaks. I get ahead through hard work. I remember in 1964, when I was participating in the march on Washington, that was the great march to which Dr. King

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spoke on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, his "I Have a Dream" speech, one of the great moments of my life to be there and hear that that day. I was staying in the old Willard Hotel, a whole bunch of us were, and they had told us to wear walking shoes and blue jeans or chinos and t-shirts because it was a hot July day. And there was a movie star

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there, a very well-known one. Those of you who are at all in touch with the films would recognize his name immediately were I to mention it. And he was participating in the march. He was wearing Italian leather shoes and a beautiful Italian silk suit and a tailored shirt and a magnificent necktie, perfectly coiffed and all the rest of it. And he was

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standing out in front leading the march. And it was so obvious that he was really there to be seen. He was really there to be admired. He was really there to be popular. I thought it must have been very much like the donkey on Palm Sunday who thought all the applause was for him. I really think that was what was going. You see what happens is when we

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achieve anything in our lives and look upon ourselves as being self-made, we too often fall into the trap of beginning to worship our Maker. And then comes Thanksgiving. And you see, Thanksgiving attacks all of this. Three hundred and sixty-four days a year we can go through life thinking about the things we have done and suddenly we come to this

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day and the perspective has to change. Because something inside of us, if we have any faith at all, says, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." How could I have gotten anywhere without the gifts that have been given me? The gift of my parents, my father who is with the Lord, a good man and true, my mother who is with me still and

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who showers me with love and care, my aunts and uncles who are concerned for me and do for me only those things that are good. How could I write a check to cover that? My friends, because I am not married, I know loneliness sometimes and make heavy demands upon my friends. The burden of my nearness is not an easy one to carry, but they do. They accept whatever

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wheat there is in it and with a breath of kindness blow all the chaff away. This nation, I have traveled now in more than seventy countries and every time I come home again I am more sure that this is where I want to be. Last night I was preaching a Thanksgiving service up in Newcastle. Four little churches, the combined congregations of the four churches

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numbered about 110 people in a little tiny congregation. A lot of the folks there in their working clothes, farming clothes some of them, and I thought to myself, all across America they gather so last night and today. A national time of thanksgiving, acknowledging our indebtedness to God. How could I ever express gratitude to God for being a part

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of this country? My education, given to me in part by my parents and in part by others. I read not too long ago of a college boy at Williams College who destroyed some college equipment and he was called into the office of the president and the kid evidently had a lot of money and he reached in his back pocket and he pulled out his wallet and just

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said tell me how much it costs and I'll pay for it. And the president of Williams College looked at him and said young man, if you think that you can pay for all the dedication, all the time, all the years of effort, all the sacrifice of Colonel Williams and all the others who have made this school what it is, if you think you can pay for that, look young

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man, get this straight, you are a charity case. And we all are. Even though we believe in ourselves and even though there creeps into our experience those things that lead us to want to be on top or out front or popular, in the end we're all charity cases. Like that newspaper editor who was retiring when he was 50, he had a fortune of about a half a

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million dollars and he was retiring. And some of his friends asked him how he got his money by the time he was just 50. He said well, he said I started putting money aside when I got my very first paycheck for delivering papers and I've always put money aside and I've always been very careful with it and I've never spent money in any wasteful way

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and I've tried to make very careful and prudent investments all along the line. And then last year I had an uncle die and left me $498,000 and so I'm going to retire. Well, I'm not pleading this morning for some kind of false humility in which we go around like Uriah Heep, all bent over and groveling, not at all. But I am praying for, if you want an

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Old Testament model, a life like Moses who is described as the strongest and yet the meekest of men. Or if you want a New Testament example, I would choose Mary. Hail Mary, blessed are you amongst women. No other woman so honored as Mary. And what does she say? Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. I'm saying we need to understand ourselves to be small enough

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to be picked up by God. To see his grace smiling at us out of the faces of our friends. To hear it preaching at us out of posters. To find it dozing in our newspapers. To letting it slip and seep into our lives through the tips of our fingers and the things that we touch. To let the song of his grace sing in our imaginations and to let it play upon the

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strings of our hearts. To so focus upon him that we become dizzy in our thanksgiving. It's all summed for me by a Methodist preacher over in Ohio whose name is Dr. William Waffles. And every Sunday afternoon he goes to the nearby prison and ministers to the prisoners. And he and his wife saved for years and years and years to get enough money to take a trip

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to the Holy Land. And they finally had enough. So he went in one Sunday afternoon and he shared with the prisoners the blessing which was his. We've saved it, we've got him, we're going to go. Won't see you for the next four weeks guys because we're going to make this trip. And they were delighted for it. They'd come to care for him a great deal. And they

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gathered about him and they slapped him on the back and they hugged him and they shook his hand and they gave him the elbow. Very friendly male camaraderie. And then when he was about to leave one of them walked up with a little package clumsily wrapped in newspaper. Said we didn't know you were going so we didn't have any time to organize a farewell gift

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but here's the best we could do. Don't open it here, take it home. And when you open it remember it's the very best we have to give you. So he took it home and he told his wife about how pleased they all were with their good fortune of going on the trip. And she was delighted too. She said well let's open the package. So they did. And inside the package

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he found his wallet and his glass case and his pen and his pencil. You see what had happened is when they were hugging him and slapping him on the back and they picked every pocket he had and then they wrapped it all up and they gave it back to him and they said it's the very best we have to give to you. And Thanksgiving says to me that I go through

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life picking the pockets of God and in the end the only thing I have to give to him is what I've gotten from him. And if you want a psalm for a pickpocket it's Psalm 49 verse 7. Which one of us can pay the price, can ransom himself, or give to God the price of his life? And the Apostle Paul commenting on that in the reading which I shared with

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you from the pulpit a minute ago said what have we that we have not received? Yes this is hard on your pride quotient but I call upon you with me to humble yourself this Thanksgiving. To model yourself off the humblest ones you know. And if that somehow makes you uncomfortable to model yourself off some other humble soul, well then think about my friend Tom and his

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bulldog Eli. They were playing on the front lawn and Tom looked over at me and he said you know I wish I could become a bulldog for a while just to know how bulldogs think. And I thought to myself I wonder how willing he'd be to be a bulldog and for how long. I mean would he be willing to be a dog for a night or for a week, a month? And then I thought

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the step from deity to humanity is a far more costly step, longer and higher priced than the step from humanity to the level of the animal. When God took upon himself human flesh, the flesh of a servant and allowed himself in abject humility to die, even death upon a cross covered with flies. If God so humbled himself, well then if we can't find it in

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us to imitate a humble person, maybe we can find it in us to imitate a humble God. So on this Thanksgiving day I invite you to hunker down inside and pray with me. Oh God for all that I am, for all that I have, for all that I may ever be or ever will have, I thank thee. Amen.

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[Silence] [Silence]