November 3rd - Reflection

Psalm 50 (NRSV)
A sacrifice of thanksgiving

The mighty one, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.

Our God comes and does not keep silence,
before him is a devouring fire,
and a mighty tempest all around him.
He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
"Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!"
The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge.
Selah

"Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.
I will not accept a bull from your house,
or goats from your folds.
For every wild animal of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the air,
and all that moves in the field is mine.

"If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and all that is in it is mine.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls,
or drink the blood of goats?
Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and pay your vows to the Most High.
Call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."

But to the wicked God says:
"What right have you to recite my statutes,
or take my covenant on your lips?
For you hate discipline,
and you cast my words behind you.
You make friends with a thief when you see one,
and you keep company with adulterers.

"You give your mouth free rein for evil,
and your tongue frames deceit.
You sit and speak against your kin;
you slander your own mother's child.
These things you have done and I have been silent;
you thought that I was one just like yourself.
But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.

"Mark this, then, you who forget God,
or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.
Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me;
to those who go the right way
I will show the salvation of God."

Reflection
We bring offering out of thanksgiving for what God has already done for us. God provides daily bread. God gives us, in the daily bread, all that we need to live day by day. God provides food, shelter, income, work, family, friends and fellowship. Thus, we bring offerings of thanksgiving.

Some fall in the trap of thinking that offering is a giving to God for what God needs. But this turns it all upside-down. Every thing we have comes from God. God doesn't need anything to survive. But what we can offer God is our offering with thanksgiving. We go to the Father with thankful hearts and joyful praise. We don't deliver God with our offering, God has delivered us.

Through the life, death, suffering, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus; we have been delivered and given a new breath of life. Life in and through God, with the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Given an offering of love so that we may love one another in service and compassion. God offered his Son for us.

In response we bring an offering of thanksgiving, praise, honor and love to the God of the Universe. Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Lord, forgive those times that I bring my offering all topsy-turvey and think you need it. Receive my offering of life and possessions as signs of thanksgiving for what you have already done. You are God, you alone are my Savior, you are my life...today...tomorrow...and forever. --- Amen