“Thanksgetting”  Ephesians 3:20-21

Thanksgiving  November 26, 2025

“Thanksgetting”  Ephesians 3:20-21

Rev. John R. Larson  Ascension Lutheran Church  Littleton, Colorado

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen.  Ephesians 3:20-21.    

             I am a genius.  Only a genius can make up a word, right?  The word is “Thanksgetting”.  It is not a word.  Anywhere.  You won’t find it in a dictionary.  You can’t Google it.  It doesn’t exist.  Until now.  I made it up and I’m going to use it.

            It makes sense to have that word.  This is a Thanksgiving service.  Tomorrow is the official day for Thanksgiving.  But before you have Thanksgiving you have to have Thanksgetting.  Before you give you have to get.  I can’t give you something that I don’t have.  That’s just common sense.  Before you give you have to get.

            Today is Thanksgetting.  Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. 

            And do we ever get.  Our reading from Ephesians says, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine…”  Think of how generous God is.  I’m reading Psalm 103 to our homebound this month.  I think it is a familiar reading and it speaks about a God who does more than we could ever ask or imagine.

             “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name.  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: He forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, he redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, he satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like that of the eagle’s…Bless the Lord, O my soul.”

             Some call that “Gospel Heaping”.  One grace layered upon another.  I call it Thanksgetting.  He forgives all your sins.  Freely.  Completely.  All though the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.  You’d better get that.  You don’t get into heaven with dirty hands.  They have to be clean. 

            He heals all your diseases.  I went to see one of our folks this week and she recounted the many times that she was hospitalized, told that “this may be it”, she took a turn for the worse a few times in her life, and she is still here.  I wonder how many “bugs” and illnesses I have had, or you have had, and yet we are not dead.  “He heals all your diseases.”

            Redeems your life from the pit?  The pit?  The place of no hope.  We have no way out.  We have no answer.  We got into a fix and that is where we are going to have to stay.  But this God of ours gets right into the pit with us and brings us out.  You’ve been there.  So have I.  And so has He.  One of our Lord’s names is – “Immanuel – God with us.”  With us, in the pit.

            If you are going to give God thanks you have to receive His gifts first.  And His gifts are so practical.  This past Thursday at an auction in New York a fully functioning toilet was sold.  Not just any toilet.  This one was solid gold.  The winning bid to get this toilet was for $12.1 million dollars.  I bet it will never be used for what it was designed for!!

            The gifts that God wants to give, remember we are investigating my newly created word, “Thanksgetting” are practical and life changing.  Forgives all sins.  Heals all diseases.  Redeems your life from the pit.  Satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like that of the eagle’s.

            God refreshes old people and young people.  He renews us.  He brings new vitality.  Moses was no kid when God said he was going to be His chosen vessel to lead Israel.  Sometimes at mid-life a new refreshment comes to us. 

            First you have to get.  You have to receive.  Do it humbly.  Realize the gift was not earned but it has been bestowed by your generous God.  With empty hands reach up to receive all that God wants to bring you through Jesus and by the power of God’s Spirit.

            Thanksgetting leads to Thanksgiving.  “Bless the Lord, O my soul.  All my inmost being bless his holy name.”  Inmost being.  From the top of my head all the way to the bottom of my soul.  No part of my body and soul and spirit and mind is exempt from the praise that is due Him. 

            When Paul, in his letter to Timothy, explains that Jesus had mercy on him, the worst of sinners, he bursts into praise:

             Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.  Amen.  (I Timothy 1:17)

            What have you gotten from God?  He gave you your life.  He gave you your skills.  He gave you family, friends, neighbors.  He gave you the joy of living in this country, this state, this city.  Food.  Water.  Laughter.  Joy.  When life is hard and bitter He gives you His faithful presence.

            You have been baptized and claimed as God’s own child.  He gave you the assurance of faith.  His promises are always true, and you know it.  And the getting doesn’t end when you end.  It continues in God’s heaven.  In fact, what God gives us in heaven is even better than what we receive on earth.

            You might want to thank God for these things.  And you might want to thank others who bless your life so richly. 

            I like my newly created word.  Thanksgetting is the life of a believer.  Our life is “Better than I deserve”.  And it leads one way – to Thanksgiving.  Like the psalmist says, “All my inmost being, bless His holy name!!”  Amen!!