Sermon for November 26, 2025
Thanksgiving Eve
Exodus 18:1-12; Philippians 4:4-9
Rev. Karl-John N. Stone
Today’s Old Testament reading drops us into the middle of the story of Moses. Exodus chapter 18 happens soon after Moses has led the Hebrews in escaping from slavery in Egypt. They’ve outrun Pharoah’s army by walking through the sea as Moses parted the waters, and now they are wandering through the wilderness. Even as they celebrate and give thanks for their newfound freedom, they quickly learn how vulnerable they are. And as a result, right away they start accusing their liberator, Moses, of bringing them into the wilderness so they can starve to death! Thankfully, the Lord hears their complaining, and sends manna from heaven for them to eat.
They wander a little further into the wilderness and arrive at a place where there is no water to drink. What do they do about that? They argue with Moses some more! This time Moses is the one who prays to God, and the Lord tells him to strike his staff on a rock, and then water will flow out so that people may drink.
A little while after this, Moses leads the people into the land of Midian—this is the place where Moses had settled long ago, and where he met and married his wife Zipporah. By the time of Exodus 18, he hadn’t seen his father-in-law, Jethro, for a long time. But the news about Moses traveled ahead of him, and Jethro had heard about all that God had done to free Moses and the Hebrews from Egypt. So when they finally have a chance to sit down together, Moses tells his father-in-law all about it himself—all the hardship that had found them on their way; all the ways the Lord had intervened to help them. And after he heard straight from Moses’ mouth, Jethro rejoiced for all the goods things the Lord had done. To show his joy, he made an offering and sacrifice to God in thanksgiving.
Moses had been through so much! It was one anxiety-producing moment after another. Even when he was successfully following what God had called him to do, even when he had finally secured the people’s freedom, the hardships kept coming. Yet by seeking God’s help and guidance to make it through these hardships and anxieties—and then telling the stories of what he’s been through and how he’d been helped—Moses was eventually able to make sense of it all and give thanks to God.
It seems that St. Paul himself learned from the pattern set by Moses and Jethro. Paul writes from prison in Philippians 4: “The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God.” So I’m going to suggest that this pattern we find in the Bible should be our template for giving thanks to God on this Thanksgiving Eve.
For the next few minutes, I invite you to find a friendly-looking person near you—or, if you are really feeling adventurous, maybe even find someone across the room whom you do not know very well—and I’d like each of you to take 3 or 4 minutes to briefly tell about a time when you were anxious or facing hardship, and a time when you rejoiced.