I write this before Thanksgiving; you will read it after Thanksgiving. When you read it we will already be in Advent with our new Advent Wreath glowing beside the altar as we prepare with renewed hope for the coming of Christ at Christmas. We will also be bringing our Stewardship campaign to what we hope is a successful completion.
For these reasons and many more I wish to linger on the subject of thanksgiving. When we were growing up our parents taught us to say thanks when someone gave us something or did something for us. In turn, we have taught our own children and maybe grandchildren to do the same. Jesus was referring to this when he healed the twelve lepers and only one returned to thank Him. “Where are the other eleven?” He said. (Luke 17: 11-19)
There is a deeper and broader gratitude than simply saying thanks for individual acts of kindness, however. It is a pervasive and spiritual appreciation of the world around, of one’s own existence, of loved ones and of fellow human beings. A good word for it is “gratefulness.” A way of life. A way of relating to God. Meister Eckhart, the German mystic, has commented “If the only prayer you say is thank you, that would be enough.
Bella Brown has said it this way: “All our senses are given to us to enjoy and to praise God. The smell of the sea, the blossom borne on the wind, the soft touch of a little baby, the taste of ripe plum or bread fresh from the oven, the feel of warm cat’s fur or the body of a lover—these are all forms of thanksgiving prayer.
This gratefulness may extend not only to successes and joys but to failures, challenges and trauma. I was grateful to see my barber last week. He is suffering from a chronic and life-threatening condition. Before he near scalped me, I asked him how he was and he said, “I am vertical and for this I am grateful.” Then I realized he had greater reason to be grateful than even I and my reasons are legion.
Give thanks to him, bless his name,
For the Lord is good.
His steadfast love endures forever
And his faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 100 100 John+
No comments:
Post a Comment