http://www.ask.com/question/the-definition-of-the-suffix-ology
https://www.womansday.com/life/entertainment/a37396064/thanksgiving-jokes/
https://blog.foster.uw.edu/cultivate-gratitude-difficult-times/
https://www.thebanner.org/features/2011/01/gratitude-in-tough-times
As we begin our trek into the holiday season, I thought I would start with a little humor.
How do you tell the difference between turkeys and chickens? Chickens celebrate Thanksgiving.
What did the turkey say to the hunter on Thanksgiving? "Quack."
What's it called when a turkey goes for a run? Fast food
What dance should everyone do on Thanksgiving? The turkey trot.
What do you call a turkey the Friday after Thanksgiving? Lucky.
What made the cranberries go red? Seeing the turkey dressing
What does every mom want to make on Thanksgiving? Dinner reservations
Why didn't the Thanksgiving band get to perform? Someone ate the drumsticks.
What did the pilgrims use to bake their Thanksgiving desserts? May-flour.
Knock, knock! Who's there? Arthur. Arthur who? Arthur glad there aren’t anymore Thanksgiving jokes?
Since there seems to be a lack of gratitude in our world, I thought it would be best to review and study the importance of being thankful. I have decided to recall a word I adopted as my own a few years ago: Thankology.
Thankology comes from merging the words: thankful and -ology.
Thankful is defined as: being glad that something has happened or not happened, that something or someone exists, etc. or : of, relating to, or expressing thanks.
Ology is defined as a suffix which means it changes the root word slightly. In this case, the suffix '-ology' means the scientific study of a particular topic.
So Thankology is actually the study of being thankful. The question I would like to attempt to answer this morning is, what do we have to be thankful for?
After all, we all can take issue with 2020 and 2021. The pandemic took a great deal from all of us, from celebrations to funerals. We might even have a right to be angry and resentful but should we?
Author and Youth Minister Josh Ship is credited with saying: “You either get bitter, or you get better. It's that simple. You either take what has been dealt to you and allow it to make you a better person, or you allow it to tear you down. The choice does not belong to fate; it belongs to you.”
I love the simpleness of the statement. It is almost scriptural but is it?
Today, I’d like for us to share a little of what we all have to be grateful for and then get personal. So let me begin with a few things most of us take for granted.
<Board with the basics reviewed and then add some congregational ideas>
Did you know that gratitude is a cultivated skill? It’s true. The more we practice it the better we get - physically, mentally and spiritually. You don’t have to take my word on this. Ryan Fehr, a University of Washington business Professor and world-renowned expert on gratitude says, “Research shows that gratitude can help us cope with traumatic events, regulate our negative emotions, and improve our well-being. More importantly, gratitude can have a positive effect on our friends and family, too. It’s a small way to have a meaningful impact.” To improve your skill, you need to practice the following 5 steps every week, if not every day.
Step 1: Make an effort to notice the good around you and put your gratitude on paper
Write down the names of three people or things in your life you are grateful for, and why.
Step 2: Have a gratitude conversation - Have a conversation with a friend, family member or coworker to share what you’re most grateful for.
If you're having a bad week, nothing is more helpful than reframing a situation or experience by trying to see it from a different angle. By sharing our lives, we open ourselves up to different viewpoints and perspectives. It is in these conversations gratitude may become more apparent.
Step 3: Tell someone you appreciate them - Identify a specific person in your life and tell them why you are grateful for them over phone or video chat.
Step 4: Pay it forward - Find a way to show your gratitude to someone by serving them without receiving anything in return.
Step 5: Reflect and repeat - Take a few moments to pause and meditate on your day, week or month to see where your changes are making a difference AND then do it again.
In ancient Israel, psalms of thanksgiving were a regular part of worship. People would tell their individual stories of experiencing the goodness of God, but those stories were always understood to be a part of the larger story of God’s goodness to the people of Israel. Stories of personal deliverance were understood to be a part of the larger story of God’s rescuing the people—first from Egypt and slavery and Pharaoh’s army, and later from famine and war, eventually bringing them back from exile.
Psalm 118 sets a perfect example for us. It begins,
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
And it goes on, testifying to God’s actions, testifying to God’s faithfulness, even in the face of death. We trust and give thanks because of God—what God has done and who God is. This whole psalm points continually to God, affirming over and over that God is for us and therefore we have nothing to fear and everything for which to be grateful.
Give thanks to the Lord—not because of how much you have been given, but to proclaim: God is good.
Give thanks to the Lord—not because of how good everything is for you, but to proclaim God’s love endures forever.
The person singing Psalm 118 knew we needed to give thanks together. It keeps things in perspective. It keeps us right sized. That’s why in the first few verses the singer addresses the people as a whole. The psalmist identifies the people of Israel, the house of Aaron, and all who fear the Lord; telling them to say together, “God’s love endures forever.”
Reminding one another the Psalmist is clear:
In my anguish I cried to the Lord, and he answered by setting me free. . . .
The nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord, I cut them off. . . .
I was pushed back and about to fall, but the Lord helped me. . . .
We each have stories of God’s help and God’s care, times when we were in trouble and somehow things came out all right; times when we received help when we needed it most.
This is a good time to remember what the singer of this psalm knew and what those who have gone before us knew: God is for us. When we know that God is for us, it’s possible to live in faith instead of in fear, even in the face of death.
When we know that God is for us, we can have an attitude of trust—an attitude that sees God’s hand at work in our lives and in the lives of those we love.
Everything in this psalm points to what God has done and what God is doing:
The Lord is with me; he is my helper. . . .
The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. . . .
The Lord has done this. . . .
This is the day the Lord has made. . . .
The Lord is God, and he has made his light shine upon us. . . .
Now we know that there are times in all our lives when we don’t feel like being grateful. We are not sure we even want to pray to a God who would allow the terrible tragedy that has happened to you or to a loved one. We all understand these issues. It’s in these times we all should take comfort in knowing our God has felt our pains and suffered our losses. He knows our emotions. He has even cried. He knew how hard it would be for us at times.
It’s why, at the end of his ministry on earth, when he knew he was going to have to die for us, He would stop and pray for us. The prayer is recorded by His close friend John in the 17th chapter and you can read it for yourself, but the ending is really important. Take a listen to Jesus' prayer…
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
Did you hear that? Jesus prayed for you in verse 20! Be thankful because He prayed for:
Spiritual unity with Him, the Father and His Spirit
This unity is designed to help the world to believe in Him
God’s Glory to be displayed through you so that you can receive all the same love He experienced
your complete spiritual connection with Him
everlasting life with Him
love which goes beyond all understanding
your sentness in his image
His Love to be in you as a witness of Jesus to the world
Warren Weirsbe said, “one of the things that most impresses the world is the way Christians love each other and live together in harmony… The lost world cannot see God, but they can see Christians, and what they see in us is what they will believe about God… we must make sure our witness is true and loving.”
This prayer should serve as a reminder of the greatest reason to be thankful today
“16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned,...”
Be Thankful because:
God loves you so much He would die for you.
God created you to be in a relationship with Him. As the song says, “God calls you friend.”
God gave you free will. Love without free will is hostage taking.
God wants to share his glory through you.
God created you with a purpose. You only need to accept your role.
God has sent you, his image bearer, to be His witnesses. You are God’s assistant in changing the world.
This Thanksgiving we only need to recognize God's hand as it extends to us. It's His grace and mercy that we all need to be most grateful for.
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