How often do we find ourselves prompting our children to say “thank you?” Whenever they’re offered a treat from a friend or an adult helps them out, we find ourselves asking, “Now, what do you say?” We want our children to be respectful and use good manners, which is why we teach them to say “Thank you,” but I wander if in our attempt to produce properly mannered children, we actually overlook the thankfulness within “Thank you.” Do we bring our children to a place where thankfulness is more than polite, but a recognizable part of their personhood? Are we at a place where thankfulness is a recognizable part of our personhood?
A few years ago, the Peanuts cartoon pictured Charlie Brown bringing out Snoopy’s dinner on Thanksgiving Day. But it was just his usual dog food in a bowl. Snoopy took one look at the dog food and said, "This isn’t fair. The rest of the world is eating turkey with all the trimmings, and all I get is dog food. Because I’m a dog, all I get is dog food." He stood there and stared at his dog food for a moment, and said, "I guess it could be worse. I could be a turkey."
There was very little joy in Snoopy’s thankfulness, for his thankfulness was based on a comparison. His thankfulness was based on the fact that he was better off than the turkey. Therein lies a small lesson in that when we’re down in the dumps and full of complaints because life isn’t fair, we should recognize that there are so many others far worse off than we are. We should stop complaining, but when it comes to our thankfulness, the basis should never be, “Whew, am I thankful that I’m not her,” or “I am so thankful I don’t have to live like that.”
Thankfulness is so much more than a comparison of our own situation to someone else’s. Thankfulness is so much more than having enough food to eat, a nice, warm home to live in, good health, or financial security, because each of those circumstances can be taken from us in an instant. Thankfulness is a state of being and a way of life, and we usually fail to live in a state of thankfulness because we take it for granted.
We’re like the world traveler who has been everywhere and seen everything and takes for granted the blessing and beauty of all that he has seen. We have become so accustomed to our blessings that they fail to excite us and generate thankfulness, for we take them for granted.
Emerson said that if the stars came out only once a year, everybody would stay up all night to behold them. We have seen the stars so often that we don’t bother to look at them anymore. In like manner, we have grown accustomed to our blessings, and quite frankly, we’ve become spoiled.
In this morning’s Gospel reading, Luke shares with us the account of one leper who was not spoiled. There have been many guesses as to why the other nine didn’t return to thank Jesus, but our focus is not on the nine, but on the one who was thankful, for he provides us with some very important lessons on thankfulness.
First of all, being thankful is not only expressed through prayer and public proclamation, but through your attitude in living life. I doubt this leper had a great deal of joy in having leprosy. Lepers were shunned by society. They had to live outside the city. They had to shout “Unclean” whenever they came close to others, so they could be warned to stay away. The first century belief was God gave leprosy to punish those who were sinful and disobedient.
If this was your station in your life, being looked down upon by society, being told that you have leprosy because you’ve found disfavor with God, I wander how much joy and thankfulness would exist in your life? I believe this leper, maintained a spirit of joy and thankfulness, which enabled him to more fully appreciate what Christ had done for him.
We have all experienced “leprosy;” a time where we felt separated and alone, whether it was in the death of a husband, or the loss of a job, or the dissolving of a marriage, or the infliction of emotional pain. We’ve all had circumstances in life where we’ve lived outside the city, where we’ve paused and asked, “God, what did I do to deserve this?” My understanding and my relationship with God tells me that the leper didn’t deserve it, and the same can be said for each of our own bouts with “leprosy.” But do we share something else in common with the leper; do we also share his thankful attitude?
Does your life, represent a spirit of thankfulness? I can think of folk and I’m sure that you each know people who have an expression, an attitude, an aura that exudes happiness and thankfulness for life. Are you one of those people who exude thankfulness or are you more like Snoopy, whose thankfulness is based on comparison? Being thankful is so much more than a comparison of circumstances. Being thankful is so much more than a private prayer or public proclamation. Being thankful is expressed through your attitude in living life.
The leper also teaches us that thankfulness completes healing. Healing means to be made whole, and while all ten of the lepers found physical healing, only one found wholeness. Both of my parents have had major surgeries within the past seven months. Thankfully, each surgery has been successful, and they’re both well on their way to full physical recoveries. In each instance, I uttered prayers of thanksgiving for their healing, but to what degree would I have been thankful, to what degree would they have found wholeness had their surgeries not been successful?
Now, I’m not suggesting that we thank God for crises or pain, but what I am suggesting is that we thank God for his continued faithfulness and presence in the midst of crises. I am suggesting that we thank God for the strength and growth that we experience during crises. I am suggesting that we thank God for the shower of mercy that soaks us during crises. Crisis situations don’t always turn out the way we want them to, and the pain that we experience, be it physical or emotional, is very real, but we can still find healing, and we can still find wholeness by maintaining a spirit of thankfulness.
I believe the leper maintained a spirit of thankfulness throughout his battle with leprosy. Today’s psalmist has certainly maintained a spirit of thankfulness, eventhough the first half of the psalm was a cry for help. The psalmist has cried out in desperation, pleading for God’s deliverance, and his words show us that he has found wholeness. He says that God has heard the sound of his pleadings; his heart trusts in Go and that God is his saving refuge. Thankfulness is an attitude. Thankfulness is a way of life. Thankfulness enables healing to bring wholeness.
And finally, those who receive life as a gift to be lived in dependence upon God will be characterized by gratitude that drives them into the community of God’s people. The psalmist’s words acknowledge that to live under God’s claim, to live as God intends, is to live as part of God’s people, and God’s people live in dependence upon God rather than upon self.
That’s part of why we gather together each week. Yes, a relationship with God is personal and not dependent upon the Church, God’s desire is that we live out our faith in the community with fellow believers.
When we live life with a spirit of thankfulness, we realize that life is a gift…a gift from God, and in gratitude for that gift, we are driven into the community of God’s people. The psalmist said, “Save your people, bless your heritage, be their shepherd, and carry them forever.” Those words are about community, and it is within the community of God’s people that we more richly and completely experience the thankfulness and fullness of life.
Thanksgiving is so much more than food and football. Eventhough thanksgiving is a national holiday originally sanctioned by the federal government, it was set aside to offer thanks to God. Hear the words of George Washington in proclaiming the first Thanksgiving Holiday:
“Whereas, it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; Whereas, both the houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness!” Now therefore, I do recommend next, to be devoted by the people of the states to the service of that great and glorious being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be, that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks…”
“Beneficent Author, humble thanks, obey His will, grateful for His benefits.” These are the phrases spoken over 200 years ago in describing the first official Thanksgiving Holiday. Let’s not lose sight of what this week is about: Being thankful is an attitude for living life, thankfulness is a part of being made whole, and thankfulness is recognizing life as a gift from God that drives us into the community of God’s people. Amen.
