Thankology

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.