Gratitude

Well, welcome again, as I said at the beginning of the service.

So glad that we are able to gather here tonight together,

and glad that those of you who are here for the first time are visiting.

Glad that you've come.

We are at the end.

This is the last Sunday of a series that we started a few weeks ago.

It's a series that we've done during the season of Lent,

which is the season of the church calendar that we're in now.

It's a season where we focus on our need for Jesus and the hope of Easter,

which we'll celebrate in just a little while.

But here we are in this kind of last night of this series,

and it's a series that we've called Habits of Holiness.

And we've been considering the idea that the Christian faith

is not merely something that is meant to remain intellectual.

It's not just a series of things that we assent to intellectually.

That it's a reality, a way of being, a way of living,

that needs to be worked into our lives,

worked into the warp and woof of our daily lives.

It needs to be sort of ground into us.

It needs to be the marinade that we steep in.

It needs to be something that is lived out again and again and again.

That that's how change happens in the Christian life.

And so we've looked at some key areas,

some key habits that cultivate this new life.

So the first week we looked at the call to submit everything in our lives to God

and what that looks like on a daily level.

Then the next week we looked at Scripture

and the role that that plays in the lives of people who follow Jesus.

The next week we looked at contentment,

which is not unrelated to our topic tonight.

And then the week after that, last week, we looked at contemplation.

You know, one of my favorite images from Dan's sermon last week

is the idea of having hearts that are open and hospitable to the Word of God.

And then tonight all of this sort of culminates in our final topic,

which is the concept of gratitude, of thankfulness.

1 Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18,

Paul is actually listing distinguishing marks of Christians.

This is a place near the end of his letter where he's saying,

these are the things, these are the qualities that should set you apart

that make Christians unique in the world.

And he lists three of them, and the third is gratitude.

Now what's interesting about that, if you think about that,

is it sort of raises the question,

how could gratitude be unique to Christians?

I mean, why is that something that Christians have the right to claim as theirs?

In our culture right now, gratitude is one of the most popular things going.

Everybody loves the idea of gratitude.

We've talked about some controversial things in this church over the years.

This is not one of those things.

There's nothing controversial about gratitude.

And the answer is, when Christians talk about gratitude,

we're talking about something unique.

It's actually something that is vastly different

from what most people think of when they think of being thankful or cultivating gratitude,

because it's rooted in our understanding of who God is

and what he's done in the world and what he's done in our lives.

And it's inseparably linked to that like a tree to its roots.

So tonight we're going to compare Christian gratitude,

what Paul talks about, what the Bible talks about in the Old and New Testament.

We're going to compare that concept of gratitude

with the sort of more prevalent, common cultural understanding of gratitude,

which we'll call hashtag gratitude.

And I'm not being snarky.

It's just better than saying the common cultural understanding of gratitude in our environment.

So Christian gratitude versus hashtag gratitude.

And what we're going to see is this.

We're going to see that Christian gratitude is unique for three reasons.

It's unique because of the object of our gratitude.

That makes it unique.

It's unique because of the circumstances of our gratitude,

the circumstances in which we give thanks.

And then lastly, it's unique because of the reason,

the reason that we are thankful to begin with.

So let's pray, ask God to help us, and then we'll get started.

Our Father, we thank you for all of this.

As we were gathered praying, some of us before the service,

we were recognizing that this service is in many ways a symphony of gifts that you've given us,

gifts that you've given each person to serve or to sing or to set up or to clean or to greet

or to all of the various ways.

And also your word says that each man, woman, and child here is himself or herself a gift.

And we recognize that at the center of all of these gifts

is the gift of your Son.

And we pray that tonight our understanding and our joy in who he is would be magnified,

that he would increase, that we might decrease.

And we pray this in your Son's holy name.

Amen.

So the first thing we're going to talk about is the object of Christian gratitude.

As I said a moment ago, gratitude has become deeply embedded.

I mean, that's an understatement.

It's become deeply embedded in the bourgeois spirituality of late modern America.

Virtually any episode of Oprah, any self-help book, any corner yoga class,

you will emerge having been encouraged to cultivate an attitude of gratitude.

If you look at mainstream publications like Time, the New York Times, Scientific American,

they are regularly putting out articles that extol the virtues and the benefits of gratitude in your life.

There was actually an NPR special that aired last, it was around Thanksgiving last year.

And it was hosted by Susan Sarandon.

And it was a one-hour special on all of the benefits of gratitude.

Maybe you caught this.

There are foundations like the John Templeton Foundation,

who give millions of dollars to gratitude research.

People like Robert Emmons, who studies what is called the science of gratitude.

Right?

So it turns out that gratitude not only makes us feel happier,

but it can also boost our immune system and lower our blood pressure.

So gratitude has a lot of benefits.

It's a good thing.

We should be thankful for thankfulness.

But here's the thing.

There's something in all of this that I think that we need to pay attention to.

You may have caught the article.

It came out in December.

It not surprisingly generated a bit of controversial backlash.

But it was written by Barbara Ehrenreich.

And she wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times in December.

And the title is this.

The Selfish Side of Gratitude.

Interesting.

Here's a quote.

She says,

It's good to express our thanks, of course, to those who deserve recognition.

And then she sort of says,

But let's admit it.

This gratitude is really about you and how you can feel better.

So she's noting that most of the focus with what we're calling hashtag gratitude

is on the one giving thanks.

So all the benefits that come when we generate feelings of thankfulness.

So here's the point that she makes.

She says,

So it's possible to achieve the recommended levels of gratitude

without actually interacting with another human being.

Without actually interacting with anyone.

Anyone outside yourself.

She says,

All you have to do is to generate within yourself the good feelings associated with gratitude

and then bask in its warm, comforting glow.

If there's any loving involved in this, it is self-love.

And the current hoopla around gratitude is a celebration of onanism.

You can look that one up later.

Gratitude with no giver in mind.

Thankfulness with no gift giver in mind.

Gratitude simply for the sake of gratitude

is really just a form of self-gratification, she's saying.

And it really only enhances our narcissistic tendencies.

It's a form of self-help.

So by contrast, Paul calls us to a kind of gratitude

that has a very specific object outside of ourselves

and that object is God.

Now why would he say that?

Well, places like James 1.17 tell us.

It says in James 1.17,

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father.

So this is something that Paul, that James, that the apostles understood

that every good gift,

every good gift is a gift from God.

Everything.

Now most of the time,

these are things that come through people into our lives.

But what they recognize

is that that gift is ultimately something that has come from God.

And so the natural response should be to recognize

that all of our gratitude should be aimed

not only at the people in our lives.

I'm not saying don't say thank you.

What I'm saying is the thank you doesn't stop there.

We recognize that all of our gratitude

is ultimately aimed at

the giver, capital G,

God himself.

Now, as I'm getting into this,

I recognize that it might be tempting

to hear me

nagging you like your mom.

You know, God is like your grandmother

who sent you a sweater

and it's July

and your mom is like,

you've got to write that thank you note.

You haven't done that yet.

You know, you need to say thank you to God, right?

He's done all these nice things for you.

But we need to understand

that it goes a lot deeper than that,

that it's not only important

that we recognize that God is the giver

because it's simply a good thing,

but rather there's a deep spiritual reality

at work here.

You know, Romans 121,

when I was just doing a search

of all the ways that thankfulness

and gratitude show up in Scripture,

I was really struck again

by what Paul says in Romans 121.

He's diagnosing the human condition

and listen to what he says.

He says,

For although they knew God,

these are people in the fallen world,

people like us apart from Jesus.

He says,

For although they knew God,

they did not honor him as God

or give thanks to him,

but they became futile in their thinking

and their foolish hearts were darkened.

So look at this diagnosis from Paul.

He's saying,

when we stop giving thanks to God

and when we stop honoring God as God,

in other words,

as the ultimate giver,

in the broader context,

this is a place where Paul is talking about

how we have exchanged the glory of God

for the glory of the things that God has made.

So when we cut God off

and when we cease to acknowledge

that there is a giver,

and when we cease giving thanks to that giver,

recognizing that he's the ultimate source

of all of the gifts in our lives,

our thinking becomes futile

and our hearts darkened.

And is this not exactly what we see

in Genesis 3 at the fall of humankind?

Is this not exactly what happens?

You know, the fall was motivated

not only by pride,

but by ingratitude.

Ingratitude.

I mean, God gives human beings

the whole world

except for one tree.

You can have all of it.

It's all yours.

You can multiply and expand and fill it

and oversee it in my name.

You can rule in my stead.

It's all yours.

And what do human beings say?

Well, what about that tree?

You know?

Is that not human nature?

That's my two-year-old

every single day.

Well, I guess he's three now.

Still acting like a two-year-old, though.

Every single day.

This is why we dismiss the kids

so I can rip on them

when they're downstairs.

And if I'm honest,

it's me

almost every single day.

It's human nature.

Focusing on what we don't have,

focusing on what we're not given,

rather than what

has been given to us,

that's futile thinking

and it's a darkened heart

at work.

So cultivating

a habitual gratitude to God

as the ultimate giver

continually reorients our hearts

out of ourselves

and toward God.

And if you're anything like me,

we need that all the time.

Again and again and again.

It's a habit of holiness.

It reminds us

that everything we have

comes from him

and that we're therefore

dependent on him

for everything.

And interestingly enough,

the more we cultivate gratitude

for the ultimate giver,

the more you will find

that we become generous

and thankful

to the people in our lives.

The one encourages the other.

It's interesting.

Peter Lightheart,

a Bible scholar,

wrote a book on gratitude

and the history of gratitude

particularly in the context

of Greece and Rome

when Christianity really emerged.

And he says that

in ancient Greece and Rome,

they considered gift giving

and gratitude to be circular.

So the proper response

to a gift received

was to return a gift or favor.

So you see how that

could quickly go awry.

I do something for you

and then you owe me.

And society expects

you better pay me back.

Well then I do something for you

and then you owe me.

And what happens is

you have the development

of a patronage system.

And gift giving

becomes a very effective way

to manipulate

and control people.

Especially if you have

a very well-resourced person

doing something kind,

a gift,

for somebody

who's not so well off.

The sense of indebtedness

would quickly

enslave people.

And he says that

Christianity introduced

a radically God-centered approach

that vastly enlarged

the circle of gift and response.

The idea that God

is the ultimate giver

completely undermined

Roman society

and political life

in profound ways.

And it began to break

the patronage system apart.

Placing God

at the center of all gift giving

has major consequences.

And you see this

in Jesus' disciples.

They were to give to others

without anticipating a return.

You know, Jesus says

don't give to somebody

expecting them to repay it.

Give to those specifically

who can't repay you.

Because they knew

that their reward

would be from God.

It freed them

to give to those

from whom they could

never expect a return.

Moreover,

Christians were not

to be beholden

to anyone

who gives to them.

So instead of

owing favors

back to the man

or woman

who had given them something

and then owing allegiance

to benefactors,

the Christian's duty

was to make good use

of the gifts

that were given.

So Lightheart

nicely summarizes

this view

of gift and gratitude.

He says this,

Christian givers

impose no debts.

Christian recipients

acknowledge no debts

except to love.

So this is the way

that we are

to be shaped

in our giving

and serving

to one another

in the Christian

community today.

I give to you,

I should expect

nothing in return.

If we say thank you,

that's great,

we should do that.

It'll help your immune

system as well.

That's good,

we should say thank you.

We should write

thank you notes.

These are all good habits.

But we should never

give and expect

a thank you.

We should never give

and resent somebody

when they don't thank us

the way we think

we deserve.

Because we ultimately

look to God.

So this is the first

aspect of Christian

gratitude that makes

it unique.

It's the object

of our gratitude.

We believe that

every good and perfect

gift comes from

God, the giver.

The next unique

aspect of Christian

gratitude concerns

the circumstances

in which we give

thanks.

So hashtag

gratitude

really only

focuses

on things

which we perceive

to be good things.

Right?

So, you know,

staying at the Waldorf

tonight, hashtag

gratitude.

You know, look at

this amazing view

from my deck,

hashtag gratitude.

Right?

We look at the good

things in our lives

and we say, well,

I should really be

thankful for this.

By contrast,

1 Thessalonians 5.18

says,

give thanks in all

circumstances.

And then it goes on

and this is something

that applies to the

whole of the section

that we read.

for this is the

will of God

in Christ Jesus

for you.

So people say,

well, surely he

doesn't mean,

I mean, surely

is he just kind of

getting carried away

and then Paul kind

of drives it home?

No, this is the

will of God

in Christ for you.

Give thanks in

all circumstances.

Do you know anything

about Paul's life?

It's amazing to look

at the lists of

sufferings that he

endures.

He's beaten,

he's tortured,

he's imprisoned

multiple times,

he gets deathly ill,

he has multiple

near-death experiences,

he has multiple

shipwrecks,

he describes times

where he's naked

and alone

and feels betrayed

by everybody.

And yet he says,

give thanks in all

circumstances.

And the reason

is because he

believed the theology

that he lays out

in Romans 8, 28.

That he believed

with all of his heart

that for those

who love God,

all things work

together for good.

For those who are

called according

to his purpose.

He believed that

and he lived it out.

We had one of the

most heated

Bible studies.

Yeah, it's possible.

Our staff had a heated

Bible study discussion

when the first chapter

of Job came up.

It is one of the

most breathtaking passages

in all of Scripture

in my humble opinion.

I don't know if you

caught it when we read it,

but Job is a kind

of epic poem.

It's a unique genre.

It's part of the

wisdom literature.

And it's an epic poem

and in the beginning

Job has it all.

He has a great family,

he has a lot of wealth,

he has a lot of land,

he has a great home.

But then God

allows Satan

to bring massive

suffering into his life.

So you hear

four messengers come

and Job finds out

essentially that

all of his wealth,

all of his livestock,

his home,

and all of his children,

all ten of his children

are gone.

And then how does

Job respond to this news?

I think this is one

of the most amazing

verses in the whole Bible.

It says,

Then Job arose

and tore his robe

and shaved his head

and fell on the ground

and worshipped.

And he said,

Naked I came

from my mother's womb

and naked I shall return.

The Lord gave

and the Lord has taken away.

Blessed be the name

of the Lord.

Oh.

And then later,

Job finds himself

very ill,

covered in boils.

And you know

what his wife says?

Oh, just curse God

and die.

Thanks.

Job's response,

Shall we receive good

at the hand of the Lord

and not receive evil?

See, what Paul understands

and I think what we see

in the book of Job,

I think one of the main themes

in the book of Job

is an incredibly unique way

of understanding suffering.

I don't think you find

this anywhere else.

Because in Job,

God is not the one

actively causing

the suffering.

He's not generating

the suffering

in Job's life.

He's not making it happen.

When God created the world,

the Bible tells us,

he made it perfect.

He made it a world

without suffering.

He made it a world

without disease,

a world without illness,

a world without injustice.

And we see suffering

as being something

that enters in.

something that enters in

in the form of a serpent,

evil and suffering

and wickedness,

but then ultimately

takes root in this world

because of us.

Because we throw our lot

in with that.

Instead of with God,

we say,

what about that one tree?

And we throw everything else

away to get it.

But in Job,

you see that God

is not actively generating

that suffering.

He is allowing Satan

to do that.

So he's allowing this

to happen.

And yet what we see

is this.

Satan is on a leash.

He's on a leash.

And at the very beginning,

God says,

I will permit you

to do this,

I will not permit you

to do that.

He gives him his parameters.

He gives instructions.

And Satan has no choice

but to obey.

This is not an epic battle

of good versus evil

and evil sometimes win

and good sometimes wins.

This is God saying,

I will give you permission

to do this

and only this.

And there's no negotiation.

And then if you see

what ends up happening

is this.

In the book of Job,

God allows Satan

to bring suffering

into the world,

but he only allows Satan

enough leeway

to accomplish

the very opposite

of what he intended.

The opposite of what,

what's Satan's goal

with Job?

It's to get Job

to do what his wife

told him to do.

Curse God

and die.

Give up.

Lose your faith.

But by the end

of the book,

what has happened?

God has returned

to Job

ten times over

everything that he lost

and Job is the one

praying for

and interceding for

his friends.

And Job is put up

as the great example.

So it's the opposite

of Satan's intention.

And of course,

the ultimate example

of this is the cross,

right?

On the cross,

you see Jesus

suffering worse

than any man,

woman,

or child

will ever suffer,

ever.

It's the worst

suffering imaginable.

And yet,

God uses the cross

to bring about

the most beautiful

redemption,

the most beautiful

reality

that the world

has ever seen.

The worst suffering,

and yet God brings

out of that

the most beautiful

victory.

By allowing Satan

to have victory

over Jesus on the cross,

by allowing Satan

to create that suffering,

God ultimately

defeats Satan

and liberates us

from sin and death.

It's because of

that suffering

that the Bible

can make a promise

that one day

there will be

no more suffering.

So Paul sees this,

I believe,

and sees this

and says that

this is,

the cross

and the suffering

of the cross

is a paradigm.

It's a paradigm

within which

we should understand

all of our suffering.

He's saying,

do you want to know

the shape of suffering

ultimately?

It's the cross.

And so Paul looks

at this

and he looks

at the reality

that he's imprisoned

and beaten

and rejected,

that he's mocked

and ridiculed

and he looks

at all of this suffering

and he says,

if God could take

the unimaginable

suffering of Jesus

and bring out

of that

a thing of such beauty

as the redemption

of the world,

then surely

he can take

my suffering

and ultimately

bring something

beautiful out.

He doesn't

understand it.

Anybody who tries

to explain it to you,

don't trust him.

They're probably

selling a book.

It doesn't make sense.

It won't make sense

until Jesus comes again.

But there is that place

in the book of Revelation

at the very end

when all things

have been restored

where it says

Jesus will wipe away

every tear.

And I've always thought

when I read that

that that's more than

just a poetic image

that I believe

that that's a place

where God is promising

a kind of reckoning.

Where there will come

a time when every tear

will make sense.

That every tear

will somehow fit.

That we'll be able

to look at the suffering

in our lives

and in the lives

of everybody

that we care about

in the lives of the world

and we'll be able

to say about it

what we can now say

about the cross.

And I don't know

how it's going

to all play out.

And I don't know

how it's going

to play out

in your life.

I don't know

how it's going

to play out

in my life.

But even though

we don't know

next week

or next month

or next year

we know the end

of the story.

Every tear

gets wiped away.

There's a reckoning.

And at some point

we'll understand

that our suffering

as hard as it might

have been

it was not meaningless

and it was not wasted.

So Christian gratitude

is unique

in that we give thanks

to God as the giver

and it's unique

in the sense

that we give thanks

in all circumstances

not only the good times

but the hard times.

Unless you believe

in the cross

and understand

the kind of redemption

that comes through it

I don't know

that you can give thanks

in all circumstances.

If you don't believe

in the cross like that

do you know

what it becomes?

It becomes what

Melissa on our team

called

band-aid thankfulness.

A band-aid gratitude.

You know

the person who says

oh

you think you have it bad

everybody else

has it so much worse

than you

you should be thankful

for what you have.

That's a band-aid

that's emotionally dishonest.

That's not what

we're talking about here.

We're saying

the cross was horrible

and yet God made it beautiful.

The suffering in your life

is horrible.

Never diminish that

and yet

at some point

God will do something beautiful.

Maybe he already is.

So the third

and final thing

that makes Christian

gratitude unique

is the reason

for the gratitude

that we have.

Why are we thankful?

What's the source of it?

That article I mentioned

at the beginning of the service

Barbara Ehrenreich's article

she makes another

interesting point.

She links

our current

cultural obsession

with gratitude

to the power

of positive thinking

movement

that sort of

took hold

over the last

several decades

in our culture.

You know what I'm talking about?

One of the more

sort of far out

ridiculous examples

is that book

called The Secret.

Do you remember

The Secret?

Anybody

sort of have

the misfortune

of coming across this?

Well anyway

it basically says

if you want

that nice car

or that expensive house

or that nice necklace

then you need

to visualize it

and you need to send

the positive vibes

out into the universe

and that the universe

will then return to you

those things.

They say you know

this is the secret

across the ages

and now we're going to

let you in

on the secret.

I can't even say

it with a straight face

it's so ridiculous

but this really

takes hold

and you know

there are Christian

versions of this.

There are tons

of churches

and tons of pastors

that make a lot

of money

and sell a lot

of books

talking about

the power

of visualizing

that house

visualizing

and having

enough faith

and praying enough

or praying

in a certain way

and just seeing

what God does

and see if God

doesn't give you

that thing.

And so she says

that this gratitude

movement

is sort of a

continuation

of that positive

thinking movement

post housing crash

because you know

our country got all

swept up in this

and buy a bigger house

and get a bigger yard

and all this stuff

and then all of a sudden

boom the bottom

falls out

and now we have to be

a little more cautious

maybe positive

maybe that's a little

but gratitude

sounds good

but it's still

a way of trying

to do the same thing.

You know

we look at this

power of positive

thinking

we look at the

sort of power

of gratitude

for the effect

that it brings

about our own

you know

just visualize it

and you'll have it

and what about

all those people

who still get cancer?

You know

what about all those

people who still

get evicted?

And the gospel

shatters this delusion

in a rather abrasive way.

The gospel says

that God owes us

what?

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

The first thing

to understand

about the gospel

the good news

of Jesus

is that God

doesn't owe you

anything.

Job 41 11 says

who has

God is speaking here

and he says

who has given me

anything that I need

to repay?

Everything that exists

is mine.

God is saying

what could you

possibly do

that I would need

to repay you?

All of this belongs

to me.

It's already mine.

So the opposite

of gratitude

is not ingratitude

really.

It's not precisely.

The opposite

of gratitude

is entitlement.

It's the idea

that we're somehow

owed something.

And that idea

is totally

antithetical

to the gospel.

And it's interesting

and it's worth saying

because in our culture

I believe that

we're very quick

to sort of pat

ourselves on the back

and pat one another

on the back

and you know

that promotion

or that credential

or that accomplishment

good job

you earned it.

you earned it.

And you hear that

and you know

as Christians

we should say

I earned it?

Really?

Really?

It's all because

of my hard work?

Really?

We should

is that all?

I love the quote

from George Monbiot

he's kind of

an activist writer

he says

if wealth

was the inevitable

result of hard work

and enterprise

every woman in Africa

would be a millionaire.

The fact that

our hard work

has produced anything

anything

is due to factors

that are outside

of our control.

The fact that

our kind of

stick-to-itiveness

has produced

anything

is due to factors

that we had no say in.

Right?

Where we were born

who our parents were

the kind of schooling

that we got

the kind of neighborhood

that we grew up in.

You know,

our race

has nothing to do

with our hard work.

There are plenty of people

that work way harder

than us

who have far less.

The fact that we even

survived to adulthood

the fact that we were

even born to begin with

the fact that we can even

sit here tonight

with breath in our lungs

is due to the factors

largely outside

of our control.

Right?

So we take on average

23,000 breaths

every day.

The Bible says

every single breath

is a gift.

So right there

if you're making your list

you know like

Ann Voskamp

a thousand gifts

you have 23,000

to get you started.

Everything is a gift.

And so that means

that we live solely

by the mercy of God.

Solely by the mercy of God.

You know,

we have rights

in our country.

We have human rights.

And as Christians

we believe that those rights

are rooted in God

and His creation of us.

And so as Christians

we should fight

for the rights of others.

Particularly for those

who can't,

don't have a voice

of their own.

That's part of what

being a Christian

in the world is.

But before God

we have no rights.

You have rights

in this country

you have no rights

before God.

So the reason

for our gratitude

is simple.

You read it in places

like Ephesians 1 verse 3.

Ephesians 1:3

Blessed be the God

and Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ

who has blessed us

in Christ

with every spiritual blessing

in the heavenly places.

Even as He chose us

in Him

before the foundation

of the world.

Why do we give thanks?

What's the reason?

Because at some point

before you existed

God decided

that He was going

to bless you.

And that is the only reason

that you're here.

It's the only reason

that we're here.

So the gospel is this.

God owes you.

God owes us nothing

and yet

He's given us everything.

That's the reason

that we give thanks.

He owes us nothing

and yet He's given us everything.

So I pray that we would be

people who cultivate

gratitude.

This is not something

that we can hear tonight

and say okay

now I'm going to be thankful

done

on to the next thing.

It's a habit of holiness.

It's something that needs

to be cultivated again

and again

and again

and again

and again

in our lives.

There are lots of great ways

of doing this.

I mentioned Ann Voskamp.

She wrote a book

One Thousand Gifts.

Virtually every woman

in the western hemisphere

has read it.

If you've not

it's good.

It's worth a read

but essentially

it lays out

her experience

her experience

of moving

to a place

of greater awareness

of the gifts of God

by writing

a list

of a thousand things

and it really

shifts her perspective

but I would say this

one of the best ways

to begin cultivating

a sense

of gratitude

is through the meal

that we're about

to share here.

In a little while

we're going to come together

and we're going to share

a meal that we call

the Eucharist

and what does Eucharist mean?

It simply means

Thanksgiving.

You know

there's a debate

over how do you

approach the table

at the Eucharist

like how do we

come to it?

What should our

posture be?

Should we be penitent

and reflective

of our sin?

Should we come

sort of with our heads

sort of lowered

in a posture

of sort of

humble hope

for mercy?

Or should it be

celebratory?

Should it be

more like a party?

Like a festival?

And people debate

what's the proper tone?

I would say both.

I would say both

in equal measure.

Because here's the thing.

You know what gratitude is?

It's not just

something that you think.

It's not just

something that you feel.

Sometimes you have

to give thanks

in order to feel thankful.

Here's what gratitude is.

Gratitude is what

comes out of our hearts

when the truth

of who we are

collides with the truth

of what God

has given us

in Jesus.

When the truth

of who we are

collides

with the truth

of what God

has given us

in Jesus,

the ultimate gift,

what comes out

is gratitude.

So when we come

to this table,

let us come with hearts

overflowing with gratitude,

ready to receive

the gift of Christ,

ready to give thanks

to the giver,

the ultimate giver,

ready to give thanks

regardless of

whatever circumstances

you find yourself

in tonight,

and ready to give thanks

because we know

that all of this

is an undeserved gift

purely out of God's love

for you and for me.

Let's pray.

Lord, may we not be

ingrates in your presence.

May we recognize

some afresh

and some perhaps

for the first time

the extraordinary gift

of Jesus Christ

and may that produce

in us,

as Paul says

in Colossians,

hearts that overflow

with gratitude,

that it would be

too much for us.

And may this be

the font

of our obedience

to you.

May it be

the wellspring

of life in our church

and may it be

that which motivates

us

to desire

that one day

every tongue

would confess

the name of Jesus Christ.

We pray this

in your son's holy name.

Amen.