Don’t worry- that is what I heard in this passage. It is the lectionary passage for Thanksgiving which I found quite interesting. I think God chose this one just for me. Now I am not much of a worrier, but I have been told I am anxious… you try to figure that one out. This week I faced a bigger worry. I had my skin cancer removed- a small basal cell growth on my chest. I did not worry too much until a friend asked why I was having Mohs surgery for this friendly kind of cancer. I happen to have an aggressive kind of basal cell and because of its placement they thought this was the best option. I think the hardest part was just saying the word cancer to my kids. Fortunately, I was sleeping well and working hard, so I really did not feel like I was too worried about it, until I walked out of the procedure and realized how much lighter I felt. Gratitude and relief filled my heart. The doctor got it in one go and my cancer is gone.
Many of you have faced much greater health challenges and you do so with tremendous grace. Hip replacements, breast cancer, chronic pain, prolonged illness. Worrisome times to be sure. Times when you cannot sleep or lose your appetite, or heck, over eat; times when your minds are filled with thoughts of fearful outcomes. Times when we need our faith. Jesus is right; worrying does not add one cubit, or measure, or hour to our lifespan. Yet I do believe that when moments of worry are addressed our gratitude is richer for having come through the trial.
Soon we will be joining our families and friends around the Thanksgiving table. Aunts and Uncles, Grandparents and longtime friends join with the children and parents who often host this honored tradition. Pies will be baked and turkeys stuffed, tables decorated and maybe even some football watched. I will be with my brother and his family up at Bonnie Doon, my boys will be in Texas with their Dad and I am sure many of you will be traveling or receiving visitors to be with loved ones for Thanksgiving. A tradition I have seen many times is asking everyone gathered to share one thing they are thankful for on this day of thanks. We did a similar thing at our last youth group this week asking the kids what was their favorite part of our three years together. They answered the games, Charlie, getting to know each other, having fun. Around the Thanksgiving table it is more often health, home and family. So I ask you now, what are you thankful for? Shout it out, share your gratitudes!
Thanksgiving is all about what we are grateful for, thankful for. Right? I heard… health, family, this church, breathing…. All wonderful aspects of life, abundant blessings. I know I am certainly grateful for being cancer free.
Maybe we need to refocus Thanksgiving just a little bit. Thanksgiving is not about what we are thankful for, but who we are thankful to. I am sure the Pilgrims where thankful for the food they had when others were starving, (worrying to be sure) and thankful for sheltering homes when facing harsh winters, but our Puritan ancestors certainly focused their gratitude on God who provided all of these blessings. They were thankful to God! They were humbled by God’s gifts. Today our gratitude dwells on this horizontal plane (the things we are thankful for) rather than the divine plane (the one we are thankful to). I guess we do this so we do not offend Uncle Lou who is an agnostic, or the younger generation who believes in science rather than faith. What does that mean when we are only thankful for the things of this world, and not grateful to the God who created it all? Another way of saying that is to ask, “Why do we give thanks to God?
First giving thanks to God keeps us right-sized. If left to our own devices, we will think that we have created everything for which we are grateful. We think our health is of our own doing, our homes are because of our efforts, our family is because we are terrific people. Now all of those things have an element of truth, but God the creator, not only created the world but also the gifts you enjoy. As the Psalmist declares, “For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly” (v.6). We are the lowly and knowing that keeps us right-sized and humble. Giving thanks to God means we know we are receiver of blessings, rather than our own mini creator.
Secondly, as we approach Thanksgiving I want to share an example of what Jesus did when he was at table with his disciples at the Last Supper. Scripture declares, “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks (eulogeo) and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’ Then he took the cup, gave thanks (eucharisteo) and offered it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you’” (Matthew 26:26-27, NIV). Two words of thanks here, “eulogeo” from which we get our English word “eulogy” means “speak well of, praise, extol.” When we give thanks, we praise God. The second word, “eucharisteo” from which we get our English word “Eucharist,” means, “be thankful, offer thanks.” Jesus is praising and giving thanks to God; not thanks for the bread. According to Jewish tradition, before every meal the faithful Jewish man would offer this blessing: “Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the world, who has caused bread to come forth out of the earth.” This is what Jesus might have said, thanking God for causing the bread to come forth. Offering thanks was not given for the food or things of this world, but rather for the Lord and King who created it, who caused it into being!
Finally, we say thanks to God because giving thanks to the Lord with our whole heart helps to fill the God shaped hole in us. Augustine first shared this idea describing restlessness within his soul without God. Later Pascal (1623-62) wrote, “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and unchangeable object; in other words can only be filled by God himself.” (Pensees 10.148). When we are thankful to God, our infinite and unchangeable God, we fill that hole. Otherwise we are thankful for… (you fill in the blank)…..all of those things that we try to use to fill our God-shaped holes.
This Thanksgiving let us not focus on the things we are thankful for (which we try to use to fill our God-shaped holes,) rather let us be thankful to the loving presence and eternal Creator who knows and provides for our every need.
We started today with worry. Worrying is really our God shaped hole making its presence known. Our fears sneak in there when we fail to fill it with God. We worry instead of taking our concerns to Jesus. That is why Jesus when discussing worry said, “You of little faith.” Gratitude and thankfulness to God fills that hole. We give thanks to God for God’s steadfast love and faithfulness and exalt God above everything else.
So am I grateful for my cancer being gone, you bet. I am truly thankful to God, who grants healing, wholeness and health.
This Thanksgiving are you simply thankful for home and family or are you thankful to God who blesses you with every blessing? Amen.
