This morning, as we turn our hearts and minds to Thanksgiving, we have two texts written under dramatically different circumstances. The first text comes from Deuteronomy and is part of a sermon Moses delivered to the Israelites as they stand at the threshold of the Promised Land. Earlier Moses reminded the people of their time in the wilderness, when they felt lost and always on the move, and where they hungered until they received the strange gift of manna for daily bread.
But now, Moses tells them that they are about to enter a land without scarcity, a land where they will lack nothing. They will be able to eat their fill and build fine houses. Their herds and flocks will multiply so that they will be well supplied.
For this first text a painting comes to mind, “Freedom from Want” by the great American illustrator Norman Rockwell. As you can see, an extended family of all ages is gathered around a large table. The eyes are smiling; laughter is in the air; there is more than enough to eat. It is a veritable feast. Rockwell’s painting not only gives us an image for our upcoming Thanksgiving holiday; it also gives us an image that can be used to illustrate Deuteronomy 18.
The question Moses asks them: Will you think this prosperity is all of your doing and not a blessing and gift from God? The question God asks us is this: when times are good, will you think that is all your own doing? Or will you recognize the unearned blessings and gifts and give thanks to God?
Stop. Remember. And, give thanks. Not because our gratitude will even the score with God. When we pause to consider what God has done, we recognize that can never even the score. In the poetic words of one commentator on this text, “our lives are soaked, saturated with grace.”
Gratitude. Give thanks to God. We do that not because God is needy or controlling or petulant the way some human givers can be. God does not need recognition or appreciation in the way that human beings often do. To be sure, our gratitude pleases God – but God’s love and provision for us does not depend on our gratitude.
As the Scottish theologian John Baillie has said, “A true Christian is a [person] who never for a moment forgets what God has done for [them] in Christ, and whose whole comportment and whole activity have their root in…gratitude.” Not obligation. Gratitude.
The second text comes from a very different setting. Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi is written from a prison cell. Travel to Rome and you can see the kind of cell where Paul might have been imprisoned. It is basically a dank hole in the ground with an opening on the surface through which food could be passed down. The only way in or out would be by ladder – and of course that ladder was kept on the surface, well outside the reach of any prisoner.
From a prison cell, Paul writes “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” From a prison cell, Paul writes “for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry.”
The painting that comes to mind for this text is the painting “The Thankful Poor,” by the famous American painter from Pennsylvania, Henry Ossawa Tanner. This is not a table of bounty, but of meager portions. This is a scene not of gaiety and exuberance, but of solemnity. Only two people sit there, one in prayer, one, looking two generations younger, appearing really worried.
We can understand giving thanks when we are surrounded by family and friends, but how do we give thanks when we feel all alone, except for a child depending on us for everything? We understand about thanksgiving when there is a feast in front of us, but how about when we are hungry?
Gratitude. How can we give thanks when our hearts are broken? When we’re out of a job, and the insurance has lapsed? When the chemo is making us sick – or our anxiety about our children or our parents drags us down like an undertow in the sea?
How did Abraham Lincoln issue a proclamation for a day of national thanksgiving – in the midst of a Civil War?
How did Martin Rinkhart, pastor to a village in Germany during the Thirty Year’s war, faced with deadly pestilence and famine and war’s desolation, ministering during a plague so severe that, being the only minister left in town, Rinkhart conducted as many as 40 to 50 funerals a day – how did this man write during that time the hymn we will sing today: “Now thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices, who wondrous things hath done, in whom this world rejoices…?!
How can Paul give thanks in that cold, hard, camp prison cell? Certainly, it is not because of his circumstances. The key for Paul, the reason he can give thanks is not a matter of circumstances, is not a matter of what he is facing. No, it is a matter of who is near, who is facing those circumstances beside him. How can Paul give thanks? His answer: the Lord is near.” What is the key to being content in all circumstances? The One who is near and gives Paul “strength” so that Paul can withstand whatever happens to him
There is a saying that you can find on Pinterest, “gratitude is an attitude.” Attitude is certainly a good start. But Paul’s gratitude does not depend on his attitude alone. Paul is not merely seeing the glass as half full rather than half empty; that knd of gratitude runs out pretty quickly in circumstances such as his.
Some people warn about “toxic positivity,” that is avoiding or suppressing negative emotions, because we think gratitude requires relentless positivity, no matter how bad things get. But Paul is not commanding positivity. He is not telling the Philippians that they should only be giving thanks. No, he tells them, “in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Do you want to see an example of what Paul is talking about? Read the Psalms. Sure, there are prayers of thanksgiving. But there are also prayers of lament, prayers expressing anger at God, and prayers expressing despair over God’s absence, such as the one Jesus quoted on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” These psalmists are not only giving thanks; they are also making their requests known to God – sometimes with brutal honesty.
How did Paul, how did Martin Rinkhart, how did Abraham Lincoln, how did countless Christians though the centuries n their times of hunger, deprivation, imprisonment, and fear find a contentment and peace that passes understanding, despite the circumstances? They did what Moses told the Israelites to do in Deuteronomy.
They remembered. The remembered the wondrous things that the Lord had done for them. They remembered the countless gifts of love that He had given to them.
They remembered the hidden treasure of God’s presence with them which was a balm for the miseries afflicting them.
To give thanks amidst prosperity is good and right and important, as Deuteronomy tells us. It helps us remember where we came from and keeps us from going dangerously astray on our own. Gratitude in the midst of prosperity, keeps us more humble and more generous. We do not focus on ourselves as much or think that what we have is all of our own doing so we do not have to hold on to it so tightly.
People who live with grateful hearts live with an awareness of the countless ways that God provides for them with abundance: the warmth and light of the sun, the quiet and rest of the night, the beauty and fruitfulness of creation, and the blessing of friends, family, and church, the aid or solace given in times of trouble. Thankful people, in the words of Barbara Brown Taylor, “receive their lives as gifts rather than guarding them…as possessions.”
Giving thanks in the midst of prosperity is a good and important thing. But to give thanks in the midst of adversity is something altogether different. When we bow our heads over a meager portion, when we somehow can bless God from a hospital bed or after a tough week at work or school, then “we tap into a different level of being, a different dimension of living, something divine and holy and luminous.” (Rev. Kerry Pidcock-Lester) They find more joy and more peace, no matter what their circumstances are.
Like John, who kept coming to serve to at our “walk-in” free lunches for those in need at our Richmond church. He had to drive 20 minutes to reach our downtown church, and he had taken a job at the gas station to have some cash to cover basic expenses because there was a severe recession going on and his homebuilding business was on the brink of bankruptcy. When I expressed concern for him and said he could step away if ne needed to, he quickly said he wanted to keep coming and keep serving. “Serving here reminds me of how many blessings I do have, even now, he said.
Like Mary, who was facing death and was in hospice in Pottstown. While she was still strong enough, she threw a “bon voyage” party for family and friends,, inviting them over to share food, stories and time together while she was still able. She offered the chance for each of them to choose something to take with them from her apartment. After all, she said, “I can’t take it with me.” Widowed at a young age with two children, Mary knew all about gratitude and finding contentment in all circumstances.
Like Kathleen, who was battling breast cancer. One Sunday morning, she heard the words of an anthem and she typed them up, putting them on her windowsill: “I will rejoice in the face of affliction and sing God’s song,” were the words of the anthem. She told her Bible study group, “I learned that I could sing through the affliction. Being thankful does not arise out of peace: being thankful is the way to peace.”
So be thankful, practice gratitude:
This year, at Thanksgiving, take time before you cut the turkey to go around the table and give thanks out loud for your blessings.
Before your children write down a Christmas list, have them write up a Thanksgiving list. And at bed time, after you ask your children about the day, ask them to name what they are thankful for that day. We can cultivate habits of thankfulness.
Try beginning your own day and ending your own day with prayers of thanksgiving.
Remember how God has blessed you in the past. Because the more we do, the easier we will find it to trust in God for the future.
For this is the secret, the magic key, to finding at least some contentment and joy in all circumstances, even in dark and anxious times, even in a prison cell: looking not at what we are facing, but looking at the One who is there beside us. The One who gives us the strength we need in all circumstances.
Let us end with this prayer of George Herbert: “Lord, you have given so much to us. Give one thing more: a grateful heart.” Perhaps you will say it now, with me, as we turn towards this week of giving thanks: “Lord, you have given so much to us. Give one thing more: a grateful heart.” Amen.
