Thinking of thanksgiving and the celebration of life for a mentor I attended this week. My mind and spirit are focused on celebrating the goodness of God and understanding the blessing I have while setting aside the hardships and tears. to move our thinking away from what we think we don’t have toward what we have already been blessed with. My Joy is in shifting from a scarcity mindset into a realization of the abundance of God’s providence.
But even as we do so, we should take time to acknowledge that there are many who are left out of the abundance, not because of the lack of resources, but due to unequal distribution.
In other words, God is not punishing the Poor but it is greedy and selfish that is allowing the poor to be poor and without.
That is why we are invited to share what we have so that all might have something. So, lifting up feeding and helping ministries from a gratitude perspective is an appropriate way to be thankful. At the same time, we can advocate for more just policies in our town or city or nation, as we seek to lift from poverty those who have been left aside.
Every fourth week of November, we tell ourselves that Thanksgiving should not just be a once-a-year thing, but a way of living every day. I mean many of us did thanksgiving over the internet or Zoom last year and yet we said then we would try and stay InTouch and many families failed after a month or two.
Ephesians 5:15-20 is a call to remember that belief. This brief text sums up with “giving thanks to God the Father at all times.”
1. At all times!
What if we held a thanksgiving service here in the middle of August? Turn to the hymns we usually sing in November and be reminded that gratitude isn’t confined to a season. Yes, many of those hymns are harvest-related, but the bounty of God’s providence can be seen at all times.
But remember the “at all times” part of the text. This isn’t just about being thankful for food and plentiful harvests. It is about finding blessings in everyday living. Of course, since the text invites it, there should be plenty of singing in this thanksgiving in August service; “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your hearts.” Gratitude is to be found all over the hymnal and our song repertoire; it is one of the dominant themes of worship music.
We have to learn how to be in All-time Praiser when all is all good and when life is hard we still need to praise.
2. No More Broken toys.
There is no need to cry over broken toys and spilled milk. The Ephesians text talks about the times being evil, and it is often hard to argue about the brokenness of the world around us.
But haranguing what we identify as societal ills will not likely lead to an experience of gratitude.
Certainly, the kingdom we proclaim is not yet fully here, which is what the author of Ephesians is warning readers about.
Yet we can see glimpses of that reality around us if we begin to pay attention and call out what is right in our world, what is reflective of God’s grace and kingdom living.
Even more is the call to be the sign of God’s grace in the world, to be the example that living by kin-dom values is not only possible but preferable to the values of a broken world.
This is how we give thanks at all times, by living our gratitude each and every day.
3. Let Your Life Bear Witness To Your Faith.
“Be careful then,” writes Paul, “how you live, not as unwise people but as wise.” Paul intends us to be aware that our faith is not separate from our life.
There’s no time to waste, he argues, the days are evil because we are on the brink of the new age. He isn’t interested in fixing what is wrong in this world but in preparing us for living in the next one.
he doesn’t challenge the social order but asks how we can make it as much like the kingdom of heaven as possible.
Wait! Back up for a moment. Think about that idea – not fixing what is wrong in this world but preparing for living in the next one. Is that really what is going on here? Is that really how we’ve come to understand Paul (or Paul)? Or worse, is that how we’ve come to understand the faith? It’s all about getting us into heaven, not about making a difference in the world in which we live?
If that were true, then The United Methodist Church is in big trouble. After all, we are in the business of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
We are looking to make a difference in the world, right?
Well, maybe not. Notice it doesn’t say to make the world better or to make a difference in the world.
Yes, that is how we sometimes hear that mission.
Leave the world a little better than it was when you found it.
Nice idea, but not really the gospel.
We are in the business of transforming the world.
This text, this author, isn’t interested in fixing the world but bringing in the next one.
We are transforming this world into a kingdom reality.
Knowing, of course, that we can’t do it alone, we can’t do it by our efforts, but we can partner with the Spirit (remember we are in the season after Pentecost), as God brings in this new reality.
It is not about going off somewhere to heaven but living in the new age of the kingdom of God.
So, the days are evil, writes Paul, so be careful.
Careful?
Meaning we watch out for ourselves?
Do we keep ourselves pure and unstained from the world? Well, yes and no. There is certainly a call to higher living—“live a life worthy of the call”—remember? Yet, this verse needs to say more than just watch out for yourself. It could also be read to say live full of care in a difficult time.
While this text points to gratitude toward God, it is also the method of interaction within the human community.
Because of our overwhelming gratitude toward God, we can also begin to appreciate one another and indeed all of creation as a part of that gift and a reminder of that presence.
Giving thanks is behind, or underneath our journey of faith. It drives stewardship and mission. It brings us faithfully to worship week after week. It drives us to our knees in devotion and prayer. It opens the living Word of God as we explore the scriptures.
Gratitude is the best motivator for evangelism.
We tell the story because we are grateful for God’s activity in our lives.
