Don't you just love times of thanksgiving? Yes, and Saint Paul is a genius at reminding us of this component to victorious living. His "attitude of gratitude" finds its way throughout his letters, except possibly for Galatians.
My first response to all of this is "what a wonderful way to live our lives." Of course, he is rooted and grounded in his Savior and Lord. It is a natural — most likely spontaneous response — to the depths he discovers in Jesus.
Perhaps the most missing ingredient among those who profess the faith, is thanksgiving. In short, there appears to be a generous amount of complaining with loads of dissatisfaction, even among God's elect.
If God has truly come to us in flesh and blood as a Jewish male, we are the most blessed of all peoples. For the opportunity is at hand to receive the Messiah. Mary's son makes his entry and we have the great privilege of saying "Yes" to him.
Why should anyone who has received him be dejected and without hope? We know Paul's answer. There should be continued thanksgiving but that's not all. There must be thanksliving as well. Don't they belong together?
Focus
Thanksgiving and thanksliving are supposed to exist at the same time.
Body
1. Wholeness and holiness are manifested to the community at large.
Pause and reflect on your parish or parishes. Isn't the coming of Jesus Christ historically and personally a cause for precious people to become much less fragmented? With the potential of total integration we can observe at times our people becoming not only whole but holy. Thanksgiving reigns in the hearts and minds of parishioners, as this happens. Talk about being born again and again! Some will even exclaim, "I don't know him or her anymore!" A new human being emerges and a new personhood never witnessed before is there for all to see. Then we rediscover the magnificent power of our faith.
But that's not all. Pastors who know their flocks well see this happen — and indeed are a part of this — at a congregational level. Each church has a personality all its own. People become one in community. OldFirstChurch that used to be that grouchy and stalemated organism becomes a unique creation. The old has gone and the new has come! It is much less interested in projecting a proper image and far more concerned about something (someone) else. The wholeness and holiness comes not so much in radical changing of structures as it does in experiencing the vitality of openly expressing thanksgiving born of thankful hearts and minds.
While I believe deeply in the spiritual changes occurring in an individual, there is always that further step to the entire community. A Christian in isolation is a contradiction in terms. Even those cloistered bear responsibility for making contributions to others. Their thanksgiving is also thanksliving as it rubs off on others in a monastery or convent. The greatness found in these institutions is always somehow and some way been in a body of people living in Christ. Such people as Thomas Merton are internationally known. However, that does not mean they were formed in a vacuum. They were invariably in contact and some relationship with their brothers or sisters. Wholeness and holiness has a way of rubbing off!
Can we apply this to denominations as well? I believe so. The Wesleyan family can point to John and Charles Wesley. It was obvious to them that the Church of England in their day and time had drifted far from a sense of serious Christianity. It needed to be made whole and holy again! So they sought to bring about needed changes. Their successes are legendary. While this eventually meant a new denomination, that was never the intent of the Wesley brothers. Some years ago, I met the Archbishop of Canterbury (George Carey) who indicated to me one of the worst things the Church of England ever did was to let those Methodists get away. Perhaps we should recognize we Methodists are in need of recapturing the emphasis on the Eucharist taught and practiced by the Wesleys. Then thanksgiving and thanksliving will come in a new thankful way.
2. Thanksgiving is intended to be extended.
"The testimony of Christ," as Paul says, means spiritual gifts are among us. The babe who was born in Bethlehem has provided us through the Holy Spirit a means of telling others. This within itself is one of the gifts. Our culture, just like others who have followed Christ, tends to surround us and even engulf us. This means our communicated testimony can be seriously influenced by matters such as bad timing, indifference, hesitancy, and incompetence. For those dear people who are spiritually oriented, such considerations can be seriously overrated. At the same time we are called to be cognizant of everything that will aid us in our mission to share. Thanksgiving and thanksliving.
Holding back or limiting the story and power of the faith can be tragic. We have this timeless gift in the person of Jesus the Christ to share with others. Our beginning point can be his birth to a Jewish maiden and all that surrounds this one of a kind breaking into history. After all, who wants to shun a lovely and holy young woman's baby boy? There is a certain magnetism about this special event that has been on the world scene for most of 2,000 years. Our destiny is tied to this little fellow, who comes among us as a human being. We have received in thanksgiving and we are called to share him in thanksliving. The angels sing and we shout, "Joy to the world!"
"To keep something you have to give it away" is a cliché that bears repeating. I believe this is especially true of the faith we proclaim. It sounds like Paul was much in agreement. Even as we acknowledge this, it can be one of the hardest things — in fact — to do. If something is really valuable to us, sometimes it is only in real hesitancy we share it with anyone else. That's the way we are and yet the Christian dynamic enables to see the imperative of such a matter. We have this treasure we are called to spread around, as the Holy Spirit directs. In particular, we do this by interacting with others. Paul says, "In every way you have been enriched by him, in speech and knowledge of every kind." Yes, it is time for "show and tell!"
"Extension ministries" or something similar is common terminology to most of us. Usually this means a position beyond serving the local church. While it seems accurate enough in terms of institutions and categories, I like to consider all ministry as an extension into the lives of people. That may sound "picky" until we see our understanding can be one of a local congregation being mostly static, raising money for those ministries considered "extension." The implication of that is a subtle way of blighting a much more thorough and complete "outreach!" Ponder that for a moment. You may discover our church has taken the easy way out!
3. A truly grateful person spontaneously desires to share.
Ideally, in the hearts and minds of Christians is an unending flow of "great thanksgivings." This is seen so distinctly in the writings of the Apostle Paul. It seems as though he can't stop giving thanks, especially for what he has found in Jesus the Christ. He overflows with expressions that inspire us, as well as other readers for centuries. He does so, even though clouds of imprisonment and shipwreck hang over him. He is the "Apostle of Gratitude" par excellence. The source is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing fabricated or questionable about all of this. It is just there and he wants others to know.
If you are like I am, sometimes I get impatient with those who provide an artificial and syrupy thankfulness. It seems they are trying too hard to evidence something that just isn't there. The mere reading of this text does not mean we automatically capture the spirit of it. There is a spirituality at work calling for our entire being to shout into the heavens and also among our fellow women and men. It is getting beyond theory that counts in the long run. Genuine thanksgivings born of a right relationship with God the Father through his Son cannot be faked! Paul understood so well it is in paying the price for us by Jesus of Nazareth that the door opens to an "attitude of gratitude." Rejection and/or indifference speak for themselves.
Isn't it amazing what we communicate, often without knowing it? "He will strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless" is not for the light-hearted and those espousing a minimal Christianity. It is my experience we do not often fool "the world," so to speak, in our thankful expressions. If we really ascribe to Paul's approach, which means to live for Christ is also to die for him, even hardened secularists silently applaud our style. It is our spontaneity that sells others. There is nothing quite like a disciple who tells others how grateful he or she is for Christ and his church. "Sinners" may know a great deal more about the quality of our faith than we are willing to admit.
A thankful style of living that exudes from our innermost being is an evangelistic program all by itself. In a striking and masterful way, others catch this spirit in time and some even say excitingly they want what we have. It can even be reminiscent of the very early followers, who evoked a response from pagans saying, "See how those Christians love one another." No writer or painter can adequately depict such gloriously delightful scenes. That's how Christianity is supposed to work. Others are to seize our spirit, especially because our witness is unfeigned and inspirationally natural. The best sermons are those when few — if any — words are spoken and the power of the living God descends upon the moment. Great laity at times have to show clergy how and why this happens.
4. The world yearns for those who practice what they preach.
"Hypocrisy" is such a nasty word! In my long pastoral ministry of well over forty years I have come into contact with numerous people who spend virtually a lifetime dealing with it. They always seemed to look upon the lives of church people they knew and said — in one way or another — the Christian faith isn't lived. They go to church and go through the motions; then on Monday a different life is lived. While we may say that is no justification for shying away from Christ, the point is well taken. There are those who seriously search for the power and purity of the gospel message. Sadly, often they do not seem to find it in their church-going neighbors and friends.
The hunger for genuine and vital Christian living is all about us. People feel — sometimes deeply — a void in their lives. Some read everything they can find on spirituality and do all the one/two principles. The discovery is made but the void is still there. Their search for "the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus" eludes them. Books, various other publications, videos, and television/radio become more entertainment that anything else. What does the latest guru — Christian or non-Christian — say? Show them one solid honest-to-goodness disciple of Christ and lives can be changed overnight. The veneers and fabrications slip into the background. Thanksgiving and thanksliving become flesh and blood.
Perhaps the worst offenders of putting faith and practice together are clergy. Laying aside the political realities of the parish life, our people want to experience pastors who are thankful and live in that mood. Such sends an aroma throughout the parish. Even those who dislike us will honor and respect our styles of living. Our failures along this line are frequently closely related to upward mobility as professionals. We try too hard to succeed in wrong ways and end up failing in matters that really are crucial. I do not believe there is a more serious vocation or profession than being a clergyperson. We "walk the walk and talk the talk" or we become "a noisy gong or a clanging symbol."
In recent years, we have learned the mission fields are not abroad. They are next door, down the block, in the office, and at the coffee shop. Some who reside near us have even lost or never had the vocabulary to talk about Christ and his church. American culture has so changed in a couple of generations, that we can be caught off guard. Saint Paul was close to his churches and he taught them carefully and thoroughly about his Lord. They, too, faced a predominantly secularized society and emerged time and again faithful to what Paul taught them. We have come so far now that competing theologies even tend to blur any solid teaching we have for the world. We need to learn from the foreign mission fields the fact that we are all in this together. Go next door and proclaim Christ not Methodism!
Summary And Conclusion
So, "what has been joined together, let not man put asunder" is excellent advice. Thanksgiving and thanksliving belong together in one workable way of living. There is both substance and style. The legitimacy for this is a heavenly mark on our foreheads. We drink deeply and eat with inspired selection. Jesus and his ways are born among us and we are reminded of both his birth physically and our birth spiritually. Praise God we don't have to live with a set of principles. We can date our rebirth to his flesh and blood coming among us through blessed Mary. It is a relationship that never grows old. It is a highly productive marriage that passes from generation to generation.
Near the center of the city in Dallas, Texas, is an area called "Thanksgiving Square." It is a witness to the sameness of the world's religions at one point. All of them — in some form — espouse thanksgiving. It is a very moving experience to be there and share what seems to be something akin to holy ground. As you and I go about our lives, calling upon the wisdom of Saint Paul, just maybe life becomes worth living in ways we had only wondered about. Every community can have a thanksgiving square that is committed to Christian discipleship and interreligious dialogue with those who do not see things the way we do. We are so privileged to know the route of the babe in Bethlehem open to us.