Paul’s Ponderings for November, 2006

Okay. Here’s a quick question for you: how many times during a typical Eucharist do we use a variation of the word “thanks”?

Give up? Well so did I!

“Thanks”, or a variation thereof, is used many times, and, if you think about, for a worship service that is named after the Greek word for giving thanks (eucharist) it ought to be! After all that is one of the primary reasons we come to worship: to give thanks to God. Indeed, as faithful children of a loving God, it is our duty and privilege to give God thanks and praise at all times and in all places. But it’s that phrase “at all times and in all places” that really throws me a curve ball.

What about when I’m tired or sick? It’s really tough to even think about giving thanks to God, much less to send forth praise when my head hurts and my body aches. Or when I’m angry or hurt: do I give thanks then as well? Someone has just called to let me know that I’ve really disappointed them. Thank-you God! Praise Jesus! Really? How can I do that? All I care about in such times is my need to feel sorry for myself, or be filled with righteous indignation, or plot revenge...

The problem with that kind of thinking is that it is all about me. My needs. My hurt. My feelings. ME. And, while I do need to be aware of my needs, hurts, and feelings in a way that preserves my health and well-being, too much “me-focus” distorts my view of the world and tends to regard the “other” as being less important. The more I focus on me, the less I focus on you. And the less I focus on you, the more I turn my world into a constant state of me against you (the world). In the end I lose. And so does the world. As is obvious, this is not the way God intends for us.

Giving thanks–and praise–to God is one way to keep from being centered on self. It takes us out of the comfort zones of our own individual lives and forces us to focus on the One who gave us that life. It seems to me that this is precisely the reason we must give thanks to God in all circumstances. Truly giving thanks to God in Christ connects us to that Other whose compassionate love is extended to all humanity, including those whom we may dislike or find insuperable. In an almost mystical way, thanksgiving unites us to God whose desire is the end of suffering and compels us to do something to ease that suffering. In other words, it is in giving thanks to God that we are forced out of our self-serving ways into a manner of life which deeply cares for and is in service to others.

Just imagine for a moment what kind of world God would be creating in us if we truly gave thanks at all times and in all places. It would be the kind of place where enmity and strife could not take root. Where, in their place, love and compassion flourished and where needless suffering would be a thing of the past. And this is not a Pollyannaish vision. Neither is it some future hope in heaven. It is the reign of God in the here and now. It is the reign which Jesus inaugurated by his life and ministry. It is the reign which we are all called to embrace and live, here and now. In this time and place.

Thanks be to God!