Fourth Sunday in Lent

Sunday, March 22, 2009

St. David’s Episcopal Church, DeWitt NY

The Rev. James C. Bresnahan, Interim Rector

“Gratitude”

It’s a strange thing we do each Sunday, even inexplicable to some - how we meet together simply to give thanks.

After all, we could all be home right now doing needful chores or out having fun, or even working an extra job for money’ or tending to someone’s needs. But no, we are choosing instead to be here with others to give thanks.

What makes that even stranger to outsiders is that we give thanks not only in the best of times but also in the worst of times.  When others might be only bemoaning, or cursing, then too we give thanks.

It’s not that we are thankful for terrible things, or bad things.  It’s that in every time, no matter how bad, we are thankful for a light that shines, the Gospel that is proclaimed, a hope that is sure, and a meal that is the promise of life and salvation. We are thankful for Jesus, thankful for him who was and is the revelation of God’s love for the world and the promise that nothing in life or death shall separate us from the love of God.

Bad times cannot take that thanksgiving from us, for such thanksgiving is rooted not in things that rust or decay, or spoil and die, but in God’s own being and God’s own faithfulness.

Each week, then, we remember with thanksgiving how God so loved the world that God gave God’s only Son for us to trust in him and live life in God.

Now that does not mean that we are not grateful for the innumerable blessings of daily life that we may have.

But when some of those many blessings are lost by accident or injury, by poverty or age, it is they that are lost but not we.  Our life is safe in God both now and in all eternity. And that safety, that salvation, is what our Sunday time together gives expression to. Here we are thankful for the ground under our feet when our legs cannot carry us, and for the sight given us even when our vision is gone.

But I do want also to speak about the gratitude we feel and should feel for the many blessings of life that do come and go, and which some have more of, and some less of, or not at all. When such blessings come to us, we do not say we are more deserving, nor do we say they are ours as a right.  We simply are grateful and wish and work, in gratitude, for others to be so blessed.

We are thankful for health when we have it, for food on our table, for work to do, for a bed to lie on. We are thankful for friends who are true, for a family to be part of; we are thankful for the scent of flowers and budding trees. We are thankful for legs that carry us places, and colors and shapes for our eyes to feast on.  We are thankful for music that enthralls us, art that excites us, and dreams that transport us.  We are thankful for all that and more – and express our gratitude to the creator of all.

More than that we are grateful for all those whose labors and sacrifices have made and still make such blessings possible.

Those who inspect the food we eat, and the water we drink; those who diagnose our illnesses and cure our diseases; those who print books, make movies, write news; and those who compose songs and poems.

Grateful for those who take our trash and garbage away and who detoxify polluted streams; those who speak the truth to us and for those too who know how to listen; everyone and everything maintaining life and warding off chaos.

And just as we as church express on a Sunday morning as the church our deep thanksgiving to God for what is deeper than things, we should also and always be expressing our gratitude to others for the things they do that provide safety, security, health, learning, pleasure, and enjoyment.

So I want to inviye you this week to express your gratitude openly and clearly. Our gratitude to God we let out in song and prayers.  Such gratitude moves from the heart into the open when it is spoken and sung.  Can we look at ways this week for the gratitude for daily blessings to be likewise let out and made known?

So here’s the invitation for this week: in every encounter you have with anyone express gratitude to them beyond a simple and formal thank you.  Whether it’s the teller at the bank or the cashier at the checkout line; a next door neighbor or a friend; a teacher or a coach.

And beyond that, pick a person or two or more that you will write a note to.

I’ll tell you to whom I am writing a note to thank in a special way: Mike Moracco!  Mike works for the Town of DeWitt at Springfield Gardens. He coordinates People in Action.

After all the food you gave last week to people in need, Mike came here, as has in the past, to pick it up.  He had, as before a broad smile, even while carrying heavy packages, because he knows that a heavy package for the needy is never a heavy burden but a joy.  I’m going to thank Mike for helping us to help the hungry by his joyful devotion to his work. And I thank you for your donations of food and clothing.

I wonder how much we can transform our community simply by offering thanks in every circumstance.

But now let us move on to giving thanks to God who in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus revealed how to live with gratitude, how to die with hope, and how to love as we have been loved. Let us thank God who gave us Jesus for us to have life abundantly and to live it gratefully.