Grace and Truth (Living into Community 1: Gratitude)
(1 Thess. 5:12-28) -- Rev. Christine Ng
There’s an old story, but I’ve always liked it. An atheist was walking through the forest, admiring the beauty of nature. He heard a slight rustling in the bushes behind him. Turning to look, he saw a seven-foot grizzly bear lumbering towards him. In a panic, the man ran as fast as he could. But, of course, his running caught the bear’s attention, and the bear ran after him.
The man looked over his shoulder; the grizzly was closing in on him. His heart pounding, he tried to run faster but tripped and fell to the ground. He rolled over to find the bear was standing over him.
“O my God!” cried the atheist.
Time stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent.
A bright line shone on the man, and a voice said, “I thought you didn’t believe in me? Have you changed your mind?”
The atheist said, “Well, I could be hallucinating. I’m sure there is a rational, scientific explanation for all this. But, if you do have that power, perhaps you could make the bear a Christian?”
“No problem,” said the voice, “she already knows she is one of my children.”
The light went out. The sounds of the forest resumed. The bear spoke, and the man found that miraculously he could understand, as the bear said: “Lord, for this food which I am about to receive, I am truly thankful. Amen.”
What I like about this story, though a little violent in a National Geographic kind of way, is its underlying assumption that to be a Christian is to be thankful.
Most of us do well with the occasional expressions of gratitude to God or to others. We give thanks for our health, our own daily food, for our families, and for unexpected gifts and blessings. This is all good and necessary. But the idea of gratitude as a spiritual practice goes beyond the occasional “thank you” to God or others. This is gratitude as a way of life – not merely an act or an attitude but an identity – what it means to be Christian.
This is important for us as individuals. But when we are talking about spiritual practices of a Christian community – what it means to be a Christian community – there is even more at stake. The character of our shared life – as congregations and communities – has the power to draw people to the kingdom and worship of God – or to push them away. And because we as a community are the embodiment of Christ, the expectations, like the stakes, are very high.
“The Word who became flesh and lived among us – full of grace and truth – expects that our relationships with one another will be also be characterized by grace and truth.”
But because we are also human, this takes practice, practice, practice. These spiritual practices are what grace and truth look like when embodied in community.
And let’s begin with grace. The word “gratitude” comes from the Latin word for “grace.” Similarly, in Greek, the language in which the New Testament, including Paul’s letters, was originally written – in Greek the word for “grace” has the same root as the word for “thankfulness” or “gratitude.” This reflects an ancient understanding of the tie between the two.
The spiritual practice of gratitude, gratitude as a way of life – begins with paying attention. When our lives are shaped by gratitude, we’re more likely to notice the goodness and beauty in everyday things – to catch the small glimpses of grace that happen all the time. And as we notice, we find more reasons to be thankful.
But gratitude and grace are tied together in another way as well – forgiveness. As the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ testifies to us, we are children of a loving and forgiving God. When we fully accept, when we know in the depths of our hearts the grace we’ve received and continue to receive from God, know we are forgiven, we are able to turn outward in gratitude and generosity. We can then give what we have been given – love, forgiveness – grace.
It’s God’s forgiveness of our imperfect humanity and our forgiveness of the imperfect humanity of others that makes community work. As someone once wrote: “the way you grow into God’s love . . . is by giving each other grace.” [Chris Rice, quoted in Living in Community]
When gratitude fills our lives and communities, it spills over into celebration, into joy. “We’re not joyful and then become grateful – we’re grateful and that makes us joyful.” [Brennan Manning] This is what Paul was talking about when he wrote: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.” After all, constant rejoicing and regular thanksgiving are themselves perpetual prayer -- recognizing that "God is good -- all the time."
This is not polyanna faith. Living with gratitude doesn’t mean we don’t see problems or injustice or suffering. Nor is the practice of gratitude meant to beat the heartache or grief out of people – you know, as in “you should just be grateful for what you have.” That’s religious practice misused.
Instead, gratitude as a way of life is knowing that God is faithful, as Paul said. Knowing that despite whatever hardship or sorrow we may encounter, we are held secure by a loving God. If a life of gratitude is our identity, then death, destruction and despair cannot define us, cannot have the last word. So gratitude is about love, but it is also about hope – and can give strength for the long journey towards wholeness and justice. In the words of Dr. King, whose birthday we celebrate this weekend: “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great burden to bear.”
People who practice gratitude, people of grace, speak the truth – but such words spoken in an atmosphere of grace and love are less threatening, and even more important. The church is meant to be such a place of grace. As we practice gratitude, give each other grace in our lives together and help each other see the grace that has been present in our lives, even when we haven’t noticed it – then the body of Christ is strengthened for it’s own journey toward wholeness – both within and outside our doors. The gospel shines through. God’s grace is revealed.But the reverse is also true. While gratitude gives life to communities, ingratitude expressed through things like grumbling and complaint sucks our everything good, until the community’s life is gone, it’s spirit is quenched – to use Paul’s phrase.
We liken church to a family – and so it is. But it’s not some pie in the sky “perfect family” where everyone always gets along and does all their chores on time. No. It’s a real family – and that’s who Paul was talking to in his letter. He didn’t use the popular term “dysfunctional,” but he certainly knew the danger of family members abusing or ignoring their responsibilities toward one another.
When we long for some ideal of church or family, it’s easy to grow increasingly dissatisfied with what we have. It’s easy to complain and grumble about our families, our communities, our congregations – there is always something wrong. We’re human. It’s like a version of the old joke: “I don’t believe in organized religion.” “Neither do I. I belong to the UCC.”
Gratitude and ingratitude are closely tied to what we notice, and once we start focusing on flaws in the community they quickly dominate our attention. While gratitude makes us more sensitive to the gifts that other people bring into our lives, discontent blinds us to what we’ve been given.
For example, Tony Campolo tells the story of finding and reading the annual church report for the year in which he was baptized in that church. Three nine-year old boys were baptized that year. One was Tony, who grew up to become a well-known Christian sociologist and writer. Another became a missionary, and the third became a professor of theology. That’s a pretty good track record for that small Philadelphia church. But the people of the church didn’t celebrate what they had been given, they only saw the lack. The report read: “It has not been a good year for our church. We have lost 27 members. Three joined, and they were only children.” Cynics might call it spin – I think it’s the practice of gratitude – seeing the gift. Not surprisingly, soon after that the church sold it’s building and the church disbanded.
In addition to the inability to see and appreciate the gifts all around, perhaps the saddest result of ingratitude is the tendency to trample fragile expressions of beauty and goodness. This is particularly toxic to community.
I read a story about a woman planting trees at a local park. The trees were donated by people in memory of loved ones. When she had planted 23 trees without any help, another woman came up to her and said, “Remember the tree you planted for me yesterday?” The woman nodded. “You planted it too close to the road. It needs to be moved.” And with that, the other woman left. Maybe she was distracted, or had a bad day, but still – of the 23 trees planted only two people remembered to say “thank you.”
The church functions because of the work of many people. Indeed, in a small church like ours every one needs to contribute in some way. To practice gratitude as a way of community life, we need to appreciate the gifts of all who share their time, talent, or treasure for the community, and for God. And it’s everyone’s responsibility to say “thank you,” for being part of this community, and thank you for all you do. We need to accept those gifts as the gifts from God that they are – big or small.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer asks, “How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things?” Every gift matters, because it’s not about the size of the gift, it’s about the Giver, about love, and grace, and relationship. Perhaps this is why Paul in his letter advises the Thessalonians to “respect those who labor among you,” to “esteem them very highly in love because of their work,” and to “be patient with all.”
Writing about what he learned studying another faith community, Chris Rice wrote: “It is enough to get the love of God into your bones and to live as if you are forgiven. It is enough to care for each other, forgive each other, and to wash the dishes.” Grace and truth indeed. Amen.
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