When Thanksgiving Leads to Flourishing

A sermon given by the Rev. Christine Gowdy-Jaehnig on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 2024

Joel 2:21-27 * Psalm126 * 1 TImothy2:1-7 * Matthew 6:25-33

Of all our holidays, I think Thanksgiving has succeeded in avoiding the commercialism that surrounds so many of the others, and so is closer to being a holy day –the original meaning of the word holiday. It is great to have this day when we are encouraged to set aside our scales and ledgers, our pens and computers, our vacuum cleaners and power drills, and concentrate on being thankful. But once a year is not enough. So God in God’s wisdom made the Sabbath and the church in its wisdom made our primary Sabbath service the Eucharist (which is Greek and means “thanksgiving”) and so we get to offer our sacrifice of thanks and praise every week.

A Sabbath is not meant to be just a pause that refreshes us for the competitive, productive and acquisitive days ahead. It is a pause in which we hope to experience a restful openness, a time during which we acknowledge that what is needed is given by God and need not be pursued and seized and hoarded. Our Sabbaths are a chance to clear our vision so that we recognize that we live by gift and not by possession.

Gratitude is like the spot a dancer keeps her eyes on so that she doesn’t become dizzy. Gratitude keeps us from becoming disoriented in a culture in which everything is a commodity and its value is determined by the market. We live in a society in which we are urged to buy more; to invest more; to be envious of what the Jones have and do; to supersize our meals, our vehicles, our houses and our wardrobes and there are self storage units everywhere

Gratitude is as much an attitude as it is an emotion – a determined commitment to noticing what is good. It is a sense of blessing and gratitude may may have little to do with external circumstances, but a lot to do with perspective and attention. Tania Luna fled the Ukraine after Chernobyl. In a TED talk she said that as a refugee, anything that came her way seemed a great blessing. If she found a penny she felt like a millionaire. If she spent a night in a homeless shelter, it seemed like a luxury hotel.

And yet Gratitude is in danger of becoming just another self-improvement activity. In recent years “practicing gratitude” has become a “life hack.” An article on a website proclaims, “Boost your health with a dose of gratitude.” People keep gratitude journals or recount their blessings on social media, listing items or experiences that provide them with pleasure or contentment.

We rarely give thanks for what we feel is owed to us, for our just desserts. Gratitude emerges when a gift has been given; a gift is something that we do not expect, do not assume will come to us, and the lack of which causes us no resentment. Sometimes a gift is misunderstood or goes unnoticed. In an episode of the Simpsons, when Bart is asked to offer thanks at a family meal, he says, “Dear God, we bought all of this stuff with our own money, so thanks for nothing.” Yes, Bart’s family bought the food with money earned by working. But Bart’s frame of reference is too narrow and his definition of gift is too limited. When we believe that the world exists because it was intentionally created, and that the Creator is still at work creating and sustaining and redeeming, the reckoning comes out differently. We may buy the yams but we know the story goes back further, through many hands, to the primal elements of water, sunlight, air, seed and the mystery of life and growth. The greater gift comes from the One who creates and maintains; gratitude is a natural part of our relationship with God.

Robin Wall Kimmerer, whose work I referred to in my Creation Sunday sermon, wrote that a gift is different than something we buy; it possess a meaning outside its material boundaries and composition, and beyond its market value. The ring with mother-of-pearl inset given to us by our grandmother can be dearer than the diamond earrings we bought at a jewelers. A gift asks something of us; to value and care for it, to give thanks for it.

Kimmerer writes in detail about the Native American concepts of Gifts. A gift establishes a relationship and asks us for a response. We can respond a number of ways, through: ceremony, land stewardship, science that reverently studies the world, art that draws our attention to creation, in everyday acts of practical reverence, and Reciprocity. Reciprocity solves the moral tension at the heart of our existence: our lives comes at the price of other lives. Some people become vegetarians because of this paradox, yet it does not resolve the problem. It is easy to forget that plants are living things also, or to assign a lower value to their lives, but science is revealing that there is more to plant life than we have ever imagined. We engage in Reciprocity when we give something of value in return that sustains the ones who sustain us. It is all very well to say, ‘Thank you, God, for the fish,’ but if many people fish and fish and fish (giving heartfelt thanks after each catch) eventually they will catch fewer fish or the fish will be smaller. Reciprocity in this case might look like putting limits on catches and reducing fertilizer run off into the lake that is feeding algae blooms which reduces the oxygen in the water that the fish need. When we engage in Reciprocity we acknowledge our mutual dependence, and engage in mutual exchange.

We are all familiar with the three sisters: corn, squash and beans. The corn’s stalk provides a support for the bean’s vine, which fixes nitrogen in the soil, needed by corn and squash. The wide leaves of the squash shade the soil at the base of the corn and beans, keeping moisture in and other plants out. The three sisters teach us important lessons: respect one another, support one another, bring your gift to the world and receive the gifts of others. These three plants embody the wisdom of relationship. The gifts of each are more fully expressed when they are grown and nurtured together that alone. All gifts are multiplied in relationship. All flourishing is mutual.

We know that it is wrong to take and take and take for “the world has enough for every one’s need but not every one’s greed.” And so many people do give, and generously. But there is something else we should know. God is always giving. But we are not God, and so the human hand that is always giving may become calloused if it doesn’t also receive. The heart of the giver may harden just a little, allowing compassion and generosity to be infiltrated by paternalism and pride. A Eucharistic life, soaked in gratitude, means that we are open and able to see the gifts that, yes, ultimately come from God, but may come to us through others. We can then say, “Thank you,” in recognition of our own need for God and each other. For all flourishing is mutual.

The Eucharistic procession is an enactment of what a harvest festival and a Eucharistic life is all about:

we are given gifts by God,

we cultivate those gifts,

we bring the fruits of our labors forward,

the story of salvation is said over these elements,

and they are transformed into blessings for the whole world.

Let us pray:

God, whose generosity evokes but also over matches our gratitude:

Teach us not to grab for your gifts,

Help us to learn the way of Reciprocity which leads to universal flourishing

And give us the confidence to join your never ending gift exchange.

This we pray, through Jesus Christ, the greatest gift of all. Amen.