Day 28 - Thanks

Most Bibles use the root word thank over 150 times (including thanksgiving offering etc).

Looking at Luke’s gospel we read that the prophetess Anna gave thanks for the birth of the redeemer; in the feeding of the 5,000 Jesus gave thanks before he broke and shared the bread and fish; also at his last supper he gave thanks for the bread and wine he was about to share with those gathered; he gave thanks before he broke bread with the couple in Emmaus – that was how they recognised who he was.

But the occasion of thanksgiving I want to highlight is when Jesus healed ten lepers (Luke 17) and the only one who returned to say thank you was a Samaritan. It is a curious exercise to ponder what the other nine were doing instead …

Does popular culture include an emphasis on thankfulness?

I would suggest not. In many Christian households a simple grace before a meal is absent. We are so used to our cupboards and freezers being full that the miracle of having enough to eat escapes us and so we do not pause and thank God for his provision.

Often the word ‘thanks’ is sprinkled about with no feeling behind it. People open a present and the words ‘thanks a lot’ are often said with an undertone of ‘that’s going straight to charity’!

The Celtic tradition, which we can access in anthologies like Carmina Gadelica (collected in the late Victorian era), notices and emphasises the presence of God everywhere. (Even in that grateful Samaritan leper.) But a true Celtic Christian would not just say: Bless to me, O God, each thing my eye sees, each sound my ear hears, each scent my nose smells, each taste my mouth tastes and each sensation by body feels. This sort of blanket prayer is still too vague. So as I walk to the kitchen, I give thanks for my slippers that keep my feet from the cold floor, I give thanks for clean water that comes from the tap, I give thanks for electricity and those who provide it, I give thanks for the coffee … I wish I had time to immerse myself in constant thankfulness. But I’m going to settle for saying genuine words of gratitude to those around me and, of course, to God.

Thanksgiving is embedded in our worship and especially when we meet to celebrate the Lord’s Supper but we need to be thankful every day, not just on Sundays. As an old familiar grace says: may the Lord make us truly thankful.

Sing with me: Let thanks break out on earth and let it begin with me…. (apologies to Jill Jackson and Sy Miller…and thanks for their song!)

Elaine Kinchin