Thank God

This has been a difficult fall. Worse than many who are now living have ever known. Hardship often provokes people to soul searching and to the exercise of counting their blessings. This is one of the good things that can come of bad times.

In this time of individual and national soul searching, God’s name has been much in the news. I suppose it is good for God to get publicity, but many of those who speak of God’s will or God’s blessings seem to do so with little expertise or, I suspect, much past experience. Many seek to bring God into the conversation having never known God in their lives. I certainly pray that one effect of these trying times will be that some who have never really known God will discover that God has always known them and will find their hearts and souls and lives spiritually renewed.

In such a time we, who are earnest and serious about God’s presence in the world, can play an important role. We can guide and lead those for whom God is a new word in their vocabulary, but not yet a real presence in their lives.

This whole idea of thanksgiving is a good place to start. We all are gathered here, in church, this evening presumably because we think God and Thanksgiving go together. That’s not as obvious an assumption as it might first appear. Remember, the Thanksgiving holiday really commemorates a historical event in our nation’s history. We typically do not celebrate Columbus Day in church, despite the fact that it certainly marks a crucial event in our past history. But we are here in church because we think God is a part of Thanksgiving.

One of the ways God has appeared a great deal lately in the news and in conversation is in sentences that begin, "Thank God…"

"Thank God so-and-so’s daughter was at the dentist the morning of September 11, rather than at her desk in the Trade Towers."

"Thank God more people were not killed."

"Thank God we live in rural Maine."

"Thank God for America."

Later in this service, we will say the Litany of Thanksgiving from the Book of Common Prayer. It mentions none of these things as we give thanks to God. They are not omitted because they are inherently bad. And, although the litany was obviously not written with any particularly event or emergency in mind, that is not why these sorts of items are omitted either. They are omitted because they are not really the sorts of things we should be thanking God for.

So often when we begin sentences, "Thank God…", what we really mean is "Boy, I’m glad I lucked out on this one". God and good luck are not interchangeable. For one thing, God does not play favorites as luck does. We who are serious about God do well to try to keep God and luck separate.

Let us take the time and effort this Thanksgiving to thank God for the gifts and blessings that God actually gives us.

Let us thank God for the strength and courage to endure even in unbearable times. Let us thank God for the courage and perseverance of those people who did not feel themselves lucky to have escaped harm, but who risked great harm to save and help others.

Let us thank God, not because we are lucky to be born in America, but let us thank God for the wisdom and vision and sense of justice that enable human beings to be good citizens and work to build good countries wherever they happen to be born.

Let us thank God, not for the luck that granted life to those who escaped, but let us thank God for the eternal life offered to those who did not have the luck to escape.

We take the name of the Lord in vain whenever we "thank God" for things that have nothing to do with God. That’s a violation of the Third Commandment. But we do it all the time, even without the grave context of national emergency. "Thank God I sold that stock before the market fell. Thank God I remembered to bring my umbrella today. Thank God I saw that police car in time to slow down. Thank God the Bangor Rams won in spite of everything." When we thank God for our good fortune, our good luck, our own individual bursts of memory or skill, we take the name of the Lord our God in vain—   and we lead astray those who perhaps are just beginning to seek God’s presence in the world.

But most importantly, when we thank God for things that have nothing to do with God we deprive ourselves of the awareness, the recognition, of the richer, deeper, infinitely more valuable gifts that God does in fact bestow upon us. So listen, reflect, and give thanks in just a moment as we say together the Litany of Thanksgiving.

…for the beauty and wonder of God’s creation
…for all that is gracious in the lives of men and women
…for minds to think, and hearts to love, and hands to serve
…for the brave and courageous, who are patient in suffering and faithful in adversity
…for all valiant seekers after truth, liberty, and justice
…and, above all, for the great mercies and promises given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This Thanksgiving Day, and every day, let us indeed give thanks for God’s gifts so freely bestowed upon us.

Comments are welcome.  Send to krisorr@att.net

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