The American ‘Thanksgiving’ is a holiday Judy and I have especially come to appreciate, for it resonates with the theme of thankfulness that we find in the Bible. Indeed, as our first Thanksgiving followed the events of 9/11, it was a particularly meaningful day for us.
While much has been written in recent times about the psychological and relational benefits that spring from thanksgiving and gratitude, philosophers of the ancient world also saw the importance of being thankful. The Roman philosopher, Cicero, wrote: Being and appearing grateful is not only the greatest of virtues, but also the parent of all others.
THANKSGIVING
It has a rich meaning within Christianity. So, Paul writing in his Letter to the Colossians says, Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3:17).
But having a thankful heart does not come naturally to us. For as Paul pointedly states in Romans 1:19-23:
Ever since the creation of the world his (God’s) eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him.
All of us have within us this bias against God: we don’t want to thank him or honor him in our lives. This is the essence of what the Bible refers to as sin – ingratitude. Created in the image of God, we are the glory of God; but having turned our back on him, we are now the shame of his creation. We see evidence of this wherever human beings are dehumanized by political oppression or violence, by poverty, hunger or injustice.
In our secularized society most people tend not to have a mind of their own, being seduced by pop-culture and political correctness, the loudest voices and the latest trends. Choosing to live without God, we are held in captivity to self.
The wonderful news is, as Paul develops in his Letters, that God in Jesus Christ has come in person to rescue us and to restore us to God as his unique image-bearers. In Ephesians 1:19f, Paul says that in raising and exalting Jesus, God demonstrated the immeasurable greatness of his power. Then, in Ephesians 2:6f, he tells us that, in raising and exalting us to new life, God has displayed the immeasurable riches of his grace in Jesus Christ.
Here is the root of Christian thanksgiving – a heartfelt gratitude for God’s extraordinary grace. Thanksgiving, by its very nature does not have its origin within us, it is a spontaneous, joyful response that imposes itself upon us from outside us. It is our heartfelt response to the awesome God who in his love claims us. As Karl Barth put it: Grace evokes gratitude like the voice of an echo. Gratitude follows grace like thunder lightning.
A GENERAL ANGLICAN THANKSGIVING COLLECT
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give humble and hearty thanks for all your goodness and loving kindness to us and to all people. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life. But above all for your amazing love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
And we pray, give us that due sense of all your mercies, that our hearts may be truly thankful and that we may declare your praise not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving ourselves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be all honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen. (AAPB, 1978)
Forgive us our trespasses…(Matthew 6:12). How necessary this is! Daily, even hourly, we need to come to God with a deep repentance for those thoughts, words and actions that dishonour his name. Like Isaiah (in chapter 6), we feel our unworthiness before his utter purity.
‘Woe is me,’ is our heart-felt cry – so well expressed in the general confession in the Book of Common Prayer:
Almighty and most merciful Father, we have strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have left undone what we ought to have done, and we have done what we ought not to have done. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have broken your holy laws. ..
What does God offer? He offers full and free pardon when we humbly turn to Jesus Christ. God took into himself the pain we caused when Christ died on the cross.
The Lord’s Prayer does not stop with the petition for our forgiveness, for Jesus continues, …as we forgive those who trespass against us. There is a real sting here, for he is saying that if we expect God to forgive us, we need to hold out forgiveness to those who have hurt us.
And in case we miss this point in the prayer notice what Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 6:14: ‘For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses.’
These words are sobering!Think of it: if we expect to receive God’s gracious pardon, we need to cease nursing grievances towards others. God cannot, and will not, pardon the unrepentant heart. Paul echoes this theme in Colossians 3:13: “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgives you.”
On Sunday, July 25, 1993, a year before Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa, a man with an AK-47 and another with grenades embedded with nails, entered evening worship at St James’ Anglican Church, Cape Town. Eleven people were killed in church that night and fifty-eight wounded. When TV reporters turned their cameras on the man whose wife had been the first to die, they asked, ‘What is your response?’ Looking squarely into the cameras, he said that he forgave the attackers. Throughout the church the response was the same.
The world was stunned. Some cynically responded that if there is a God, he would have protected his people. But countless others, in Cape Town and around the world started asking questions. Bishop Frank Retief recalls that a thousand people turned up at church the following Sunday night. Many over the coming months came to know Jesus Christ. It all began with the spirit of forgiveness that church members held out to their attackers.
Pause, and consider those whom you feel have wronged you – those whom you resent. ‘Pray about your attitude,’ says Paul in Colossians 3:13f. Can you forgive them? Remember Jesus’ words: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…
Yet, good Lord, have mercy on us; restore those who are penitent, according to your promises declared to mankind in Jesus Christ our Lord. Grant, merciful Father, for his sake, that we may live a godly and obedient life, to the glory of your holy name. Amen. (BCP)
Give us this day our daily bread. With this petition in the Lord’s Prayer we see that God is fully aware of our daily need for physical food to sustain our bodies. Jesus reminds us that we are ultimately dependent on God for this ongoing provision. Psalm 104 speaks of the whole of the animate creation looking to God for food in due season (104:27). Jesus echoes this theme, when he later says that God, our Father, knows our physical needs (Luke 12:30). (1)
As a side-note, this is the reason God’s people have made a practice of saying ‘thank you’ to God before a meal. It is something we can do even when we invite for a meal people who may not be believers. A simple comment that this is our practice often opens provides an opportunity for conversation about the gospel.
To pray for daily bread is also asking for spiritual foodfor our soul. All of us need the ongoing sustenance of God’s Word in our lives. Without it, our relationship with God dries up and we follow our own devices and desires (as the confession in the Book of Common Prayer puts it).
Prayer. All this brings us to a question about prayer: ‘Can God, whom we call Father, be trusted to hear our prayers?’ Jesus, anticipating this, responded with a parable known as ‘The Friend at Midnight’ (Luke 11:5-8).
The parable captures village life in Jesus’ world where hospitality was an unwritten law. It compelled a man to get out of bed, no matter the hour, to assist a neighbor in need. If he did not provide aid, he would be shamed, bringing dishonor to the whole community. ‘Can you imagine,’ Jesus was asking, ‘anyone saying to a neighbor in need, even at midnight, ‘Don’t disturb me, get lost’? His listeners’ unspoken answer would have been, “No!”
The honor of God’s name. Another key to understanding this parable is found in the words usually translated, “his persistence” (11:8). In using these words, English translations are following one that dates back to the twelfth century. Recent commentators have pointed out the original word is better translated, sense of shame, for the word has the idea of avoidance of shame. If we follow the flow of the personal pronouns, his, in the parable, we see that the focus of the parable is not on the man knocking at the door, but the sleeper in bed.
This is not a parable about persistence. Rather it is a parable about God and the honor of his name. It takes up the words in the Lord’s Prayer, “Hallowed be Thy name” (Luke 11:2). Jesus is telling us that because of his very nature, God does listen to our prayers, no matter how great or small, no matter the time of day or night.
If God ignored our prayers, his name would be shamed. It is a matter of his honor and integrity that he hears and answers them. He will no more ignore the prayers of his people than a good mother will ignore her crying baby.
God, ‘The Friend at Midnight’ can be trusted to hear and answer our prayer for our daily bread.
When we begin a prayer relationship with God we open the door to untold blessings. This is why Jesus confidently taught: “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened for you” (Luke 11:9-10). As James put it, often we do not receive because we do not ask (James 4:2).
Now we may ask, ‘Can I trust God to give me good things, or is he fickle?’ Jesus, anticipating our question, assures us that God not only listens, but also has our best interests at heart. In Luke 11:11-12 we read two metaphors that we can paraphrase: ‘The most violent thief can be kind to his son and the most mercenary minded father can be generous to his daughter; do you think God is any less open-handed?’
Jesus addressed our concern about God’s goodness by illustrating the way good parents behave towards their children. Good parents do not give their children what is not good for them despite the child’s demands.
In Luke 11 we learn that we can trust God to be good and wise in the way he responds to our prayers. He is neither capricious nor malicious. He will not spoil us with over-indulgence. Loving parents use wisdom in giving good gifts to their children. How much more does God use his discretion in answering our prayers. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed in agony that he would be spared the cup of suffering. Yet he prayed, ‘Not my will, but your will be done’.
None of us is wise enough or good enough to know what to ask for. And, let’s be honest, none of us is good enough to get everything we ask for. The encouraging truth is that our good, wise and loving heavenly Father knows what we need. He may not give us everything we want. He may delay making any response. He may even want to test the seriousness of our prayer – whether we will persist or simply give up. He may also want to test the quality of our relationship with him. Prayer is a precious privilege.
God is a father who loves to give. “How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” Jesus concluded (11:13). Why did he raise the subject of the Holy Spirit here? In the sweep of Luke’s narrative, we see Jesus was anticipating the great gift of his Spirit following his resurrection and ascension. His Spirit would open our minds to hear God’s voice through his Word; his Spirit would open our hearts to God and enable us to call him ‘Father’; his Spirit would open our lives to God and empower us to trust him and to follow him.
Subscribe
STAY CONNECTED
Join our mailing list to receive the latest teaching, news, and updates from The Anglican Connection.
You have subscribed successfully to The Anglican Connection mailing list. Look for the Word on Wednesday in your inbox!
