Thankfulness as an Attitude

THANKSGIVING (AMERICAN NATIONAL HOLIDAY), NOV. 26, 2020 | A Sermon based on Luke: 11-19 (RCL) | by David Zersen |

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

THANKFULNESS AS AN ATTITUDE

The field of psychology has attempted for decades to identify a “gratitude center” in the brain. Putting it simply, some opine that there may be some tissue up there whose job it is to produce thankfulness. In the long run, others believe that thankfulness helps people survive by initiating friendships and alliances. You may not be able to find this gratitude center, but it’s very good at getting you to notice and respond to unexpected favors. That, in any case, is a theory proposed by Michael McCullough, a psychologist at the University of Miami, to explain the marvelous tradition we are celebrating today.[1]

Many of us will not feel much helped with such an explanation. I would not have been, for example, when I, many years ago, took my children out to collect gifts of candy on Halloween. They were probably only three or four, but I thought it important to teach thankfulness by reminding that after each donation was put in their bag, they should say “thank you.” It never worked! They were probably so overwhelmed by the strange experience of going door to door that they said nothing. Again and again, I reminded, “remember to say thank you.”

Apparently Jesus himself was surprised by the failure of men who were gifted with healing in today’s text to say “thank you.” Only one returned to express his gratitude—and he was a definite outsider: a Samaritan, a type who was not expected to have any sophistication. But maybe he had a “gratitude center”! (grins)

All of us are troubled by a lack of thankfulness, especially in mature adults who, we like to think, should know better. If we’ve invited people to dinner and they never send a thank-you card or invite us back, we think they are rude. If you go out of your way to send a meal to a grieving family or someone who just returned from the hospital and never get a “thank-you”, we wonder about their breeding. If you go on a date with someone and you think you had a great time, but

no response comes from the other party, you think that at the very least they could have said, “THANKS, but never again!!”

To write off negative experiences about thankfulness to failed evolutionary wiring in the brain or week gratitude centers may not be very helpful. As Christians we are encouraged to believe that gratitude is, first of all, a learned trait in response to God’s favor toward us. Secondly, it’s a trait we pass on as we embrace others in love. Always, however, it’s personal. It doesn’t just happen automatically. It results from appreciating that we have been loved to the degree that we now live with an attitude of gratitude.

Living with a thankful heart

Occasionally we hear stories about people who were so moved by a personal experience with God’s grace that they couldn’t help but live with an attitude of gratitude… The most powerful story I ever heard in that respect is about the Lutheran pastor, Martin Rinkart. He served in Eilenburg, a town in Germany during the Thirty Year War. His walled city was being inundated by refugees who swarmed to the city to seek protection from the battles raging all around. The conditions in Eilenburg were intolerable in that food and lodging were no longer available. And the garbage and sewage in the streets encouraged rats to overtake the city. In those days, as with today, people did not know how properly to contain the disease that began to spread. Only today do we know that they were encountering the Black Death, a plague carried by fleas on rats that wiped 1/3 of Europe.

In 1637, 8000 people died in Eilenburg, including all the pastors. Pastor Rinkart was the only pastor who survived, and he buried 4000 people along with his wife and some of his children!

Tears come to my eyes as I remember this story, knowing that one night when he came home from the burials, he wrote the hymn we know sing at Thanksgiving, “Now Thank we all our God.”  Why don’t we erect a statue to this man on Thanksgiving Day?

How do we live with a thankful heart? How do we in the midst of daily challenges, unexplained behavior from others, thoughtless people we had considered friends, maintain an attitude of gratitude? Is it only possible for some who have more mature “gratitude centers” in their brains than others? Is it only possible for some who have had their brains hardwired by natural selection to appreciate unexpected favors?

I suspect that the man in our text who returned to thank Jesus for his healing went about life from then on knowing that he had been graced, that he had been allowed undeserved merit and love. I would like to believe that because I know that this is what grace can do! The trust that the God above and in all creation has embraced me, forgiven even me, humbles me greatly. The belief that in Jesus’ death and resurrection my shortcomings and gross sins have been forgiven makes me want to love with a grateful heart. The certainty that so many need the very acceptance and love that I appreciate encourages me this day, this Thanksgiving day, and every day, to celebrate with gratitude the love that wants to form the center of my world and the center of the universe.

Practices for living thankfully

Because we regularly fall short of the opportunity to express the love at work within us, we, like the healed leper and the Halloween children, need practices to help us keep thankfulness on the front page of our daily life. What practices would be helpful for you?

Years ago I leaned that I had in my possession a wicker basket that had been my great-grandparent’s luggage when they came to this country from Pomerania. It was all they had to start a new life in Wisconsin. For some years we used it as a coffee table in our living room. Somewhat out of place in a room with more appropriate furniture, it was to me always a symbol of the blessings in my own life that my great-grandparents could only dream of.

What are the artifacts, the symbols, the picture, the trinkets, the people who regularly remind you to practice an attitude of gratitude, not just on Thanksgiving, but each day of your life?

Is it a picture once drawn by a young grandchild? A toy once played with by your children? A souvenir from a trip you took when your spouse was still alive? A thank-you note you received from a friend when you were depressed? A picture of your family when you were all together on a happy occasion? The last photo taken of a loved one who meant a great deal to you?

One practice suggested by a counselor to encourage daily thanksgiving involves five initiatives:

• Mental subtraction: imagine your life without some important advantages
• Gratitude intervention: focus on something you appreciate to reduce depression
• Gratitude activity: choose a practice that encourages better self-care
• Gratitude expression: actually write a note or call a friend just to say you care
• Model gratitude: let your family members hear you saying thanks to them[2]

The stores, even though they’re not as jammed this year as they might usually be during Thanksgiving Week and Black Friday, point us in the direction of decorations, turkey and cranberries, sales on clothes or gift items. All of us know, however, that these are not the important things for us at this time of year. In the midst of a pandemic, some of us have lost loved ones, some are facing financial uncertainty and some are challenged with work and school schedules for family members. However, all of us are encouraged by our trust in God’s love for us to find some way to identify our thankfulness today and every day. Along with Pastor Martin Rinkart who lost everything but his faith, we have much for which to be grateful.

Much… including the prospect of a grateful heart!

Hymn: “Now Thank we all our God”

David Zersen, President Emeritus

Concordia University Texas

djzersen@gmail.com

[1] Emma Green, “Gratitude Without God. The Atlantic, Nov. 26, 2014.

[2]  “Gratitude”, Psychology Today Online.