Church of the Holy City

The Many Voices of Gratitude

The Many Voices of Gratitude
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
October 12, 2014
Thanksgiving Day

Leviticus 23:33-43 Matthew 6:25-33 Psalm 107

Thanksgiving is almost my favorite holiday. What I like about it is the official recognition of thankfulness and gratitude. Gratitude is a core response to God’s salvation. We are saved by God’s unceasing efforts to bring us to Him. He lifts us out of our cravings for selfish satisfaction and brings us into a love for others and into the happiness of heaven. For all that I am eternally grateful.
God wants to bring us to Himself in order to give us the ineffable happiness of heaven. The joys of heaven so transcend the joys of this world that there are no words to describe them. This the Lord wants for every human being,
it is the constant effort of the Lord’s divine providence to unite us with himself and himself with us and thereby to make us his images. It also follows that the Lord is doing this so that he may give us the bliss of eternal life, since this is the nature of divine love (DP 123).
God wants us to experience these joys because that is the nature of love. Think of someone you love–maybe a child of yours or your partner. Aren’t you happy when they are happy? Don’t you seek to render them happy by any means at your disposal? Don’t you wish to be in their company–united in a reciprocal relationship? This is pre-eminently the case with God, who is all love, and is the source of our own very love,
The Lord, from the Divine love or mercy, wills to have all near to Himself; so that they do not stand at the doors, that is, in the first heaven; but He wills that they should be in the third; and, if it were possible, not only with Himself, but in Himself. Such is the Divine love, or the Lord‘s love (AC 1799).
God works unceasingly to bring about this happiness in us. God works unceasingly to lift us out of our self-destructive and unsatisfying pleasures and into truly gratifying and satisfying delights. If we open the door to God, this will happen to us. Swedenborg tells us that there is a spiritual current lifting us all upward toward heaven, like the tides or a powerful river,
There is actually a sphere elevating all to heaven, that proceeds continually from the Lord and fills the whole natural world and the whole spiritual world; it is like a strong current in the ocean, which draws the ship in a hidden way. All those who believe in the Lord and live according to His precepts, enter that sphere or current and are lifted (TCR 652).
This all is a gift from God. It is not because we work to earn it. It is not because we deserve it. It is a freely given gift from God. For that I am grateful and I give thanks.
But there are also things in this natural world that I have a heart of gratitude for. These too, I thank God for. Sometimes it is helpful to stop and consider just what we have. When times are hard for us it is helpful to make a list of the good things we have. If we do this simple exercise, we will see that we have enough. We may even find that our cup runs over.
I start with the basics. I have a roof over my head. I have enough food. I have reliable transportation. I have a job. I have pleasant entertainment like my musical projects. I have a YMCA membership that gives me healthy exercise. I have books to expand my knowledge with. I have friends. I have Carol in my life and her love. I have clothes to wear. I have the Canadian Health program for when I am ill. I have a lot to be grateful for. All these material goods are gifts from God. And I know that He gives me what I need.
A while back I gave a talk at an AA meeting. This was a meeting that had some tragically unfortunate people in it. I realized that some of the things I just listed these unfortunates did not have. When they asked us to talk about gratitude, I had to get even more basic than the list I just made. So I thought about what things I had to be grateful for on a more basic and profound level. I am grateful that I’m alive. I am grateful for health. I am grateful for my sobriety. I am grateful that the sun rises each day. I am grateful for the beauty of nature. I am grateful that there is a God who cares about me and who loves me.
You know, with all these things to be grateful for, why would I ever feel that I want for anything? Clearly I have more than enough.
The origins of our Thanksgiving Day are religious. It goes way back to one of the oldest parts of the Old Testament. It goes back to the Festival of Booths, or as it is called in Hebrew, Sukkoth. This festival is still in practice. It is essentially a harvest festival. It was one of the most joyous festivals in the Hebrew Calendar. God tells the Israelites,
And you shall take on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days (Leviticus 23:40).
There were to be offerings of various kinds brought to the temple each day of the seven-day festival. There was music and feasting. In general it was a celebration of God’s bounty in giving the harvest to the Israelites.
We live in a society of supermarkets, and food is always available to us. It may be difficult for us to imagine what it was like for a society to depend on the season’s harvest. But the very survival of the Israelites depended on a bountiful harvest, as is the case with other ancient cultures. In the Old Testament there are records of seasons of drought, and the devastating consequences that drought had for society. There were no supermarkets with shelves full of every imaginable produce and meat that the Israelites could go to if the crops failed. In fact, the Israelites considered a bountiful harvest to be one sign that their society was in right relation with God. Bountiful harvests were part of that grand Hebrew term, “Shalom”. Peace is only one meaning of that word. Rest from war, and bountiful harvest was also part of the peace of God when in right relation with Him.
And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God. 3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your beasts, the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock. 5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading-trough. . . . 11 And the LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, within the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The LORD will open to you his good treasury the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow (Deuteronomy 28:2-5, 11-12).
All these blessings–blessings of fertility–follow upon being in right relation with God: “If you obey the voice of the LORD your God.”
This Thanksgiving, as you prepare to eat your feast, as cultures have done since agriculture was developed, remember that the food you are about to eat is a gift from God. Although you may have bought it at a supermarket, it was God who grew the crops and turkeys. I ask you to remember all the many small things your life is blessed with–things that are gifts from God. And I ask you to remember that you are loved by God, who labors continually to give you happiness and joy that last forever.

PRAYER

Lord, we give you thanks this Thanksgiving morning for the countless blessings you shower upon us. You fill our lives with good things which are so many we can’t begin to name them all. We thank you especially for your unceasing work for our salvation. You constantly lift us up out of our selfhood and give us new life as if our own. Yet it is your own good and truth that forms this new self. And with the grafting of your good and truth in us, we are filled with the joys of heaven that are lasting and eternal. We thank you, too, for the good things of this world. We thank you for our material goods–food, shelter, friends, family, and loved ones. These, too, are gifts from you. For this and all the good things in our lives, we thank you Lord God Almighty.

And Lord, we pray for the sick. May they experience the power of your healing love. Fill them with the grace of your healing power. Comfort their family and friends. We pray for the grace of your healing power for all who are ailing in body or soul.