THANKGIVINGS
2021
In Greek, Grace and thanks are the same word so that grace and thanks belong together. Paul chose the word grace as the translation for the Hebrew word Hesed—the steadfast and undying love of God. Hesed is the height of Old Testament theology.
But to translate Hesed into Greek Paul chose the common word, grace. Grace meant receiving a good gift from someone. Paul elevated the meaning of the common word grace to mean the love of God for me, the favor of God for me, the gift of the heart of God to me.
John picked up on Paul’s use of grace and in John 1:16 said that from the fulness of His grace all have received one good gift after another. James 1:17, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
With that being said, thanks on the common level is the giving back a gift for a gift received. When thanks is elevated, along with its counterpart, grace, it means love given to God for love received, favor given to God for favor received, the gift of my heart to God for the heart of God given me.
Sages and philosophers have long praised the virtues of giving thanks. Marcus Aurelius, Rome emperor “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” Meister Eckhart “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice. Cicero “Thanks is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.
Thanks is acknowledging the debt of love, and this is never easy. The debt of love can never be repaid, friends always owe each other. Friendship is about being thankful
for love received.
Sometimes Japanese friends give gifts by saying, ‘I’m sorry.’ Meaning, Ί am fully aware of my debt to you. I can never repay it.’ Christianity is thanks given for grace received. Thanks is our appreciation that all that we are and all that we have. Thanks knows that God has been good to us.
Ebenezer Scrooge is transformed through viewing his past, present, and future existence with the help of his three ghosts. It is no accident that his first name means “the stone of help,” for it is the vision of a headstone grave marker with his name on it that finally converts him. He awakens for the first time thankful for being still alive.
The Biblical words for not being thankful is grumbling, complaining, murmuring. Paul says that grumbling is the mindset of life without God. You can be lured away from God by grumbling quicker than anything else. God takes grumbling seriously.
If we take Meister Eckhart seriously then giving thanks is the most important thing we can do. “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.” Maybe, if the only words we ever say are thank you to God, that will be enough. Because thank you is grace given for grace received, love given for love received. So, this day we sit aside to give thanks to God, let’s not fail to really say, thanks you as an individual and as a family.
