The Bible is filled with thoughts on gratitude. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul tells the community, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Notice it doesn’t say to give thanks only when things are going well, but in all circumstances. Paul tells the church in Philippi, “Pray with gratitude and the peace of Christ will guard your heart and mind.” This is because we are not just talking about the polite thank you when someone holds the door for us or passes the meatloaf at dinner. No, we’re talking about a deep spiritual posture that can change our minds, change the way we see things, change our relationships, and heal ourselves. It is a way of seeing God, seeing ourselves and seeing the world around us. It stems from the perspective that everything is a gift. Having a chapel on campus here is a gift. Being able to walk over here is a gift. Your ability to see me and hear me is a gift. Or at least I hope it’s a gift, lol. Your ability to experience sacred music is a gift. Everything is a gift and once we really embrace that, it changes the lens through which we see our life, away from a lens of scarcity and instead through a lens of abundance.

Gratitude is about returning and remembering. In Luke 17 we hear the story of Jesus healing ten lepers. These were people excluded from society, sent outside the gates to fend for themselves because people feared what they might bring to the rest of them. Jesus heals the lepers, but only one returns to Jesus, falling to his feet, profoundly grateful. How often do we return to God, grateful for everything we have. Do we return to the moment of our vulnerability thanking God for restoring us in our brokenness and filling our emptiness with love. We have also been the one to which someone remembered and returned to give thanks in appreciation for some small blessing that we bestowed on them. How did that make you feel? Did it not fill your soul, soften your heart and filled you with the desire to let God’s love flow through you again, and again.

Gratitude is meant for all circumstances. It is only too easy to lose our appreciation for God’s gifts when we are behind these walls, away from family, with so very little. Yet doesn’t Jesus bless the poor, the meek, the mourning and the persecuted in the Beatitudes. Jesus teaches us that gratitude can flourish even amid suffering. Gratitude is not limited to just when things are going well. Even pain can provide a pathway to growth, hope, and deeper trust because God is present, even in our pain. In fact, most often we connect with God in the most profound and sacred way when we are suffering moments of despair. It wasn’t until he was in the belly of the whale that Jonah transformed into the man God intended him to be. You often need to strip away your power, prestige, and possessions to be open and receptive to the path Jesus taught. It is those moments that we can revert back to child-like faith, a faith that totally trusts in God. It is why Jesus taught that we must become like children to enter the Kingdom of God. We can be eternally grateful for the transformation that is available to us under such trying circumstances. It is at these times that we often capture an expansionary moment, a moment of insight that leads us ultimately to a brighter future. Maybe for the first time, sitting in darkness, you begin to capture God’s light, allowing it to permeate through you in your vulnerability, finally allowing you a peace and calmness that was never present. This is why Paul was able to give thanks in all circumstances, and he endured some doozies, being beaten and jailed multiple times and even shipwrecked. It is in these circumstances of desperation that you can finally die to selfishness and disconnection with God and be born again in spirit, connected to God and connected to each other in the way God intended. It is often during these trying times that you finally allow God to pilot the plane that is your life. In this metaphor, we are almost always the ones that want to fly the plane. Typically, we want God to be there as a copilot, but we want to do the steering. It is when we hit rock bottom that we are finally able to hand over the pilot’s seat to God, allowing God to lead our life, allowing God to lead us into living a more selfless, compassionate life.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me.” Sound familiar. King David in writing this psalm knew the restorative power of God in all circumstances and gave thanks for God’s continued presence. You may think of David as a king with power and prestige but long before that he was persecuted by King Saul and experienced many dark moments of despair. Yet, in those moments he fully trusted God and lived in gratitude which shaped him into the man he needed to become to lead the Israelites.

Diana Butler Bass takes this even further stating that gratitude is strongest when things get really hard. When she hits a moment of personal crisis, she begins saying thank you throughout the day:

“Thank you that I’m alive.”

“Thank you for this food.”

“Thank you for this sunlight.”

“Thank you for this work.”

She points out that gratitude doesn’t act as a shield against injustice, but it refuses to let despair have the final word.

Gratitude is critical for your community here to flourish. How much time do you spend trying to correct one another and fix one another. This doesn’t happen when we are truly grateful. When we truly are grateful for God’s grace, God’s unconditional love and forgiveness, when we aren’t just giving it lip service but truly embrace it, then shaped by that grace we stop accusing others and start receiving one another generously, with all our faults.

If gratitude is so powerful, then why is it so difficult. Richard Rohr reminds us that neuroscience teaches us that the negative, like Velcro, sticks in our minds while positive slides away like Teflon. We hold onto fear, resentment, criticism and threat. Yet if you choose a positive thought and hold that thought for even 15 seconds, it can start to rewire your brain. You just have to be intentional about it. Create a daily reflection where you start or end your day listing all that you are thankful for, big or small. Say thank you ten times a day for something small, for something ordinary, for something you usually overlook. Practice expressing thankfulness to others telling them how much you appreciate them. Incorporate thankfulness in your prayers recognizing that life itself is a gift, given daily, freely and abundantly. Keep a gratitude journal writing down your blessings. Gratitude will transform you. It will shift your focus from what is lacking to what you have. It will turn your perspective from despair to hope, from scarcity to abundance.

So where does this leave us? Perhaps with Jesus’ invitation to return, remember, and receive. Return like the leper who realized his healing was not complete until he returned to Jesus. Remember the moments that God met you at your point of greatest need. And finally receive the daily gifts of life, not because you earned them, but because God delights in giving them. Gratitude will not remove your pain but will keep your heart alive within it. It will protect your mind with peace and ground you in community, rewiring your mind toward love and awaken you to God’s presence. But remember, gratitude is not a passive act; it is a choice. It is a daily, hourly decision to see life’s gifts, big and small, and to find great joy in them, no matter your circumstances. Let us now choose to live lives reflecting gratitude, for our benefit and the benefit of those living with us in this community.

Amen