“…give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
~1 Thessalonians 5:18
Throughout this article is only a sampling of the easy-to-find and call-to-mind verses about Gratitude. Gratitude is a powerful and frequently overlooked Spiritual Practice. That’s right. Gratitude is a spiritual Practice. We, in these clever modern times, often mistakenly default to acting as though gratitude is an emotion from which we respond, rather than an Act of Worship that we choose.
“…giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”
~Ephesians 5:20
Worship is more than just that organized activity we engage in on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. Worship is any time we choose to turn our thoughts to Jesus and offer up words and actions designed to communicate what we think of Him. In our communal, structured, worship, we sing hymns and respond verbally to one another and to God using words that either are inspired by Holy Scripture or are directly quoted words of Scripture.
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
~Romans 5:3-5
We stand at times to indicate respect for certain moments, such as hymns sung to God or words about his saving actions in our lives (Gospel reading & Holy Communion for example). We have the opportunity to trace the sign of the cross when God is mentioned as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. On and on, we do and say things to indicate what we think of God and to rehearse for one another, God’s saving actions through Jesus, His Son, our Lord. We need this public form of worship. We need to see and hear one another reciting and praying and singing as the Body of Christ, the Church.
By this description though, we can also worship at other times. When at home with family and friends. When alone in private devotion. All these situations are legitimate and helpful for a spiritually maturing Christian to embrace. So too, is the act, the Practice, of Gratitude
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
~James 1:2-4
Gratitude is a verb, then a noun. In other words, gratitude is first a choice, an act, and then a feeling. Gratitude is a posture of worship (at least for a Christian anyway). The spiritual practice of gratitude can shape our thoughts and drive our feelings. The spiritual practice of gratitude can help form our minds to resemble the mind of Christ.
Gratitude as a practice can even heal.
Just like someone who trains with weights eventually starts to reshape his or her body, so the spiritual practice of gratitude reshapes our hearts and minds into the way of Christ. But, a practice, must be, well, practiced. I joined a gym several months ago as part of my recovery from leg surgery. I can study strength training and watch videos educating me about strength training. I can even hire someone to show me how to strength train (which I did). But if I never actually trained. If I never went to the gym and started picking up heavy weights, nothing would happen. The Christian faith is a practice every bit as much as it is a belief system.
“And 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
On November 12 at our 10:00 a.m. service, we will get to focus on the practice of gratitude.
It can sound a bit trite, but ‘counting your blessings’ is part of the practice of gratitude. Choosing to name, out loud, what we are grateful for, re-tunes our hearts for the things of God and away from the things of the world and the Devil.
We all know of negative people in our lives. Negative Nellies and Sour Nelsons are not made overnight. It takes a lot of practice. It takes an anti-Christian habit of seeing the problem in every solution to get this way. It takes being surrounded by others who fail to see how vital gratitude is to normal Christian living, to allow people to become this way. Reversing that trend in someone starts by adopting new practices. Confession and repentance for starters, but then practicing gratitude, rather than doom-storming at every opportunity. We too, as a Church, can help people learn to practice gratitude as the Bible teaches us to do.
This is the heart of discipleship. The intentional practice of training ourselves to do what Scripture defines as normal. Paul’s teaching on gratitude is pervasive through his writing. We are not asked to give thanks because of difficulties, but rather in spite of them. We are invited to be grateful because of who Jesus is and who we are because of him. And yes, even the tough moments and seasons of life can, and should, be punctuated by the practice of Gratitude.
We will get a bit of warm up for gratitude this Sunday. November 5th, we will have the honor of remembering those Christians who have gone on before us (All Saints Day). Those who had a positive impact on our lives are people for whom gratitude is the only response. We will give thanks to God for who they are and what the did in our lives. We will have the opportunity to bring crosses up to the altar as an act, a practice of worship.
On November 12th, we will have a special service of Gratitude. The whole service will be centered around several aspects of our opportunity in the new facility to serve the mission field of the greater St. Louis area. We will confess our sins. We will name how we are grateful to God and have the opportunity to share how we are grateful for all that God has done for us and has yet to do. This Fall marks a new opportunity for us. I pray that you all fully embrace this spiritual practice of gratitude.
Pastor Mark
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