James 24:7

As you may know we are experiencing a drought in Georgia, USA.  Although we've had a good rain on this Thanksgiving morning, we are far behind what is needed to fill our reservoirs.

Indications are that within a few months the Atlanta area will be in a real water emergency if something drastic doesn't occur. Our governor, Sonny Perdue, has taken it on the chin from critics for leading "pray for rain" sessions on the steps of the state capital building.

To say that things are getting  desperate would be an understatement.

As a result of the drought many of us are thinking more about water conservation.  To this point, we have been so blessed with water that most of us took it for granted.   That was wrong and you can be sure that our sins are finding us out.

For the past couple of weeks I have been thinking more about the matter of gratitude and have been trying to remember to articulate my thanks as often as possible. 

A couple of days ago I wrote that giving thanks on a consistent basis helps us to realize that our lives and everything that comprises our lives is a gift given by the hand of God.   I see the offer of ongoing thanksgiving as a practice that opens our eyes to the gift and gifts of life.

I think in the past I have thought that the way to become more thankful was to grow in my understanding of this "life-as-gift" idea so that I can be thankful.  I am now beginning to see that it really is the other way around: we learn to see life and everything in our lives as gift when we undertake the practice of gratitude.

Continual thanksgiving helps us to remember that.  (After all, how often do we give thanks for the things we believe we have earned?)

This "gift" awareness that is growing from the practice of gratitude touched me in a small way yesterday.  I got into the shower and when I glanced up at the streaming shower head I saw that water as a gift and I immediately began to think about what a precious gift it is and how much I have to grow in my stewardship of it.

Later I was driving in my car thinking about that brief flash of insight when I began to say to myself: "Well, of course you see it as a gift NOW!  That's called 'supply and demand'.  Water is in short supply and that is why you see it as a gift."

I then thought: "No..that's why I see water a valuable.  However, I do not think of all things that are valuable as gifts.  Someone might work hard and believe that their home is a product of their hard labor.  They would see their home as valuable but they would not necessarily see their home as a gift."

I don't think you can think about water or anything else in this life as gift without simultaneously thinking that there is a Giver. 

The water flowing from my shower head?  Yes, I pay for it.  Yes, it is valuable and I am seeing its value grow everyday as the supply diminishes in this part of the world.

However, I see it primarily as a gift, a gift given by a loving God, a gift over which I am a steward.

Working on expressing gratitude is helping me see the world in a new light....the light of grace.

If we would become "gratitudians", that is, people whose lives are characterized by gratitude, we would do well to practice gratitude.

We become what we do.

Consider the words of Paul in Ephesians 5:20: "...be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."  (NRSV)

Focus on those italicized words.  Paul uses a participle, which denotes continuing action, underscores it with the word always, and underscores that with the phrases "at all times" and "for everything."

Do you think maybe Paul thought that giving thanks ought to be a constant practice among followers of Jesus?

I read that this way: Always keep on giving thanks all of the time for everything and in ever situation.

Paul doesn't seem to think there are occasions when we should not offer thanksgiving!

His call is for constant, consistent, ongoing, thanksgiving at all times and in every circumstance. 

Now does that mean that we must constantly walk around repeating the words, "Thank you, thank you, thank you?"  Well, that wouldn't be a bad practice would it? (It might get a little tedious, especially for those of us who are not multi-taskers!)   But maybe that's what it would take for us to develop the habit of thanksgiving as we journey toward becoming gratitudians.

I think the deeper point is to become someone whose life is marked by gratitude, whose very being exudes gratitude, whose every gesture and word is filled with grace.

Such a person is a constant offering of gratitude. 

Let me add one other thing here that goes beyond this text, something I just realized this week-end...More often than not, far more often (maybe even always!) Paul directs all thanksgiving to God.  

While a few examples may exist of Paul offering thanks to a person, his practice seems to be to thank God for the person and for their actions.  "I thank God for you.." is more often on the lips of Paul than a mere "Thank you..."

I had not noticed that before this week-end when I was flipping through my trusty Strong's Concordance and noticed time after time when Paul employed that kind of language.

I think that kind of 'thank you' is better than a straight to the face thank you. 

When we thank God for someone (and/or for what they have done) we rightly name them and their action as "gift."   They are not just accidentally in our lives and their presence and their action are not accidents either. 

They are signs of God's grace. 

In thanking God for others and their actions, we place ourselves, the other,  and their their action toward us all within the province of grace. 

We are thus living the moment in the domain of ultimate reality, that is, in the domain of the sacred.  The ordinary give and take of life becomes charged with the grandeur of God.

I thank God for you!  I thank God for your many kind words of encouragement.  I thank God for good and patient people who read what I write because I have little choice but to write (or speak!)  I thank God for you because without you I could not be me.

You see?  My simple act of writing and your simple act of reading is a gift- a sign of grace, a sign of the love and presence of God!

Now what if we saw everyone and everything with those eyes?

More tomorrow.

When I first became pastor at North River Community Church, I was invited to the home of Robin and John for dinner.  Robin was one of the sweetest, most loving people I have ever known.

She was also one of the funniest.

Robin was most funny when she was not trying to be funny.  She was one of those folks who was just offhandedly funny.

Several people were at Robin and John's that night.  Kelly and Lori were there and Robin started bragging on Lori's skills at showing hospitality.  After providing a litany of Lori's hospitality skills with examples of her skills in practice, Robin paused for a split second and said: "Why Lori is a real hospitalian!"

I thought that was a great word and a real compliment to Lori because it suggested that Lori was not only good at demonstrating acts of hospitality, Lori was someone whose character was marked by hospitality.

In Robin's eyes, "hospitality" was not just something that Lori did, "hospitality" was something that Lori was.

Sadly Robin passed away in September, 2006.  However, much of Robin has stayed with me including her word "hospitalian."

The word has stayed with me because it is such a neat way of describing what happens when someone has passed from just performing certain kinds of moral actions to becoming a person whose very being is marked by those actions.  

For me, the word "hospitalian" opens up a world of possibilities as we think about what it takes to become a whole person and uncovering the meaning of a "well-lived life." 

Following Robin's lead, I have created another word that may serve to describe a kind of character that marks a "life well-lived." 

That word is "gratitudian."

Gratitudian

Gratitudians are people whose lives, whose character, whose very being is marked by gratitude. 

Gratitudians are those who have made (and who continue to make) the practice of expressing gratitude such a part of their lives that they have become the very embodiment of that virtue. 

A gratitudian is someone who is graceful, gracious, grace-filled, congratulatory, gratuitous, and yes...grateful.   Such words suggest elegance, kindness, a propensity toward showing favor, a willingness to honor others when such honor is due, and a habit of offering good to others without expectation of reward or recompense.

Gratitudians are large-souled people.  They are maganimous, unselfish, generous toward others and free of pettiness and resentment.

Gratitudians become themselves by means of grace.  The word itself suggests the necessity of grace.  After all, the word "gratitude" is derived from the Latin word for grace, "gratis." 

However, claiming that grace is necessary to becoming a gratitudian does mean that there is nothing one can do to become such a person.   

To become a gratitudian one must practice the skills necessary to becoming such a person and we only know what skills to practice because we have been told by God what they are. 

We only know the practices because of grace.  The hard line between doing (practicing) and receiving (grace) is softened as we realize that....That we have any idea what we may do to become whole is itself a matter of grace.

Practices are gifts.

The central practice of gratitudians is, as you might expect, gratitude.  Becoming a person whose character is marked by gratitude (i.e. a "gratitudian") is a matter of expressing, showing, displaying gratitude.

You might say that the way to goal is the goal itself.

The way and the destination are one.

Or, to borrow a quote attributed to Mahatma ("Large-Souled") Ghandi..

"Be the change you wish to see."

More tomorrow.

This coming Sunday (2/18/07) Christians from around the world will join together to sing the hymn Amazing Grace as a way to commemorate the work of William Wilberforce, the British parliamentarian credited with introducing and driving through the first anti-slavery laws in the British Empire in 1807.

So what's the connection between Wilberforce and Amazing Grace?  Amazing Grace was written by John Newton, a slave trader turned pastor, in 1752.  Several years later, Newton became Wilberforce's mentor and told him that God had raised him up for the good of the nation and of the church.  The work of Wilberforce and Newton had a profound influence upon the  abolition of slavery in the America.

The relationship between Newton and Wilberforce and their work toward the abolition of slavery is being featured in a new film that is set to be released on Friday, February 23rd. 

Many of us believe that slavery ended with the American Civil War.  However, some estimate is that slavery produces something like $30 billion in revenue every year.  Some people estimate that as many as 27 million people live as slaves.  Many of those slaves are children who are sold to work as laborers and prostitutes.

I am posting related links below.   My hope is we will all support this film, sing Amazing Grace, pray for those who are bound in the shackles of slavery and do what we can to join with Christ in setting the captives free.

For infomation on the film Amazing Grace, go here.

For information on William Wilberforce, go here.

For information on John Newton, go here.

For information on the hymn Amazing Grace, go here.

For information on the global slave trade, go here.

For an incredible slide show regarding one Missouri mother's quest to rescue one child slave in Ghana, go here.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has annointed me

to bring good news to the poor. 

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives,

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

                     -Jesus' Ministry Platform

                      Luke 4: 18-19