Reading: John 6: 3-13
Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “It would take almost a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” Jesus said, “have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
Lord, lead us in the way of gratitude—fill our spirits with a longing to thank you and each other for all that graces our lives, indeed for all our life of grace. Amen
Here we are in November—the month traditionally connected to harvest, and coming together to say “thank you” to God and maybe even “thank you” to each other. And every time I think of the season of gratitude, I think of singing songs like “Come ye thankful people, come” or “We gather together” in the old country church I attended as a child and I think of times from my past where 30 some odd relatives would gather round long tables and pass the bowls of mashed potatoes and dressing and green beans canned earlier in the fall from my grandmother’s garden. And I wonder “what happened to the season of gratitude?” With Christmas already upon us in the stores, it seems to get lost between the ghosts of Halloween and the angels of Christmas. But I want to tell you, that the experience of moving to The Villages and starting this church has, quite frankly, completely transformed my commitment to learning the fine art of gratitude and to understanding the role it plays in spiritual and emotional maturity—the blessings generated by gratitude that come and will continue to come as we grow together as people and as a church. To that end, I decided to spend the first three Sundays in November talking about gratitude. This week, I want to look at an aptitude for gratitude or put another way, “how can I learn to be grateful for each moment of my life”? I’m not really sure that many of us are born grateful. And I well remember my mother complaining because her grandchildren failed to write her ‘thank you’ notes when her children (yes, that would include me) were taught better. She was right, I was taught to say “thank you” and to even compose lovely thank you notes—I’m not so sure about the gratitude part, I think that may come with a certain amount of reflection and struggle. By the way, the old country church now masquerades as a small time mega-church and the only time my relatives all come together is when somebody dies. So much for the romantic times gone by—but my own gratitude journey began there and was nurtured there and it continues to reflect that primitive gratitude today.
Let’s look at what Jesus showed the folk about gratitude in today’s scripture. Look at the scene with me—over 5,000 men and since the women and children weren’t even counted, there was more than likely at least twice that many people gathered in that Woodstockian gathering on the hillside. But there was no planning for this gathering—no caterers, or food trucks, no bottles of water, no nothing; oh, and no money to send out for supplies—only one small boy whose caring mother had packed him a lunch for the day. 5 loaves of bread and two fishes—even the disciple who brought the child’s lunch to the attention of Jesus thought it was useless. But Jesus knew better. He knew that in expressing gratitude for the food (he gave thanks) the miracle would occur. And so we have, in this story of amazing proportions, proof that the presence of gratitude radically alters our lives.
Melody Beattie, author of numerous books for those dealing with disastrous childhoods, painful presents, and uncertain aftershocks of trauma and terror says this about gratitude: “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
Would not Jesus agree with her? He knew that the act of gratitude would bring all that was needed to meet the hunger of these many thousand people—in fact, he had them sit down before he even said thanks. That was a daring and dangerous act, an act that said to these people, something good is coming—God is going to deliver what we need—you sit down and be ready for it. We see it as a huge risk—Jesus saw it as the logical thing to do, given that he believed in God’s ability to satisfy our every need. For Jesus, gratitude was both the logical consequence of belief and the very act that brought his belief into being. This is a hard thing for us to grasp. And so, we must learn to equate gratitude with belief in God’s ability to meet our every need and, indeed, we struggle as we learn.
Come with me to that hillside where Jesus moves to the rhythm of God’s constant presence. For Jesus, the presence of God is everywhere—and how do we get there for ourselves? Albert Schweitzer, one of the world’s true saints draws our attention to the need to learn gratitude: “To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude means to take nothing for granted, but to always seek out and value the kind that will stand behind the action. Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you.”
What do you think would happen if we learned to be constantly grateful—to see the proof of God’s grace to us—to know that all of earth and heaven was put here for our pleasure? I believe that our lives would be so radically changed that we would see new people in the mirror each morning as we allowed God to teach us more and more about the wonder of God’s love reaching out to provide all that we need.
Sarah Ban Breathnach (pronounced Bon Brannock) may well be the woman who has taught the modern world the most about gratitude. She wrote the NYTimes best seller, Simple Abundance. She is the person who first called us (though the Oprah show and elsewhere) to write 5 things down each day for which we are grateful. This is learning the aptitude for gratitude. She calls us to identify, to celebrate those things we have to be grateful—and promises us that as our willingness to live out this commitment to gratitude is consistent, our recognition of that which inspires our gratitude increases and multiplies. This is her mantra, if you will: "Gratitude is the most passionate transformative force in the cosmos. When we offer thanks to God or to another human being, gratitude gifts us with renewal, reflection, reconnection... every time we remember to say 'thank you' we experience nothing less than Heaven on earth." And so we learn, we learn that God is waiting for our “thank you” just as the earth and those around us are waiting.
Our own Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson calls us to this season of gratitude. She writes: As we approach a very busy season that includes many religious and cultural celebrations, as a person of faith, as a Christian, lesbian and long time minister and member of MCC, I can tell you, I am grateful!
I invite you to make a list of things for which you are thankful: because it is a way to practice the spiritual discipline of giving thanks. This spiritual discipline strengthen us, and shields us against the power of disappointment, loss or discouragement. Gratitude lifts our heads, and connects us to the Power Greater than Ourselves, who we know as the “Spirit of the Living God.”
That Spirit longs to “fall on us today,” and practicing gratitude hastens that fall! Gratitude is fuel for living and for ministering in the midst of the challenges of today. Especially in times of economic hardship or uncertainty, when we may feel helpless or stressed, getting in touch with the things for which we are grateful puts everything in perspective. At least it does for me…”
And so I say to you today: Life is amazing! Celebrate the sky, the stars, the flowers, and the rain. Celebrate the food you have to eat. Be thankful for the body that gives your spirit a place to be at home. Rejoice in the difference you make in the lives of others! Open your hands to receive the love that exists in this very room and elsewhere—love that encircles you with care and compassion. Turn your sighs into expressions of wonder at the beauty of the universe. Seek the aptitude for gratitude. Challenge each other to be grateful—call yourself to a higher place of praise.
When asked what seeking the way of gratitude had taught her, Sarah Ban Breathnach answered: “I don’t limit God anymore!” Let us go forward this day, rejoicing in the ever watchful and caring presence of God in our lives, knowing that living a life of gratitude and trust is the best response we can ever make to God’s gifting in this world. Let us lift the loaves and fishes to the sky, say thank you, and go forth to feed the thousands. Amen and amen!
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