Thanks and Grace*

This week we Americans celebrate Thanksgiving Day, arguably our favorite national holiday. This traditional harvest festival traces its roots to 1621 when the English settlers in Massachusetts Colony celebrated an abundant harvest with a three-day banquet and invited the Wampanoag Native People to join them as their guests. For the next 320 years, motivated by custom, spiritual instinct and numerous presidential proclamations, Americans celebrated Thanksgiving irregularly on a variety of days. In December 1941, the U.S. Congress finally made it a legal national holiday to be observed on the fourth Thursday of each November.

As I contemplate the approaching holiday, I think of the biblical connection between God's grace and our giving thanks. Throughout the Bible, God's people note the relationship, as Paul does for example in writing to believers in Corinth. The gospel message is God's treasure entrusted to human messengers, Paul says, "so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God" (2 Cor. 4:15). The sense is clear: God gives us his grace and in return we give God our thanks. Thus our thanksgiving brings the movement full circle. From God's glory flow his gratuitous gifts -- which stimulate our gratitude -- which we express by giving thanks -- which brings glory to our gracious God.

The notion also fascinates me on another level as a lover of words. I am struck by the linguistic connections found in many languages between the words for "grace" and "thanksgiving” and my point is illustrated in the Hellenic/Greek, where "grace" is charis and "thanksgiving" is eucharistia (giving our word "Eucharist"). So with the Latin, where "grace" is gratia and "thanksgiving" is gratiarum. This Latin connection even finds its way into English in the word-pair "grat-uitous" and "grat-itude" used in the paragraph just before this one. I can think of no similar root-yoking in native-born English, but we do maintain the verbal connection between grace and thanksgiving when we use the expression "say grace" to mean "give thanks." However, the major Romance (from "Rome") languages faithfully display the theological point made earlier by their parental Latin, as well as by their "Aunt Hellen" or "Uncle Greek." If we look at Second Corinthians 4:15 in New Testament translations of the Romance languages we will find that "grace" in Spanish is gracia and "thanksgiving" or "giving of thanks" is gracias. The French New Testament has grace for "grace" and graces for "giving of thanks." Similarly, "grace" is grazia in Italian, where "thanksgiving" is ringraziamento. Not surprisingly, the Portuguese translation of our passage has graca for "grace" and gracas for "thanksgiving" or "giving of thanks." So whatever the date on the calendar, regardless of our national homeland, no matter what may be our native tongue -- as citizens of the Kingdom of God and recipients of his grace through Jesus Christ, let us always give thanks to the glory of God!

* Used by permission from Edward Fudge

Come and Be Thankful at the Table of the Lord

There is much to be thankful for as we gather at the table of the Lord today. It is not like the regular tables where we normally dine. At the table of the Lord all people are welcome, no matter how much money they have; no matter the things they have done in the past; no matter their ethnic background; or how pretty they are. It does not matter if you’re pretty, tan, or muscular. It does not matter if you are smart or slow. In the gospels, Christ is always eating with tax collectors and the sinners—he eats with people like you and me: people who’ve missed the mark and gotten it wrong; people who haven’t measured up; and people who have been left behind. Whatever your circumstances and regardless of your past, you are invited to eat with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords this morning. He announces the invitation in Isaiah 55:1: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”

But you can’t get to the table of the Lord on your own. The presence of God is very valuable and worth more than we can imagine. The price of being at the table with a holy God is perfect, holy, deeds and perfect, holy lives. Such a price tag makes even Bill Gates look like a pauper!—who can buy holiness? It doesn’t matter how much your portfolio is worth because a ticket to the table of the Lord is simply beyond the budget. This is why only the guests of Christ are seated at this table. A seat at the table of our Lord is, as Paul said in Romans, a “free gift.” All you have to do is humbly accept the invitation from Jesus. You have to stop trying to feed yourself with your own devices for happiness and let Christ feed you. Christ beckons you now to come home to the greatest feast ever prepared; he begs you to follow him home for a meal. No dinner invitation that you will ever receive is more wonderful and more satisfying. No dinner on earth is more “prestigious” and yet so available. Relationship with God is open to all people because of the table that Jesus Christ has set out for us. This relationship is real food for our spiritual bodies and causes us to become real people, full of real life, and real love. Let’s gather together at the Lord’s Table and be thankful for all that he is doing.

-Matt Tapie

A Grateful Heart

Occasionally my birthday falls on Thanksgiving. Now, I don’t mind that a bit, but as a kid, at times I wasn’t too happy about it. In fact, one year, I believed it made my birthday the worst birthday ever. As a young girl, I imagined the perfect cake to be decorated with lovely flowers, velvety red roses of rich, sweet frosting, gently connected by lacing lines of green. The “Happy Birthday” would be in a curly script—perfectly penned.

Well, one year, on the day of Thanksgiving, my mom brought in my cake, the candles aglow on top. She lowered it to the table just in front of me. My eyes stared in disbelief at the design before me, composed of browns, orange, red, green, and black. My mom and dad had surprised me with a turkey cake! A turkey cake! That Thanksgiving I wasn’t giving thanks. I can’t tell you the effort it took not to burst into tears. How could they have done that?! How could they have thought I would have enjoyed such a thing?!

I wish I could say I came to my senses soon after, realizing they had probably gone to the bakery and determined this was the perfect cake for the Thanksgiving birthday girl. Maybe they had even special ordered it. Maybe my mom couldn’t wait to see my face when she presented her clever find . . . Such considerations, however, I must confess, were years in coming. I was really sour about that day. And, I really missed out on the celebration.

As an adult, I want to look beyond the physical aspect of a gift and treasure the fact that someone gave me something to let me know I’m cared about, thought about, loved. This is something we diligently try to teach our children. Show appreciation. Say “thank you.” Take time to value the gesture. Share the giver’s joy. As we enter this season of giving, give generously and receive appreciatively. All of us can benefit from cultivating a grateful heart.

CTL

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts . . . And be thankful. ~Colossians 3: 15~