Thank God

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

November 22, 2015

Thank God

Psalm 105:1-6

O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name,

make known his deeds among the peoples.

Sing to him, sing praises to him;

tell of all his wonderful works.

Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

Seek the Lord and his strength;

seek his presence continually.

Remember the wonderful works he has done,

his miracles, and the judgments he has uttered,

O offspring of his servant Abraham,

children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

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How many times have you said it?

How many times have you heard

someone else say it?

You may have said it joyfully, in celebration;

You may have said out of relief,

when you felt a great weight lifted.

“Thank God – I got the job!”

“Thank God - It isn’t cancer!”

“Thank God - It’s a girl!”

“Thank God - The surgery was successful!”

“Thank God - The damage from the storm was minimal!”

We are quick to thank God for big things,

momentous things,

especially when we’ve eluded disaster.

But we should also thank God for the ordinary,

the every–day things in our lives:

“It is a beautiful morning – thank God!”

“My coffee cup is full and the house is warm –

thank God”

“My dog and I had a lovely walk this morning,

thank God!”

“The colors of autumn never cease to amaze me -  

thank you God”

It was a Dominican monk named Meister Eckhart

who some 700 years ago said,

“If the only prayer you ever say

in your entire life is,

“thank you”,

it will be enough.”

A prayer of thanksgiving,

a prayer of gratitude,

a prayer of thankfulness

shouldn’t be a one time prayer,

a prayer we lift up on a special occasion;

it should be a prayer we lift up repeatedly

throughout the day, every day.

To lift up a prayer of thankfulness

and thanksgiving

helps us to be more aware of

the blessings that fill our lives,

reminding us that we walk in grace,

we walk in love,

we walk with God.  

King David, for all his accomplishments,

and all that filled his life

as a soldier, as king,

as husband to seven wives,

as father to many children,

as the leader of his people,

still understood the importance of gratitude,

of saying “thank you” to God,

of praising God,

of speaking the words written by the psalmist,

words some scholars think he himself

may have written,

the words from our text:

O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name,

make known his deeds among the peoples.

Sing to him, sing praises to him;

tell of all his wonderful works.

Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who

seek the Lord rejoice.

Seek the Lord and his strength;

seek his presence continually.

Remember the wonderful works he has done,

his miracles, and the judgments he has uttered,

“Give thanks to the Lord!

Call on his name!

Sing to God!

Sing praises to him!

Rejoice and tell of all God’s

wonderful works!”

This is how we are to live our lives,

not just for a few moments on Sunday,

or when we are gather with family and friends

around a table on Thanksgiving,

but all the time,

our lives grounded in gratitude

and thanksgiving to God.

David understood this;

he understood that all he had was from God,

that he was who he was because of God.

So David lived in gratitude and praise.

It is so easy to complain,

it is easy to grumble and gripe,

easy to drive down

the road of disgruntlement.

But God calls us to live in joy,

to live in peace, and happiness

and contentment

because we live in hope.

God calls us to live,

as a colleague once so wonderfully put it,

“gruntled”,

not disgruntled –

happy, grateful, thankful.

The very popular writer Anne Lamott

wrote in her book, “Help, Thanks, Wow,”

that “Gratitude begins in our hearts

and then dovetails into behavior.”

Gratitude humbles us and

helps us to learn how to be glad.

A life of gratitude is,

as Lamott puts it,

a life of revelation,

for when we live a life of gratitude,

our eyes and minds are always open to see

God’s grace, God’s goodness,

God’s blessing,

when we might otherwise miss seeing God.  

Ultimately, Lamott reminds us,

“Gratitude is peace”

(Lamott, 60)

that peace which surpasses all understanding;

that peace we will never know

until we live  in gratitude.

Lamott is right.

Even in church,

it is easy to grumble about things,

it is easy to grumble about anything

and everything.

What do you suppose God wants to hear from us:

that a hymn we sang in some service

is one of your least favorite hymns,

or that you are grateful that God has blessed us

with music, musicians,

composers,

creators of instruments,

all that help us praise God?

The root of the word “thanks”

comes from the same root

as the word, “think.

And doesn’t that make sense

that the words are tied together:

when we thank God,

we are thinking of God,

and when we are thinking of God,

we can thank God,

our lives grounded in praise and gratitude,

just as David’s was so long ago.

What are you thankful for?

What everyday, ordinary things

are you thankful for?

Yes, you are thankful for your family,

for your health,

for your home,

but what else –

the teachers at your child’s school?

the neighbor who looks after your home

when you are away?

the staff in the health care facility

who look after a loved one –

perhaps a parent or grandparent?

The Psalmist calls us to lives of thanksgiving,

our voices raised:

“I will give thanks to the Lord

with my whole heart,

in the company of the upright,

in the congregation.”

(Psalm 111)

Let’s follow the Psalmist’s lead

and give thanks to the Lord

here in this congregation,

all of us together with whole heart,

using the litany of thanksgiving

printed in your bulletin:

Gracious God, whose love and goodness

extends throughout the earth,

and even to the farthest reaches

of the universe:

We give you thanks, O Lord.

For the richness of creation,

the beauty of the earth,

for crashing sea and towering mountains,

for bountiful fields ready to harvest,

for majestic trees, the birds of the sky,

animals of every size and shape:

We give you thanks, O Lord.

For the love of family and friends,

for the laughter of children,

the energy of youth,

the strength of adults,

the wisdom of elders,

the comfort of community:

We give you thanks, O Lord.

For the nurture of a mother’s love,

the compassion of a father’s care,

for every expression of grace, tolerance,
justice, and mercy:

We give you thanks, O Lord.

For the church where our faith is nurtured,

for your Holy Spirit who calls us

to praise and worship you,

for the ministries you call us to,

for the brothers and sisters

we work with as we share the gospel:

We give you thanks, O Lord.

For your Son Jesus Christ,

who calls us to follow,

fills us with hope,

and graces us with your love:

We give you thanks, O Lord.

For your constant and abiding presence,

and your overflowing blessings:

We give you thanks, O Lord.

For your overwhelming goodness and love:

We lift up our voices in praise

and thanksgiving

to you,

our Lord, our God.

AMEN