Thank you Lord!

We’ve just ended another liturgical year and have moved on to another one.    They go so fast!

The last few Sunday’s of the last Liturgical year (the first few Sunday’s in November) we decided we would end with celebration – with joy and blessing, praising and Thanksgiving!   And it made sense since Thanksgiving was to follow not long after the very last service like this.    Nellie Hill led us in celebration using drums of various kinds.  Thank you Nellie- many people have talked about how much they enjoyed this kind of music and worship. 

Many families during Thanksgiving have some tradition of giving thanks to God for their various blessings, for what God has blessed them with.  When they say grace at meals, they thank God for the gift of food.   

Or is it just coincidence? 

I still can’t explain why the prayers of some people are answered, and the prayers of other not so much.  The one’s whose prayers are answered thank God for granting these blessings.  But what about the others?   They may have prayed just as hard, just as earnestly. 

When I look to thanking God on the one hand, I’m forced to look at the other hand… and there’s an empty space there.     “Thank you Lord for all these gifts… because so many don’t have this”  whatever “this” is.     Is it chance?  Is it luck?

If we were born in countries that had more opportunities than others – usually in Northern  Hemisphere, wouldn’t that be  “luck”?     We’ve had opportunities perhaps that others didn’t have.   US… middle class… what did we do to earn this?   What did we do to merit this, over others who weren’t born here?  

Many kids say , “It’s not fair!” when something doesn’t go their way.    My kids have said the same thing.   My response has been – “you want it to be fair?   You’re lucky things aren’t fair!  You want to see what fair looks like around the world?   If we made things fair, you’d have a lot less of what you have!”     

Is it chance?   Is it luck?  The luck of the draw… cosmic lottery?   If having stuff and “being blessed” is a measure of how much God lives us… does God love some less than others?   Does it mean God loves some people more than others?     And yet we still say Grace at meals!  We still offer thanks to God.

For the sake of example, let’s say it ISN’T God!    Let’s say it’s totally luck.    Chance.   Let’s say it’s totally a convergence of opportunities, awareness to take advantage of those opportunities and the ability to do so.   Let’s say…    and we STILL thank God anyway!    What would happen?

Maybe we’d start to be more aware of our “luck”   of our opportunities.   Maybe we’d realize how much some don’t have the same luck  or   opportunities.      Maybe we’d realize what we could do to  help others.     Maybe we’d be more aware that with more blessings come more responsibilities.   Maybe just saying Grace before a meal – anyway – opens our hearts.   

I was with a church group once and I prayed before the meal.    I said something like, we’re thankful for this food, help us to remember that something had to die in order for us to live.       Our great grand-parents were much more aware of this than we generally are.   We forget.    For us, food comes in packages, or cans.   We’ll it definitely comes from the freezer or the fridge!    

We’ve forgotten that the food we eat.. someone had to plant it, grow it, birth it, raise it, tend to it, harvest it, and/or butcher it!    Back in the “old days” usually the person who ate the food was also somehow involved in this process somewhere along the way.    Today… not so much.    And many of us don’t even cook it either!

Maybe if we had to plant it, raise it, nurture it, hunt it, butcher it or sow it… maybe we’d say grace in a whole different way!

There’s a lot I can’t explain about God and life!     I can’t explain why some people’s prayers work and some people prayers don’t.    I can’t explain why a lot of life seems more chance than anything – like where we’re born, or who we’re born to, or what we look like, or why some start out with way more “opportunities” than others!    I am aware of this part of the mystery of life!  I’m not blind to it.

But in spite of all this, I still find myself with a sense of gratitude to God for blessings!    I still find it’s the right thing to offer thanks to God!     I still think – somehow – some way – God is connected to the blessings and gifts.

I still say “Thank You Lord” for my family!   I still say Thank You Lord for the gifts of food and home.   And I still think, because of the blessings, we have a call to help our small portion of the world become a better place!      

Amen!