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Truly Thankful

TRULY THANKFUL

CELEBRATION SUNDAY • THANKSGIVING

TEXT: PSALM 100

INTRODUCTION TO SCRIPTURE
Our scripture reading for today is a familiar Psalm, the 100th. Since Psalms were hymns meant to be said or sung in unison, let's do that today.

PSALM 100
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands! Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the Lord is God! It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him, bless his name!
For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures for ever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands." How many of you memorized that Psalm when you were a child? Why do you think this Psalm was such a favorite for the Sunday School curriculum? Well, it was short! And "joyful noise" certainly resonates with the elementary school set. This is an exuberant psalm.
As I read it, I have visions of movement-great parades, processions into God's presence, musical instruments playing. The words themselves are upbeat-joyful, gladness, singing, praise. When we recited this in Sunday School, we were given tambourines and rhythm instruments to accompany ourselves. Because they are so joyful, it's easy to forget that these hymns of praise were written by people who were almost always under domination or besieged.

PSALMS FOR A PEOPLE UNDER SIEGE
The lesson from this Psalm is a good one for today, I think. Many of us may feel under siege. If happiness and gratitude are founded on financial security and wealth, we may not be feeling too thankful this year. If thankfulness is triggered when things are going well, chances are that when times are difficult, gratitude may be in short supply.

Of course, it's human nature to be influenced by pain and bad fortune. We are very attentive to hardship when it comes our way, but we tend to take the good times for granted. And I don't know about you, but when I hear a sermon full of "shoulds"-like "you should be thankful," I always shrink a little lower in my pew because I'm not likely to live up to the "should." But that is why religious observances are important. One of the things we forget about the Psalms and our church prayers, hymns and liturgy is that they are not about "me," they are about we.

Perhaps you are approaching this Thanksgiving with a deficit of gratitude. Your financial picture is kind of dismal-your 401(K) is looking more like a 201(K), you're dealing with a worrisome diagnosis, you've lost someone dear to you. It's hard to dredge up the joyful noise, the burst of praise.

That's OK, you are in good company. There are others who feel the same way. That's when we look to scripture like this Psalm which reveals an ongoing testimony of faith.
    • We belong to God
    • God made us and will keep us as a shepherd keeps his sheep.

These Psalms, hymns, prayers, anthems like the upbeat one the choir sang, our worship together, and the love of our fellow Christians - all these persevere in thankfulness on our behalf.

MEMORY AND GRATITUDE
Walter Brueggemann, the Hebrew Bible scholar says, the church must "practice memory in a world of amnesia." I'd like to suggest that we also practice gratitude in a world of anxiety. Anthony DeMello, the Catholic philosopher, says that the secret of joy is gratitude. Having a basic orientation toward thankfulness is what gave the Psalmists the ability to sing of joy in the midst of trouble.

As we gather in worship together, we remind each other of God's faithfulness. When we are least able to look at our particular lives and say, "thank you," our Psalms and our church liturgy and hymns do it for us. The congregation remembers lest we forget.

In Wendell Berry's novel, Remembering, the main character, Andy, has lost his right hand in a terrible farming accident and is trying to come to terms with that devastating loss. Berry writes:
His right hand had been the one with which he reached out to the world and attached himself to it. When he lost his hand he lost his hold.... All the world then became to him a steep slope, and he a man descending , staggering and falling, unable to reach out to tree trunk or branch or root to catch and hold on.

Andy is adrift. Feeling abandoned and useless. Then, he is given an epiphany. He understands that though he cannot hold, he is held. Berry writes .... He will be partial, and he will die; he will live out the truth of that. Though he does not hold he is held. He is grieving, and he is full of joy.

GRIEVING YET FULL OF JOY
He is held, though he does not hold. He is grieving and he is full of joy. Those beautiful paradoxical words capture the meaning of a joyful Psalm coming out of adversity, a congregation that responds with generosity even though we're in hard times, a church that gathers with good cheer in the midst of struggle. Practice gratitude in the midst of anxiety; be a community of faith that can hold doubt. How can this be? The key is in the last verse of the Psalm:

The Lord is good; his steadfast love endures for ever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.