“Thanks-living During the Storms of Life" (Part 2)

Interestingly, modern research across psychology, neuroscience, and health sciences is now confirming what people of faith have known for centuries — that a grateful heart transforms how we experience life. Each week this month, you’ll find a posting on a specific gratitude practice, along with some fascinating research insights that connect faith and science.

Gratitude Practice: This week’s focus is on the effect of silently giving thanks for three moments that blessed you through the day. For the person of faith, it would be an ideal part of one’s evening prayer time. “On my bed I remember you… for you have been my help” (Psalm 63:6–7). Here are the interesting research findings in this University College in London, UK study: https://repository.uel.ac.uk/download/a5cc1cbdeb4041281dff728a4793fd764f7eb24029252c3f139e2af291dcf21c/314058/REVISED_Brief%20gratitude%20intervention_final_JHP-14-0553.R2.pdf

Interesting Research: This week, we focus on research highlighting the growing evidence linking related to physical-health benefits such as better mood, better sleep, less fatigue and lower levels of inflammatory biomarkers related to cardiac health. The document can be found here.  A grateful heart is a healthier heart

May our Thanks-living help us remember that gratitude is not just a feeling—it’s a healthy way of seeing and being in the world.

Do you manage to live in the spirit of thanksgiving during the storms of you life? Do you live a thanks-living way, when life is difficult? Do you find ways of gratitude when life is going in the wrong direction? This is the hard part of our exploration, and I feel like a bit of a ‘grinch’ for posing this question. Especially on the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. However, I wonder if this is the authentic question to be asked, especially, on this weekend. I say this because, quite honestly, I know of no one whose lives are always perfect, or rosy, or cheery. For most, the storms of life come and go…perhaps they are here right now? And we are supposed to come to this Thanksgiving holiday and put on a smiley-face and pretend all is well. And, even more…give thanks. All the while, most of our lives are filled with struggles, storms and strife. At a bare minimum, the turkey will be a little overdone, the stuffing a tad dry, and the pumpkin pie not as planned. In fact, many struggle just to put food on the table. For many, the reality of health decline touches us; the diagnosis has come back positive; and relationships are not always as we hoped for. So, how do we live lives of thanks-living, when it seems like there is more to complain about than to give thanks?

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison for resisting South Africa’s apartheid system. Most of it occurred on Robben Island under brutal conditions. Labouring in a limestone quarry, Mandella was denied contact with his family; he endured humiliation; he lived the life of a slave. Yet throughout his imprisonment, Mandela practiced daily gratitude. He practiced gratitude for the comrades who sustained him, for the dignity he could still hold, and even the chance to study his captors’ humanity. After his release, he chose not vengeance but forgiveness, famously saying, “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” When elected South Africa’s first Black president, Mandela’s leadership radiated grace. He expressed deep gratitude for life, even after all he had lost. His thanks-living became an instrument for the beginning of his country’s healing.

Shifting to the first text, we have a short, rather pithy section that are among the concluding words in Paul’s first letter the house church community in Greece, then called Thessalonica. Paul’s first stay there was very brief as he was forced to leave. The faithful community continued to follow the way of Jesus amidst social persecution and tremendous hardship. It’s hard for us to fathom what it might look like to be persecuted for following one’s faith! Yet, amidst those challenges, Paul encourages them towards the spirit of thanksgiving: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”. Rejoicing…praying…thanksgiving: always ~ without ceasing ~ in all circumstances. This is truly when thanksgiving becomes authentic, deep and real. When we can find opportunities of thanksgiving, despite of and amidst the struggles.

Dietrich Bonhoffer was a brilliant theologian and pastor. Working in WWII Germany, he was one of the few German church leaders who openly opposed Hitler. He was part of the Confessing Church, a movement that rejected Nazi control of Christianity. Arrested in 1943 for his involvement in the resistance, he was imprisoned for two years before being executed at age 39. In his famous book, Letters and Papers from Prison, Bonhoeffer wrote about finding gratitude even in confinement. He was grateful for letters from loved ones, for the beauty of music, and for the nearness of God even in the suffering. He reflected that gratitude was not sentimentality, but clarity as he wrote: “It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.” His writings remind us that thanks-living opens the heart to see divine abundance even in times of scarcity.

The second passage in the gospel of Luke is a relatable scenario. As the disciples cross the body of water, a fierce storm arises, and they understandably move into a time of panic. In the biblical imagination, the sea often represents chaos. The sea is uncontrollable, unknown, and threatens life. What is interesting in this passage, to me, is that when the storm arose, the disciples had forgotten that Jesus was there. They thought that they were left alone to deal with the storm. And to be fair, Jesus was taking a rest in the lower cabin. He wasn’t easily seen. So when the storm arose they felt alone, afraid, and vulnerable. When they remembered he was they there; when they went and woke him, he calmed the storm and they were people of thanksgiving. They realized that they had never been alone; that Jesus had always been with them. And the journey ~ which continued to be filled with struggles, which would even lead to the cross…the journey continued.

Our mother church have been offering this kind of witness, of late, as it relates to the poor and the refugees in the United States. Pope Leo XIV, and before him Pope Francis, have been speaking out for the poor and the refugees. Pope Leo’s first major document released this month emphasizes the Church’s commitment to the poor and migrants, condemns economic inequality, and criticizes systems that marginalize the poor, and urges action. The document reaffirms what Liberation theologians call God’s preferential option for the poor, a social teaching that the Church should give special attention to the needs of the poor. Such action does not come without cost as criticism from arises from both Conservative Catholics and various levels of Government. Yet, as the church stands beside the poor and the migrants, they are reminded that God is with them in the storms they face.

These are big examples of the topic we explore. The inspired actions of Nelson Mandella, Dietrich Bonhoffer and Pope Leo. And they both inspire and inform our abilities to the way of thanks-living during our personal storms of life. You might recall the 1968 television show “Mr. Rogers Neighbourhood”. Rogers, a Presbyterian minister viewed everyday interactions as holy ground. He, reportedly, began each morning by thanking God for the people he would meet that day. He would often pause between filming segments to pray in thanksgiving and would regularly ask others: “Who has loved me into being?”

Do we look at the limited selection in our pantry with anger, or do we look at what we have with thanks-living? Do we look at our declining level of health with sadness, or do we give thanks for the health we still enjoy? Do we look at the last few breaths we have left, or do we give thanks for those remaining breaths and breathe them with loved ones? Thanks-living in the storm is the most deeply authentic form of thanks-living. Rejoicing when life is perfect is easy; finding joy when life is stormy is the challenge of authentic faith. It is about knowing that we are never alone as we discover a faith that anchors us. And are reminded that Jesus was with us, Emmanuel, all the time.

Prior to beginning my ministry at Northwood, I had a brief ministry in the Downtown Eastside at First United Church located at Hastings and Gore. The ministries there range from sleeping quarters, to legal advocacy, and of course…food service to the hungry. I will never forget my first mealtime at First. I wondered what feeling might be in the dining hall with people who live in such extreme poverty. Spending life on the streets, barely eking out an existence. What I received was a deep teaching of thanks-living. As I walked from my study towards the dining area, I heard music…happy music. And as I entered the dining hall, I saw many blessed souls smiling and dancing…in the spirit thanks-living. What I witnessed was the living of Paul’s letter, to “Rejoice always, [to] pray without ceasing, [to] Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”.

Amen.