Centre Church

I know, I know… Thanksgiving is over. I don’t know about you, but about three bites into my perfect Butterball the tryptophan hangover hit me hard. Urban myth? A lot of dietitians say so – it’s actually a “feast-induced sleep” from a melatonin enriched brain – but what a fun urban myth! Let’s keep it! Wow. That tryptophan hit me hard!

So today I’ll focus on gratitude. Off the top of my head I can make the usual list: I’m thankful for my home and my family. I’m thankful for a home. For freedom. For God’s love. I’m thankful for my health, the fact that I can earn money, and for the super unconditional love of my pets. (Sorry, those of you who own goldfish won’t understand that last one.)

But thanksgiving surfaces in such weird places in scripture. Daniel’s about to be fed to hungry felines, so he thanks God. Jesus is about to give his body and his blood as a painful and humiliating sacrifice upon the cross, and he thanks God. Paul and Silas have been severely flogged and thrown into prison. They thank God for the privilege.  Even generous giving is listed in II Corinthians 9:7 as a reason for being thankful.

Weird, huh? Not what we’d normally put the Thanksgiving spot light on. But that’s exactly what giving thanks can do. It shines the light of Christ into the darkest corners of the earth. It brings hope (sometimes well in advance) to a place that is mired in seeming hopelessness.

There seem to be two choices when facing the dark corners of our lives. One is to give thanks. This packs a huge whallop, from all I’ve heard, and from the testimonies of the Bible. God shut the mouths of the lions. He rescued you and me with that body and blood. Paul and Silas were freed from prison by an earthquake, which led to their jailer’s own freedom.

The other choice involves fear, bargaining, and human wisdom. I can unfortunately speak from some of my own life experiences that choice #2 doesn’t usually pan out well. The darkness doesn’t lessen any, no matter how hard I pound against it, or how many people I pull in with me. Romans 1 speaks chillingly about the impact of thanklessness.

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

Mmmmhmmm. Sounds about right.
Tryptophan’s gone. We’re awake now.
Let’s give thanks to God in the midst of our darkness.

And if you want to chime in: I’m thankful for __________________________!