How do we move beyond the platitudes to a deeper focus on “giving thanks” this Thanksgiving?
For a fresh take on Thanksgiving, take a look at these words from a document written in 1563 called the Heidelberg Catechism. Written in Germany a half-century before the first Thanksgiving, it offers essential truths of the Christian faith in a question and response format. You might think, “What does anything written over 400 years ago have to say to me?” But hang in there. Surprises are in store! Here is the first question and response:
1. What is your only comfort, in life and in death?
Answer: “That I belong—body and soul, in life and in death—not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the do- minion of the devil; that he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that every- thing must fit his purpose for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.”
A kind of life that offers “comfort in life and death” is what lots of people yearn for today. It’s a gift that has three practical aspects, as the second question reveals:
2. How many things must you know that you may live and die in the blessedness of this comfort?
Answer: Three. First, the greatness of my sin and wretchedness. Second, how I am freed from all my sins and their wretched consequences. Third, what gratitude I owe to God for such redemption.
So, here’s the first surprise! “First, the greatness of my sin and wretchedness.” Could openly admitting our guilt be the first step toward a genuinely thankful life? We may phrase it differently than “my sin and wretchedness,” but, the truth is, we will never seek a cure until we know we are sick. And not sick with a cold, but a heart-sickness we cannot cure on our own.
Our society does everything it possibly can to ignore, deny or suppress guilt—which is like doing everything possible to keep someone with blood in their urine from ever seeing a doctor. Guilt is an alarm bell that something is wrong and needs to be healed.
Yes, guilt has been greatly misused to manipulate and condemn or shame people (guilt and shame are two different things; more on that in future posts.) But genuine, deeply abiding thanksgiving begins with a deficit—not an abdundance. The apostle Paul expresses it this way: “Wretched man that I am; who will save me from this body of death?”
Second, “how I am freed from all my sins and their wretched consequences.” This is grace—the center of the Christian message.
I think of the Christmas verse from Matthew’s gospel that says, “Those living in darkness have seen a great light, on those living in the shadow of death, a light has dawned.” That darkness is our guilt. But Jesus is the indescribable gift to come into our world to bring light into our darkness so that all our guilt could be washed away. Each of us can breathe in the grace of this indescribable gift….which leads to the third essential of a blessed life….
Third, “what gratitude I owe to God for such redemption.” When you receive such a gift, the natural response is gratitude. And it is always gratitude, not guilt, that provides the true motivation to follow Jesus.
Guilt…grace…gratitude. And thus, we arrive at Thanksgiving. Beneath and beyond the material blessings you might remember today, take a moment and remember God’s grace. Happy Thanksgiving!
