Gratitude Rooted in God's Love

Dearly Beloved, 

In this classic TED talk, Benedictine monk David Steindl-Rast explains it’s not that happiness makes us grateful, it’s that gratitude makes us happy. Most of us spend most of our energy trying to manage our lives, the people around us, and the wider world to make things go well, or at least well according to us. We imagine that if things go well, we will achieve happiness, peace, or whatever we are seeking.  But, of course, this doesn’t work. Things always fall apart. Our plans don’t work out the way we want them to. People don’t act the way we expect. People are rude, or downright mean. Life always presents a series of obstacles that are never fully cleared away. 

The fundamental spiritual posture for disciples of Jesus is not one of wrestling the world into conformity with our ideals or wishes, but rather standing before God in thanksgiving for God’s limitless love and mercy. At the beginning of each day, we have a choice: we can see all the obstacles in our path and gird ourselves to battle them, lamenting how hard it all is. Or, we can resolve to be on the lookout for small moments of grace, beauty, love, kindness, and holiness, thanking God for the small gifts that are present in each moment. Whichever we are looking for, we will most surely find. 

But make no mistake: this posture is not a passive retreat from the suffering and injustice of the world. Rather, it is to align ourselves with God’s strategy for healing that world with love, rather than the world’s strategy of victory through violent conflict. An activism driven by an angry need to control and win simply keeps the mad wheel of the world spinning longer. But engagement that grows from a gratitude deeply rooted in the reservoir of God’s loving kindness is the way we hitch ourselves to Jesus in offering a better way: flooding the world with irresistible love rather than meeting violent struggle with violent struggle. 

The word “Eucharist,” of course, our central act of worship, simply means thanksgiving. Our life together in the church is about practicing perpetual gratitude so that we can join God’s work of disrupting the madness of the world’s injustice with the madness of endless love. As we pause for the holiday this week, please know how much walking with you helps me to drink ever more deeply from this well of gratitude. The words of the apostle to the congregation at Thessalonica we’ll hear Sunday perfectly express my sentiments toward each of you: “How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you?”

(1 Thessalonians 3:9). 

Grace and Peace, 

The Right Rev. Craig Loya