We were standing in the Belden Room after the Epiphany Evensong, last night, and somehow the conversation drifted to expressing thanks. Oh, I remember now. I had thanked the choir and Mark for the exquisite music, and Anne, Jackie and Barbara for the sumptuous snacks when I turned to John Hall and asked, “Do your suppose there’s someone else I need to thank?” He replied, “You know the vestry at Trinity, Newport, was discussing who in that parish could be thanked for doing various things, and it was all I could do to get them to stop. They went on for 10 minutes or so.”

I’ve often felt quite a bit of ambivalence about thanking people for their devoted hard work in various forms of lay ministry. “How could you possibly have a problem with that?!” you might wonder. Well, it’s like this. Jesus was reported to have said that people ought to beware of doing what they do to be recognized by others because if they do they’ll already have received their rewards from people rather than God. On the one hand, I’ve always wanted to thank folks for all they do, while, on the other hand, I’ve never wanted to encourage people to do what they do for recognition instead of purely for the love of God. Therein lies my ambivalence.

Having said all that, for people of faith, it is so important to cultivate what some have called an attitude of gratitude. Especially in sparse economic times it is very important for people of faith to develop a threefold discipline – developing eyes to see what God has given, developing minds to thank God for everything that He has provided, directly and through others, and then mouths to express our thanks.

I’ve often noticed and marveled that during the Prayers of the People there are far more prayers for help, which is necessary, but so few prayers of thanksgiving for what God has done. Perhaps it’s just a habit, or perhaps God has underachieved and there’s nothing to thank Him for, or perhaps we feel it’s inappropriate to offer personal thanks in public services. But then again our normal service of public worship is called Eucharist, and that does mean thanksgiving, so it can’t be inappropriate.

I have a suggestion. People often call the parish office with prayer requests for folks who are ill or in special need. That’s where the names we read during the Prayers of the People come from. My suggestion is that people call the office with thanksgivings for our Sunday prayers as well. For example, it might be that instead of calling the parish office simply to “take someone off the prayer list” we add them to the thanksgiving list because they’re better.

Whether we do it publicly (during the Eucharist) or privately let’s look to thank God for what gifts God has provided -- things and people. To prime the pump I’d like to thank God for the generosity of the people of St. Paul’s – for outdoing yourselves in giving your time, your talents and your money in God’s service through this parish. Thank God and thank you!

Affectionately in Christ,

Phil +