The blessing of thanksgiving

During this fall season my thoughts keep coming back to gratitude and blessings, particularly as we celebrate Thanksgiving in October reading a familiar passage of Jesus healing ten lepers with one of the ten being a Samaritan (Luke 17:11-19).

The passage goes something like this: as Jesus enters the village, the lepers being deemed unclean keep their distance while crying out “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Jesus tells them to go show themselves to the priests. While on their way they are healed, made clean. When the Samaritan notices his healing, he turns back to express his gratitude, falling at the feet of Jesus and giving thanks. What a perfect reading for celebrating Thanksgiving. Expressing gratitude brings with it a blessing.

Two things strike me. First the other nine did nothing wrong. In fact, they did exactly as they were told, and they received the blessing promised them. As lepers they were outcasts isolated and alone. Not only were they healed but they also received the blessing of being re-integrated with family and community, neither of which they would have had being deemed “unclean.”

Second, the one who turns back is affirmed by Jesus for returning to give thanks. Recognizing things that we are thankful for, grateful for brings with it another blessing. Blessed a second time? So, what does the man who returned receive? The blessing of healing, as did the other nine, and also the blessing that comes from naming blessing, giving thanks, expressing gratitude.

Have you ever noticed just how powerful it is not only to receive blessing but also to name it and give thanks for it? Maybe you’re at dinner with family or friends, and someone says, “This is great. This time, this meal, with all of you. Thank you.” And in seeing and giving thanks, the original blessing of the meal is somehow multiplied, you’ve been blessed a second time. Being aware and naming how we are blessed and voicing gratitude is wholly another blessing.

Gratitude draws us out of ourselves into something larger, bigger than we could imagine. Gratitude is a powerful emotion as it frees us from fear, releases us from anxiety, and emboldens us to do more and dare more than we’d ever imagined – even to return to a Jewish rabbi to pay homage when you are a Samaritan because you’ve realized that you are more than a Samaritan, or a leper, or even a healed leper. You are a child of God.

Our world is filled with trouble. The troubles are easy to name. At the same time our world and our lives are also filled with blessings, for which we can voice our thanksgiving, our gratitude: families that care for each other; governments and councils that are far from perfect yet strive to work for the benefit of others; relief agencies that tend to the afflicted; those on the front lines putting their lives on the line at home and abroad; good neighbours supporting each another.

As we near Thanksgiving, I invite you to think of different things for which you are thankful, grateful. For me of late it is fresh water, the privilege to go buy food to name two. Family and friends to name two more. As you become aware the things that you are grateful for in your life, find opportunities to name them out loud. What if one such opportunity is when someone you know well asks “How are you?” you respond “I am grateful for …”

This world is full of challenges as well as blessings for which we can express gratitude for. Which will we focus on? Truth be told, there is a time for lament, cries for justice and activism. But given that we live in a culture filled with trouble, imagine the breath of fresh air that comes with voicing gratitude. Maybe today, this week, this month, we can be heralds of blessing to the people in our lives, giving voice to the powerful words of gratitude and thanksgiving.