Dear Edwards Church Community,
Being grateful can mean being able to give thanks from a hospital bed, because you recognize how lucky you are to be in a place where people make it their job to help you heal. Being grateful can mean being able to recognize that you remain blessed even when the circumstances are painfully difficult. This is not wishful thinking, but the resilience of spiritual “muscle memory,” a capacity to see the light even in shadows.
In her letter, Deb shares with us wonderful resources on the nature and benefits of gratitude, including how to cultivate our capacity to practice gratitude. They are all good resources. I want to focus on the third observation from Brene’ Brown about patterns in stories of how folks experience gratitude and joy: “People were quick to point out the differences between happiness and joy as the difference between a human emotion that’s connected to circumstances and a spiritual way of engaging with the world that’s connected to practicing gratitude.”
For the fruit of all creation, thanks be to God. For God’s gifts to every nation,
thanks be to God. For the plowing, sowing, reaping, silent growth while
we are sleeping, / Future needs in earth’s safe keeping, thanks be to God.1
Theologian Michael J. Himes distinguishes joy from happiness this way: Joy is a sense of delight and deep satisfaction in the enduring nature and importance of that to which we truly give ourselves. It might be the work we do and why we do it, or the relationships we form and what they make possible. Happiness is transitory and conditional. Joy endures because it grows out of our connection to what we sense as larger than ourselves. The plowing, sowing and reaping we do – in our vocations and relationships – connects us to the silent growth taking place unseen.
In the just reward of labor, God’s will is done. In the help we give our neighbor,
God’s will is done. In our worldwide tasks of caring for the hungry and despairing,
In the harvests we are sharing, God’s will is done.
The work to which we give ourselves – our time, talent and treasure – might make us happy, if it provides just compensation, the satisfaction of a job well done and the appreciation of those for whom it was done. It might even bring us joy, if it serves an even greater good, what we sometimes call God’s will. It might even do both.
In this season of change, we might easily feel the fatigue of entering a third fall and winter with the pandemic – please, God – finally transitioning to endemic conditions. We can easily feel the uncertainty in the economy, environment, and so much else that makes it hard to hang in there. With all that challenges our faith, if we make a habit of practicing gratitude in good times and bad, it can help us remember and reconnect with what has really sustained us all along.
For the harvests of the Spirit, thanks be to God. For the good we all inherit, thanks be to God.
For the wonders that astound us, for the truths that still confound us, /
Most of all that love has found us, thank be to God.
As we prepare for the season of Thanksgiving and all it entails, may we also take the time we need to practice even more gratitude. Make it a habit, a spiritual practice, and it will bring you joy.
Grateful for all of you,
Michael
- Lyrics are all from For the Fruit of All Creation, hymn number 425 in The New Century Hymnal, © 1995 The Pilgrim Press. Permission is granted for this one-time use.
From the Minister of Faith Formation
“The root of joy is gratefulness.
It is not joy that makes us grateful, it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”
Brother David Steindl-Rast
Dear Beloved of God,
“Gratitude is a positive emotion that involves being thankful and appreciative and is associated with several mental and physical health benefits. When we experience gratitude, we feel grateful for something or someone in our life and respond with feelings of kindness, warmth, and other forms of generosity.” 1
While religious scholars and philosophers have been interested in gratitude since ancient times and the Hebrew and Christian scriptures are filled with passages about giving thanks, research on the topic has grown rapidly in recent decades especially around the health benefits – for all ages. Some of them are improved sleep patterns, improved and strengthened immune systems, decreased stress, less anxiety and depression, stronger relationships, and engagement in other health-promoting behaviors.
Brene’ Brown, Ph.D., L.M.S.W., in her research collecting stories about joy and gratitude found that three powerful patterns emerged:
* Without exception, every person interviewed described living a joyful life or described themselves as joyful, actively practiced gratitude and attributed their joyfulness to their gratitude practice.
* Both joy and gratitude were described as spiritual practices that were bound to a belief in human interconnectedness and a power greater than us.
* People were quick to point our the difference between happiness and joy as the difference between a human emotion that’s connected to circumstances and a spiritual way of engaging with the world that’s connected to practicing gratitude.2
James Crews, a teaching artist with the Vermont Arts Council in his YouTube video on Mindful Journaling affirms that science shows that if we go through each day, and list three specific things we are grateful for and why, we will be a much happier and grateful people. He also suggests keeping a kindness journal to remind us that there are good people in the world and acts of kindness are happening around us and in the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEhn0Q535u0
Gratitude can be practiced individually, as a family, or with a group. We can use spoken, unspoken, written or sung words to express it. We can draw or dance gratitude. I often light a candle as part of my practice. It is often suggested that as we engage in this, and other spiritual practices, we pay attention to what we might be feeling in our bodies.
As people of faith, we express our gratitude in response to God’s generosity, love, steadfast and abiding presence with us in all that we are experiencing and all that we are thankful for. In Ghana, a constant exchange in every conversation and in worship is:
Leader: God is good…
People: all the time.
Leader: All the time…
People: God is good
Traci Smith, an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church and author of Faithful Families: Creating Sacred Moments At Home and Faithful Families: For Lent, Easter & Resurrection (both of which have been gifted to church school families), has created a November 2022 Gratitude Every Day calendar which is included in this edition of the Spire. Members and friends are invited to participate in an online Gratitude Café practice for the month of November using this calendar. Additionally, Kyla will post the gratitude prompt in the calendar daily on our Facebook and Instagram sites. Everyone is invited to respond to the prompt by either emailing Kyla (info@edwardschurchnorthampton.org) or posting directly to one of those sites. Families and individuals might decide to set time aside to reflect on the prompt and offer a prayer of thanksgiving in response.
“If the only prayer you ever said was thank you, that would be enough.”
Meister Eckhart
During these extraordinary and anxious times in our personal lives, this faith community, our country, and the world may a spiritual practice of gratitude bring you peace and joy.
Blessings,
Deb
- https://www.verywellmin.com
- Brown, Brene’. The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are. Hazelden, MN. pg82.
To read the full SPIRE click here.