It is a good night to talk about “gratitude,” the quality of being “thankful.” Tomorrow there will be much talk around “some tables” about being “thankful.”
Gratefulness, thankfulness, appreciation, recognition, acknowledgement, giving credit where credit is due…
But not everyone will obviously “acknowledge” or even “talk about” thankfulness. For some, it is difficult.
The word gratitude actually comes from the Latin word “gratus” meaning “pleasing or thankful.” It is kind of like “a positive response” that is shown by the recipient of kindness, gifts, help, favors or other such generosity.
To be thankful is to “humbly acknowledge” the kindness of “others.”
For some people gratitude flows freely from their lips and from their hearts…but for others, not so much – it is difficult for some people to acknowledge others…sometimes it seems that “a simple thank you” is not in some peoples vocabularies…
Remember as a child being taught, “What do you say?” Say, “thank you.”
Remember as a child having both “please and thank you” – drummed into your head?
Be aware that not everyone was taught as you were taught – and not everyone was raised by your parents.
And to be honest, sometimes we do forget our manners.
Common courtesies, we called them. Cultured language… Refined, civilized, respectful, showing good breeding… Correct social language skills.
There was actually a time, when people were threatened with “charm school.”
Allow me to share a story with you about a German pastor, named Martin Rinkhart. I do so because of one-of-the hymns-chosen for this night.
His was a pastorate for thirty years to the same congregation. Unfortunately it was during the dark and dreary days of the Thirty Year War in Europe. It was to be the “longest and most continuous conflict in all of European history.” Pastor Rinkhart served in the city of Eilenburg, a walled-in city.
Because of the Thirty Year’s War Eilenburg became an overcrowded refuge for the surrounding area.
Refugees flocked to the safety of the walled in city, while battles raged all around them. Unfortunately the fugitives brought with them poverty, famine and various diseases.
To the utter horror of the citizenry the plague was brought into the confines of their city.
There were actually numerous plagues all going on simultaneously…the Italian Plague, the Hungarian Plague, the Head disease, the spotted disease (which turned out to be typhus,) dysentery and scurvy. But the scariest of all was the Bubonic plague, which reduced 25-40% of the population, dependent on where you were.
There were reports of some cities losing 2/3rds to 3/4ths of its overall population.
At the beginning of “the Great Pestilence,” there were four ministers serving in Eilenburg.
One abandoned his post for “healthier areas” and could not be persuaded to return.
Pastor Rinkhart officiated at the funerals for the other two clergymen.
As the only pastor left, he often conducted services for as many as 40 to 50 persons a week – some 4,480 in all.
In May of that year his own wife succumbed to the plague and he buried her. By the end of the year, there were so many people dying that they had to be buried in trenches without the services of the church.
Buried in mass graves were both the victims of the plague and from the war.
Sometime in the midst of all this heartache, pain and suffering, the good pastor was able to pen the words to a song. It is what he is most well known for. In German the hymn he wrote is “Nun danket alle Gott.” In English it is better known as being “Now, thank we all our God.”
In the midst of the perils of war and the pestilence, surrounded by death and destruction on all sides of him, he wrote:
“Now, thank we all our God; with hearts and hands and voices; Who wondrous things hath done, in whom this world rejoices; who from our mother’s arms, has blessed us on our way, with countless gifts of love and still is ours today.”
That is gratefulness. That is giving thanks. This is what tomorrow is all about. Looking beyond yourself and your immediate situation and giving thanks.
In “all things,” ALL THINGS…we are to give thanks. Amen.