The month of November each year is a month where we are led to think about thankfulness. That practice began with Thanksgiving Day and we now see people talking about November being a whole month for thankfulness. If you received our church Potpourri newsletter for November, we included in there a calendar of thankfulness that gives you a different thing to be thankful for each day of the month. Why do we do things like that? Why do we create specific reminders for ourselves to be thankful? Is it because we would completely forget to be grateful otherwise? There may be an element of truth in that. But moreso, I think that we are trying to cultivate in ourselves an attitude of thankfulness. We practice gratitude in the good times so that we can continue to find things to be grateful for in the tough times.

The Apostle Paul exemplified this sort of attitude of thankfulness in many of his letters. And Ephesians offers us a great example of Paul’s gratitude. It is thought that Paul wrote this letter from prison, not the most pleasant of places to be. Yet Paul begins the litter in this way: “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.” Paul begins with gratitude…despite his present circumstances. “In a sermon at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, Gary Wilburn said: ‘In 1636, amid the darkness of the Thirty Years’ War, a German pastor, Martin Rinkart, is said to have buried five thousand of his parishioners in one year, and average of fifteen a day. His parish was ravaged by war, death, and economic disaster. In the heart of that darkness, with the cries of fear outside his window, he sat down and wrote this table grace for his children: ‘Now thank we all our God / With heart and hands and voices;/ Who wondrous things had done,/ In whom His world rejoices. /Who, from our mother’s arms,/Hath led us on our way/ With countless gifts of love/ And still is ours today.’ ’Here was a man who knew thanksgiving comes from love of God, not from outward circumstances.”

I will admit that this year thankfulness has not flowed as easily from my heart as it usually does. I think we can all agree that this has been a tough year. We’ve endured a pandemic that continues to wreak havoc in our community, our nation, and our world. We’ve endured the division and strife caused by a very contentious election season. We’ve endured an economic crash, nationwide protests, devastating fires, more hurricanes than we’ve ever seen in a single season, the death of iconic figures like Alex Trebek and Kobe Bryant, and the removing of Friends from Netflix. It’s been a rough year, my friends. And that kind of struggle can make it difficult to find things for which to be thankful. I’m reminded of a story Erma Bombeck once shared that helped her when she was struggling to be thankful. The story is “of an eight-year-old named Christina, who had cancer of the nervous system. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she thought long and hard and finally said, ‘I don’t know. I have two sticker books and a Cabbage Patch doll. I have everything!’”

Now, I will tell you that when I was about 8, I also had some sticker books and a Cabbage Patch doll. But I don’t think I would have said that I had everything. But looking back, I really did have everything…everything I needed at least. And many other people are not as lucky. So, now as an adult, I am better able to look past my selfish desires and see the blessings that I have. But it has taken 44 years of practice, and I’m still not very good at it all the time. I’m much better at complaining about what I don’t have. In our previous church, we had a parishioner who would come and greet us after worship each Sunday. And I would ask her how she was. And she would say, “I can’t complain, but I probably will anyway.” I never heard her complain, but her sentiment definitely rang true in my own heart. I didn’t really have anything in my life to complain about, but I always found a way to complain anyway. Can anyone else relate to that?

But I think within this greeting from Paul to the church at Ephesus, we can see some reasons for giving thanks. And the reasons Paul presents truly are greater than any reason we might have to complain. This morning I want to look at 3 of those reasons Paul gives us. First, we have faith. Paul says to the Ephesians that he has heard about their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is one of the reasons he gives thanks to God for them. That is important to Paul because he shares the same faith. We too can give thanks for our shared faith in Jesus Christ. Not only our shared faith with those in THIS church, but our shared faith with Christians all around the world. When April and I were in seminary, the school brought in a number of international students each year for their Masters of Theology degree. The director of the program would then pair each international student with a Masters of Divinity student to help them adjust to western Michigan and to life in the United States. April and I were blessed to be paired up with international students during two of our three years. And one of my favorite things they did was have each international student give a presentation over lunch about their home country, its culture, and the situation of the Christian Church in the country. It was amazing to hear about the faith of Christians in so many diverse lands. And as I think back on it, I am so thankful for the opportunity to hear about their faith and to share that time with each one of those students.

We have faith and it is a shared faith that offers us the opportunity to give thanks for one another and learn from one another. Second, we have love. Paul also commends the Ephesians on their love for others. “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints.” The church in Ephesus was living our Jesus command to “love one another.” And Jesus says that others will recognize us as disciples of Jesus Christ by our love for one another. This is something I have no problem being thankful for this year as I think about this church. The members of the First Presbyterian Church in Scottsbluff have been nothing if not loving during this pandemic. Yes, there have been some tense moments, too, as you might expect in such unusual and difficult circumstances, but that has been so minimal compared to the overwhelming love of this congregation for one another. All throughout this pandemic, I’ve had church members reach out to me with encouragement or with offers of assistance for any problems we encounter. Whenever a new need has arisen in the church or community, so many folks have jumped right in and given aid. We’ve had several church members who needed to quarantine for one reason or another and folks have stepped in and brought meals or delivered groceries for them. When April and I were in quarantine earlier this week, we had numerous people contact us with offers of help for whatever we needed. We felt very blessed and cared for. This church is amazing with loving one another and I am deeply thankful for that.

We have faith, we have love for another. And, third, we have hope. Paul writes, “ I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.” Paul prays that the church of Ephesus will know of the hope that Christ has called them to. We, too, have been called to that same hope. And next Sunday, as we enter into the season of Advent, we will talk about that hope. But within this statement, we see Paul saying that we are called. That means we have been chosen, we have been marked, we have been invited by Christ into the family of God. We are part of the body of Christ through the call of Jesus on our lives. This is something to be thankful for because it means that we are not alone. It means that we have a purpose and a reason for living. It means that we are important to God and loved by God. And it means that we are part of something larger than ourselves. This knowledge allows us to step back from the struggles of the world and see the grace and love of God in our lives. It allows us to tap into our thankfulness and recognize what Gary Wilburn said in the quote I used earlier. “[T]hanksgiving comes from love of God, not from outward circumstances.” We share in faith with one another, we are upheld and cared for by the love of one another, and we are called by God into a hope that far exceeds our present reality.

Let us remember those things today and everyday. And let us give thanks for our loving God for the hope to which God has called us. And let us share that thanks with one another and in our prayers to God. And let us do so without ceasing! Thanks be to God! Amen!