Thanks to Think About
“What is impossible with men is possible with God,” we heard Jesus say at the conclusion of today’s Gospel reading, the encounter between Jesus and the rich ruler (Luke 18:18-27). And I say, Thank God for that! Otherwise, there wouldn’t be much hope for us. So, yes, thank God. And once again this week families and friends will gather to share a hearty meal together and offer thanks for all their blessings.
Contemporary icon of the encounter between Jesus Christ and the rich ruler. From the website: https://orthodoxcityhermit.com/tag/rich-young-man/ 
An older icon, perhaps Armenian, of Jesus and the Rich Ruler.
Families and friends, the core of society. Interesting, though, that Jesus hardly ever spoke about families or friends. Probably because it’s a given. Loving one’s family and friends is natural, part of human nature to do, so Jesus really didn’t have to say much about it. No, he instead always spoke about the neighbour. Who is my neighbour, some people asked Jesus. And he told them. He also tells us!
Who is my neighbour? The drug addict down the street. The homeless veteran who stands at the corner of Deering Oaks begging for money. The asylum seeker who lives in daily fear of being sent back. The elderly widow who lives alone. Neighbours all around us! What do they give thanks for? The homeless veteran is thankful for every dollar he receives from a passing car. The asylum seeker is thankful for each day that authorities don’t come knocking at the door. The widow is thankful for each morning that she wakes up and is able to walk and for each month that she receives her social security check. The drug addict? I don’t know what he gives thanks for, to be perfectly honest. Perhaps I should get to know him so I can learn what he is thankful for.
And that is the key, isn’t it, dear friends? We have to get to know our neighbours. That’s the only way that we will avoid forming quick judgments about people, even drug addicts or people we disagree with.
Here is Christ’s challenge to us today. He might not be asking any of us to sell everything and give it to the poor. Or at least I hope he’s not asking that! No, maybe he’s just asking us to open our hearts, to give our compassion away, SO THAT OTHERS CAN OFFER THANKS FOR US!!
Who will be thankful for us this week? Besides our families and friends? Oh, I know, Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy, L. L. Bean – they’ll all be thankful for us. Very thankful. But will anyone else? Will the homeless veteran? Will the widow? Will the asylum seeker? Will the drug addict?
Perhaps the challenge for us this week and for every week of the year is to make it possible for others – OTHERS! – to be thankful for us. And please understand, this is not about looking for thanks. I’m not talking about people thanking you or me or us. No, no, don’t look for thanks. That’s not the Christian way. The Christian way is for all thanks to be directed to God. My hope is that people – some of whom you or I don’t know – will want to thank God for you! For me. For us!
Giving thanks to God is one of the holiest ways of praying. Our Liturgy is eucharistia – thanksgiving. We offer thanks to God year-round, not just on one Thursday in November. The communion of which you partake every Sunday is eucharist – the English form of eucharistia. It’s all thanksgiving to God. Listen to the prayers, how often we thank God. So imagine how beautiful and how everlasting it is for someone – someone especially that you don’t know – for someone to give thanks to God FOR YOU. How beautiful, how holy, for people to give thanks to God for us, for our community, this church of Christ. It is so much deeper and more godly to offer thanks for us than to thank us.
And I thank God for you all today, for your faithfulness, your stewardship and for all you do for your church community and for all God’s people and all the neighbours that God places in your path every day.
Thank you Father Constantine for that message, it’s a very nice reminder for us all to give thanks for what we have every day!