The Preacher’s Study
Thoughts about Thanksgiving Day’s sermon
Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Philippians
4:4-9; John 6:25-35
John W.B. Hill
The first
reading defines the character of true thanksgiving. It begins in narrative, the story of how we
got here; it moves on to an act of offering and blessing God; and it ends in
receiving — and sharing with others — a blessing from God. It is narrative like this that anchors us in
the awareness of our own contingency, that prevents us from taking the
circumstances of our lives for granted or becoming greedy and possessive of
gifts we were meant to share. Without
such awareness, we fall prey to the spirit of acquisitive consumerism; we
become lackeys of the predatory corporations that plunder the earth.
Jesus’
encounter with the crowd who were obsessed with the ‘great picnic’ explores
this critical issue of our existence. If
we have fallen captive to the prevailing consumerist world view, we too will
end up “working for the food that perishes,” setting our hearts on stuff that
cannot satisfy. Consumerism is actually
built upon this phenomenon; we are enticed into a cyclical pattern of
behaviour: shopping (which titillates desire and makes the heart race),
purchasing (which satisfies the desire, temporarily), and then detaching (which
makes it possible for the cycle to continue).
If there were no detaching, the consumer economy would collapse. Detachment begins when the shine wears off
the purchase, and is complete as soon as we hear the announcement of the new
and improved model (or see the new fashions for the upcoming season).
But Jesus
invites us to recognize in this pattern of unfulfilled desire the intimation of
a higher good, one that will satisfy;
“it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who
gives you the true bread from heaven . . . I am the bread of life.” As C.S. Lewis observed, “Our problem is not
that our desires are too strong; our desires are too weak.”
It is our
Jewish brothers and sisters who have lived within the narrative of God’s
salvation longer than the rest of us; and they sing a song in their Passover
Seder that expresses the spirit of thanksgiving with a reckless charm unmatched
by any of our tamer Christian thanksgivings.
Here are some verses of the Dayenu song:
If He had
supplied our needs in the desert for forty years,
and had
not fed us the manna,
it would
have sufficed us!
If He had
fed us the manna,
and had
not given us the Sabbath,
it would
have sufficed us!
If He had
given us the Sabbath,
and had
not brought us before Mount Sinai,
it would
have sufficed us!
If He had
brought us before Mount Sinai,
and had
not given us the Torah,
it would
have sufficed us!
If He had
given us the Torah,
and had
not brought us into the land of Israel,
it would
have sufficed us!
Christians
might add,
If He had
given us his own Son,
and had
not brought him again from the dead,
it would
have sufficed us!
If He had
brought him again from the dead,
and had
not poured out his Spirit upon us,
it would
have sufficed us!
If He had
poured out his Spirit,
and had
not given us to the world as sign of His love,
it would
have sufficed us!
How else,
apart from this spirit of thankfulness, could we explain a letter written from
prison that calls us to rejoice, to be gentle, to abandon anxiety, and to live
in God’s peace?
John Hill is a presbyter in
the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC). A member of APLM Council, John also serves
as president of Liturgy Canada. He chairs the Primate’s Task Force on
Hospitality, Christian Initiation and Discipleship Formation in the ACC.
The painting featured at the
top of this post is “Loaves and Fishes,” by Chelle Fazal. Her artwork is
available for purchase at http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/chelle-fazal.html
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