Everything is a gift.
The degree to which we are awake
to this truth is a measure of gratefulness,
and gratefulness is a measure of our aliveness.
+ Diana Butler Bass
The degree to which we are awake
to this truth is a measure of gratefulness,
and gratefulness is a measure of our aliveness.
+ Diana Butler Bass
As I continue to revel in gratitude for what God has done among Emmaus City Church in the past decade, I keep returning again to the word, dayenu.
Meditating on dayenu has also helped me return to a reflection a fellow minister wrote. Corey Widmer and his family were among the co-founding families of East End Fellowship, one of the congregations that has helped shape Emmaus City Church over the years. A previous post that attests to this is "Skylines & Silhouettes | Worcester, MA + Richmond, VA," which features some of the East End community's story.
But for today, I am reading Corey's words below in consideration of gratitude and how Yeshua (Jesus' name in Hebrew, which means "The LORD saves") invites us with open, wounded hands to have our life sing the song of dayenu.
Dayenu
There is a word used in song
when Yahweh, the LORD, brings His people
through yet another trial.
The word is dayenu,
meaning something along the lines of
"and if nothing else,
it would have been enough."
If the Lord God had merely fed us
during the famine but not given
us a home in Egypt,
it would have been enough.
If the Lord God had given us a home
in Egypt but not kept us
from being enslaved,
it would have been enough.
If the Lord God had brought us out Egypt
but not parted the Red Sea,
it would have been enough.
If the Lord God had parted the Red Sea
but not brought every last one
of us through it,
it would have been enough.
This was their way of saying,
"No matter what the future is,
what You've done for us
is enough."
+ The Understory
pg. 152
Meditating on dayenu has also helped me return to a reflection a fellow minister wrote. Corey Widmer and his family were among the co-founding families of East End Fellowship, one of the congregations that has helped shape Emmaus City Church over the years. A previous post that attests to this is "Skylines & Silhouettes | Worcester, MA + Richmond, VA," which features some of the East End community's story.
But for today, I am reading Corey's words below in consideration of gratitude and how Yeshua (Jesus' name in Hebrew, which means "The LORD saves") invites us with open, wounded hands to have our life sing the song of dayenu.
On Gratitude
“Gratitude is the basis of all holiness.
The most holy person you know
is the most grateful person you know.
To be a saint is to
be fueled by gratitude,
nothing more and nothing less."
is the most grateful person you know.
To be a saint is to
be fueled by gratitude,
nothing more and nothing less."
Ronald Rolheiser,
During a sabbatical a few years ago, I decided to study the subject of gratitude. Over the last few years as I have moved into the solidly “middle age” category, I noticed that I was growing in negativity and cynicism. My life was lacking in joy, an attribute that the Bible overwhelmingly describes as a mark of the mature Christian life. I didn’t see much of it in mine. When I talked to a friend about it, he suggested I work on cultivating gratitude. So during my three months away, I read several books about gratitude, informally “interviewed” some grateful people, and prayed for and sought a grateful heart in my own personal life.
At the heart of gratitude, I’ve learned, is awareness that all of life is grace. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17). Everything is a gift. Air, light, soil, water. Friendship, community, family. Food, wine, coffee (!). We live on a graced planet. Nothing is earned, nothing is deserved. All of life is grace.
And the grace of our Lord is wastefully generous. God could have made one kind of bird instead he made 10,000 species of winged color. He could have made food taste all the same, supplying our need for daily nourishment – instead he created an environment that can produce the likes of curry, jambalaya, and apple pie. He made a world where ants build hills, water falls from the sky, and leaves change colors and regenerate in a matter of months. There is enough wonder and delicious diversity in our world to keep a person in awe for a lifetime.
The degree to which we are aware of this truth is a measure of our gratitude. Plenty of people notice our world, but gratitude goes beyond observation to receiving reality as a gift. It was the original lie of the serpent that God is distant and uncaring, and that we humans should go it alone. This is still the lie that humans believe; in fact, in our culture we are taught that independence and self-sufficiency make for the good life. But the truth is the opposite – dependence on the all-sufficient Father makes for the good life. The grateful person lives in total awareness and reliance on the Father’s good gifts every moment.
A breakthrough came for me
when I realized that gratitude
is not a passive disposition
but a learned habit.
It is a discipline of awareness
to the Father’s grace
and our own response to it.
is not a passive disposition
but a learned habit.
It is a discipline of awareness
to the Father’s grace
and our own response to it.
Paul commands, “Give thanks in all circumstances.” (1 Thess. 5:18). Or just simply, “Be thankful” (Col. 4:2). I think I always considered gratefulness as something that happened to you when a happy, positive circumstance occurred. But Paul suggests exactly the opposite: the discipline of gratitude in the midst of any circumstance leads to joy. It is not the happy person who is grateful – it is the grateful person who is happy, whose eyes are open to the abundance of all things.
So how has this changed my life?
| 1 |
On waking, I let my first words
be words of thanksgiving.
“Thank you Father,
thank you Son,
thank you Spirit ... ”
Waking from sleep and
having a new day to live
in the mercy of the gospel
is an amazing gift in itself.
be words of thanksgiving.
“Thank you Father,
thank you Son,
thank you Spirit ... ”
Waking from sleep and
having a new day to live
in the mercy of the gospel
is an amazing gift in itself.
| 2 |
Then, throughout the day,
I look for cues that prompt thanksgiving.
My friend Bob Stamps taught me
I look for cues that prompt thanksgiving.
My friend Bob Stamps taught me
a simple prayer
to utter every time you experience
even the smallest good:
a text from a friend,
a sip of coffee,
light filtering through the trees.
to utter every time you experience
even the smallest good:
a text from a friend,
a sip of coffee,
light filtering through the trees.
“Hear the praise of this grateful heart”
is a prayer that I now use
innumerable times throughout the day.
is a prayer that I now use
innumerable times throughout the day.
| 3 |
Before bedtime, I try to conduct
a brief review of the day —
the practice of “Examen.”
Doing so helps me remember
the gifts of the day and to
close my hours with thanks.
Doing so helps me remember
the gifts of the day and to
close my hours with thanks.
I don’t always keep these habits,
but even the sporadic discipline of gratitude
has awakened me to the Father’s love
and the gift of ordinary life.
+ Facebook. Widmer, Corey.
"On Gratitude."
Saturday, November 26, 2022,
11:48 a.m.
but even the sporadic discipline of gratitude
has awakened me to the Father’s love
and the gift of ordinary life.
+ Facebook. Widmer, Corey.
"On Gratitude."
Saturday, November 26, 2022,
11:48 a.m.
Christ is all,
Rev. Mike "Sully" Sullivan
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