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| The Chosen Season 5 Episode 4 Dayenu |
Everything is a gift.
The degree to which we are awake
to this truth is a measure of gratefulness,
and gratefulness
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 we step into this next season of fall, with more than a year of being grateful for what God has done among Emmaus City Church in the past decade, I keep returning again to the word and historic prayer, Dayenu. Lore Ferguson Wilbert provides an introduction for the curious:
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."
+ Lore Ferguson Wilbert,
The Understory
A grace-filled focus on Dayenu was recently reinforced again by what I think is one of the most beautiful scenes The Chosen has ever produced thus far. During Season Five, Episode Four: The Same Coin, there are two scenes that we don't find recorded in the Scriptures, but would be an essential part to the Jewish tradition of celebrating Passover each year.
The first scene is with Jesus and His disciples during Passover, reciting the Traditional Dayenu preserved throughout the millienia (an abridged excerpt is provided below).
Jesus:
John, will you begin the Dayenu
for us?
St. John:
Yes, of course, Rabbi.
If He had brought us out from Egypt,
and not carried out judgement
against them ...
All:
It would have been enough.
St. Simon:
If He had carried out judgements
against them, and
not destroyed their idols ...
All:
It would have been enough ...
St. Philip:
If He had given us their wealth
and had not split the Sea for us ...
All:
It would have been enough.
Zebedee:
If He had split the Sea for us and
had not taken us through it
on dry land ...
If He had supplied us
in the desert for 40 years and
not fed us the manna ...
All:
It would have been enough.
St. Matthew:
If He had fed us the manna,
and had not given us the Shabbat ...
All:
It would have been enough.
St. Thomas:
If He had given us the Shabbat
and not brought us before Mt. Sinai ...
All:
It would have been enough.
Zebedee:
If He had brought us before Mt. Sinai
and not given us the Torah ...
All:
It would have been enough.
St. Philip:
If He had given us the Torah, but
not brought us to the land of Israel ...
All:
It would have been enough.
St. Andrew:
If He had brought us to
the land of Israel and
not built us the Holy Temple ...
All:
It would have been enough.
So many acts of God's rescue, protection, justice, generosity, provision, direction, and more are recorded in the Story of Israel. And in practicing gratitude, the children of God recognized His grace upon grace year after year.
I am becoming more and more aware that I need to look back each year with a posture of Dayenu ... And if You had only (fill in the blank, Lord) ... It would have been enough.
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| Jesus Dayenu in Season 5 Episode 4 of The Chosen |
And then the closing scene to the episode brought the Dayenu to new life in light of Jesus and what it's like to thank Him personally for all that He does for us.
Mary, Mother of Jesus:
If I had only been given the joy
of holding You in my arms
that night in Bethlehem
on a cold ground,
and not been able to see You
perform signs and wonders ...
perform signs and wonders ...
All:
It would have been enough.
St. Mary Magdalene:
If You had performed
signs and wonders and
not called me by name that night ...
All:
It would have been enough.
Eden, Wife of St. Peter:
If You had healed Mary of Magdala
of her demons and not healed my Ima
or called my husband
after Your miracle ...
All:
It would have been enough.
Tamar, Friend of the Paralytic:
If You had called Simon Peter
and not healed my friend ...
All:
It would have been enough.
Martha of Bethany, Sister of Lazarus:
If You had healed Eden
and not raised my brother ...
All:
It would have been enough.
Mary of Bethany, Sister of Lazarus:
If You had raised my brother
and not defended my honor
when I worshipped You ...
All:
It would have been enough.
St. Joanna, Wife of Chuza:
If You had defended Mary of Bethany,
but not given meaning to my life, which
had been so unhappy and unfulfilled
by letting me support and participate
in this miraculous family
that I do believe will change the world ...
All:
It would have been enough.
What is my Dayenu to Jesus?
In relation to the gift of my marriage?
The gift of my family?
The gift of my family?
The gift of my home and neighborhood?
The gift of work and my vocation?
The gift of Emmaus City Church?
Jesus, if You had called me to be
It would have been enough.
Jesus, if we had only formed
It would have been enough.
Jesus, if I only got to be friends
It would have been enough.
Jesus, if I only saw one person
change their life forever ...
It would have been enough.
Jesus, if I only got to serve at
with You and others a few times ...
It would have been enough.
Jesus, if we only celebrated
It would have been enough.
Jesus, if we only had the privilege to
It would have been enough.
Jesus, if You only had us
It would have been enough.
Meditating on Dayenu via the past year and now seeing this episode from The Chosen to begin this new season has been a gift. To close this post, I encourage you to consider a few practices below from a fellow minister in consideration of grace, 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,
At the heart of gratitude 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. 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 and 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."
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."
Christ is all,
Rev. Mike "Sully" Sullivan
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