Look up and give thanks! At least your last name isn’t Butt, Orji, Satan, or my new favorite, Sinner. Yes, all real people.
Is That Gratitude?
If there remains an American civil religion, Thanksgiving week is surely one of its primary rituals. Besides the family gatherings, the donations of meals to struggling neighbors, and Christmas shopping, Americans of many backgrounds take time to share what they’re thankful for.
I write this newsletter on Thanksgiving morning. All is still quiet in my comfortable home. Numerous messages have hit my inbox waiting to be opened. This year, I can’t help but remember something that I think of often: what’s the logic of gratitude without acknowledging a Giver? Can that kind of gratitude have true integrity?
I was already mindful of this question when I came across a curated article from one of my favorite news sources, The Free Press. Many of their contributors share what they’re thankful for. Only one mentioned God. (Ironically, this person has recently written of her conversion.)
It’s always a curious thing to read or hear gratitude expressed about something but not to someone.
Sure, sometimes people will say, “I’m thankful to my parents for their love and support.” Usually such a sentiment morphs into the shorthand, “I’m thankful for my parents.” Or “I’m thankful for the love and support of others.” But typically, times of sharing ends up being a list of things that people are simply “glad about.” They might be glad about their home, their family, their friends, their job, etc. However, I do not think they can accurately and wholeheartedly identify these gratefully, short of embracing the vertical origin of these gifts. In short, gifts are moot without a Giver. And we won’t fully see our possessions as gifts unless we acknowledge one.
Two important caveats accompany this claim.
First, most of what passes for “giving thanks” is nothing more than statements of feeling. As I mention above, when people refuse to acknowledge a Giver, their statements of gratitude are largely reducible to expressing emotional states (i.e., “I’m glad that…”). This ends up being an extension of emotivism—an ethical theory that understands ethics and moral judgments as simply expressions of feeling or attitude. When I say, “This is wrong,” all I’m really saying is, “I don’t like this.” I’m not reporting anything like some kind of objective, moral reality. (There isn’t one!) Similarly, saying “I’m thankful for x” can rings hollow and fleeting without saying, “I’m thankful to y for x.”
Second, I do not mean to say that people don’t experience something like the mental or emotional states associated with gratitude. In the wonderful, common grace of God He has constituted the human mind and body in such a way that some earthly experiences engender awe, wonder, and gratitude. Whether one gazes at a star-studded sky, or holds their firstborn child, unbelievers and believers alike almost invariably experience something like magic. Something physiological happens. Dear reader, hormones are real! But beyond that, God uses all kinds of natural glories to stir something in the soul. Without question, His ultimate design is that we would see His good gifts and glorify Him as their giver. Anything short of that misses what’s most important.
Nevertheless, we have grounds to claim that such experiences, even if they fall short of conversion, have a role in civilization. They serve as a kind of guardrail that keeps human society from being even worse than it already is. A lack of gratitude leads directly to idolatry, and some of its most grotesque forms at that (see Romans 1). I can only infer from Scripture and the dynamics of human experience that fleeting, but regular experiences of gratitude are a means by which God keeps fallen humanity from completely destroying itself. Thus, my comments above about the “American civil religion.” It’s not saving anyone. Most certainly it is deceptive. But even something short of full gratitude is one small way that people remember that their situation in the world is not nearly as bad as it might be otherwise. In fact, people realize that they have done quite well, and they should calibrate their attitude accordingly.
Christians are best positioned to experience, express, and thereby model gratitude for those who assume they somehow deserve the good things they have. Or worse, they assume they brought themselves into existence.
As For Me…
In the spirit of the season—one often driven by hectic schedules, annual observances, and obligatory gatherings—let me briefly mention some of what I’m grateful for.
My Wife
My wife is essential to so much that is good in my life. She is a force for stability, accountability, and domestic well-being. I marvel at how she has grown, and some of the unique things that make her laugh, smile, and enjoy life. I couldn’t ask for a better mother for my children.
My Children
The plural children is the highlight of this one. Two years ago, I had no children. Now I have two. It has been a wild and crazy ride, but a wonderful one. As I write this they have awakened and are now sitting on the floor in front of my chair. Does earthly life get any better than this?
My Friends
We never know which friends will be friends for a season or for a lifetime. It has been both pleasantly surprising and heartbreaking to see how paths converge and diverge. However, the overall picture is one of happiness because of the many people who I call “friend.” More incredible, they call me “friend” back!
Meals That “Sit Well”
Having recently had my gallbladder removed, I’m still figuring out what my new normal will be in the arena of food and digestion. It has been an unpleasant experience, though better than the unpleasantness leading up to the surgery. As a lover of cuisine, I am so grateful for when I eat good food and my body fully agrees.
Good Journalism
I’m grateful for the few reliable, journalistic enterprises in 2023. I have written often about the fact that a faithful remnant of news media outlets still exists. To deny this would be a disservice to the hard work of honest people. To paint the entire enterprise as “the enemy of the people” is to ignore the importance of a free and fair press. Hint: fairness doesn’t mean that you always like what is reported.
Joel Miller’s Thanksgiving Day article calls attention to his appreciation for H. L. Mencken—surely no friend of Christians. Yet his writing makes him one of the best known (and sometimes copied) journalists in American history. I wouldn’t call all of Mencken’s work fair, though it was certainly memorable. But my point in mentioning this is how Miller, a Christian, took time on Thanksgiving to mention what he thought to be good writing.
So, in an age when it’s so hard to figure out what’s actually going, when context is sometimes ignored, when agendas are many, thank God for people who write well, accurately, and fairly about what is happening in the world. We depend on them, like it or not.
A Ton of Unnamed Things
So, I’m not seen to be leaving some other things out, I’ll also say the list is far too long for this newsletter. But I’m not ignorant of the overlooked things, like God’s patience, being able to breathe, indoor plumbing, central heating and air, and many other such blessings.
I conclude with this wonderful quotation from R. J. Snell’s recent meditation, “On Thanksgiving”:
We need not exist. There is no necessity to our being. Nothing we see or enjoy must exist. It all comes, in the end, from the generous, needless, act of God who seeks to communicate and diffuse goodness as widely as possible.
Follow-Up:
In last week’s newsletter I explored the subject of Israel. I fully acknowledge that I raised as many questions as I answered! Well, the timing of a new series of articles at the Gospel Coalition is providential. They offer three perspectives on Israel and the land from G.K. Beale, Darrell Bock, and Gerald McDermott. It’s an excellent opportunity to sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, and work through these with your Bible in hand. These three faithful scholars’ arguments deserve our attention.
What I’m Reading (or Rereading):
James Davison Hunter and Paul Nedelisky, Science and the Good: The Tragic Quest for the Foundations of Morality.
John Gray, Seven Types of Atheism.
Quote of the Week:
We are simply less likely to trust people until we have had an opportunity to know them, especially when choosing our leaders. We want to know them—their personalities, their motives, their goals, their struggles—the list could go on. Be knowable. One of the biggest mistakes pastors make is thinking that a false demand for “professional distance” precludes us from having friends in the church. You are a sheep, too—you need relationships just as much as anyone else does. That is the nature of the church—it is a godly web of mutually sanctifying familial relationships.
Mark Dever, How to Build a Healthy Church.
Common Grace Wisdom: Honesty and Nuance from an Atheist
John Gray is an interesting philosopher and author who I have learned of this year. Lately I’ve been reading his work Seven Types of Atheism. I’m not far enough into the book to form a firm opinion on it, but so far it has been filled with helpful gems, the type one is hard-pressed to find among the atheistic intelligentsia today. Here are a couple:
“Science cannot replace a religious view of the world, since there is no such thing as ‘the scientific worldview’.”
“The new atheists have directed their campaign against a narrow segment of religion while failing to understand even that small part.”
On My Mind: Year-End Meetings
Most people with organizational leadership duties dread this time of the year. They’re not worried about the Christmas tree, the gifts, or egg nogg. They’re worried about surviving the evaluations, reports, and decisions to be ratified so they can turn their attention to other things. Best wishes to the rest of you!
And yes, I am grateful for the stewardship of leadership I’ve been entrusted with!