Give Thanks?....For what? 2010 stunk!

 *Note - the following talk was delivered to the people of The Community Church of Lake Forest/Lake Bluff on Dec. 26, 2010. This is the community I wrote about in the 6th chapter of my latest book, The Way of Jesus: Re-Forming Spiritual Community in a Post-Church Age. It was one of the most difficult sermons I've ever delivered. It was extremely humbling and at several points I burst into tears. But I wouldn't trade the chance to say these things to these amazing people for anything. I hope these words mean something to you as well...

2010 was one tough year, a forgettable year that most of us will probably never forget. The reasons it was tough for me are many. For one thing, I made less money in 2010 than I have ever made in my entire adult life. That’s 25 years – although some who know me might want to debate that I’ve actually been an adult that long. Second, I had to go from seeing my one and only daughter from 100% of the time to only 45%. I also lost not only my health insurance, but even the ability to afford any sort of replacement policy. And to top it all off, it was less than 10 days after losing my insurance that I took this idiotic, inexplicable fall, resulting in an emergency room visit, three different casts, two specialists, surgery, and all the other glorious things that come with it.

I’m sure you have your own stories of what made your 2010 one of the toughest years ever.

And yet what I’d most like to talk with all of you about today, believe it or not, is giving thanks…being grateful. Why? Why in the world, in the midst of all the cruddy circumstances of 2010 would I or anyone want to talk about giving thanks?

YOU! It’s because of you, the people of The Community Church of Lake Forest and Lake Bluff that I have to stand before you today to talk about giving thanks. I told you most of the story about my year, my fall, and how the loss of insurance complicated things. As sure as death and taxes,  within a few weeks of the surgery, the medical bills started rolling in. But the part I didn’t tell you was that I started getting something else in my mail on a regular basis…cards from people I didn’t even know with Lake Bluff and Lake Forest return addresses…with checks inside. These checks would eventually total more than $3500! That paid for more than half of my medical bills with enough left over for me to purchase a catastrophic health plan that will actually help with most of the remaining balance. So if you want to know why a guy who has been through what I have this year would want to talk about giving thanks, you folks will have to look in the mirror. It is what YOU all did that allows me to stand here – STAND here without crutches – full of overwhelming gratitude. Thank you.

The second reason I need to talk with you today about being thankful is that as a follower of Jesus, I am called to give thanks. Our passage for the morning, I Thessalonians 5:16-18 says this: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Followers of Jesus are called to give thanks not FOR all circumstances but IN all circumstances. Sometimes, such as in years like 2010, that requires a little digging, digging under the surface crap that assaults us until we find who or what it is that is pulling us through our tough times. Giving thanks is a spiritual discipline for the Christ follower, a practice, a muscle that we’ve got to use or it will atrophy and stop working altogether. I have instituted a version of this spiritual practice that I call “gratitude walks,” where I simply take a walk in which I list everything in my life for which I am grateful. My prayer life has struggled this tough year; my scripture reading has been up and down; my worship practice has floundered; but my gratitude exercises have remained strong.

It’s important to note here that I have NOT been a grateful, thankful person my whole life. Most those who have known me for any length of time would tell you that I’ve spent much of my life being the opposite of a grateful person. But in the last few years in general and this last year in particular – and largely thanks to all of YOU – I have a genuine and pervasive attitude of gratitude. I have learned that there are ALWAYS people and things to be thankful for, even and especially in times of darkness. There are always hands that uphold us, shoulders that sustain us, and the prayers and actions of faithful friends that undergird us. For me, YOU have been those hands, those shoulders, those prayers and actions, and so I say again – Thank you!

While I was driving down here from Northern Michigan yesterday, I was listening to an old Dave Matthews Band disc. There’s a song of his called “Jimi Thing” that includes this line: “If you could keep me floating just for awhile, till I get to the end of this tunnel…” And it began to occur to me that maybe that is what we’re all here for. Maybe THAT is what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown! To keep one another afloat…just for awhile, till we get to the end of this tunnel. Maybe that is precisely what we’re here for – to invest in people rather than in things – to help those people who are struggling just to stay afloat, to keep them afloat long enough for them to get through life’s tunnels.

I’m here to talk about giving thanks because that is exactly what you, the people of the Community Church have done for me in 2010. But let’s remember, you’ve also been doing the very same thing for hundreds of Ughandan children and for countless people right here in your own community. And we both know that even right here in beautiful, well manicured Lake Forest and Lake Bluff there are plenty of people who are struggling to stay afloat. Thank God you have been there for them, keeping them floating for awhile.

But do you know what the best part of what you’ve done for me in 2010 is…? It’s that as I emerge from my tunnel and get to the point where I can swim on my own again, I can’t wait to throw my life preserver to someone else who needs help floating, just for awhile. That is what 2011 needs to be about and will be about for me – being grateful enough and aware  enough to see and reach out to someone else, empowered by the 2010 experience you have given me.

I think it was St. Augustine who said, “If the only prayer we ever uttered was the two words ‘Thank you,’ it would be enough.” It would be enough. Ok, so maybe 2010 wasn’t the greatest year of my life or of yours. But that is no reason not to be thankful. Thankful for what…?  Well, who saw you through 2010?…Who stayed by your side?…Who kept believing in you?…Who didn’t lay you off or let you go?…Who invested in you?…What did you learn from 2010?

So, my brothers and sisters in my home away from home church, “Seek to do good to one another and to all…rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in ALL circumstances, for this is God’s will in Christ Jesus for you.

Amen…and Thank you!