“A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues.” – Cicero
Let’s be real. We’ve been taught to say “thank you,” but do we really mean it? “Thank you” is our learned response to someone holding a door for us or the barista getting our coffee order right. The same two words can express much greater appreciation for someone who rescues us from an embarrassing situation or even saves us from serious injury. Circumstances dictate how much thought we actually give when we say “thank you.” So, how do we say “thank you” to God?
As the Andraé Crouch song goes, “How can I say thanks for the things You have done for me? Things so undeserved, yet You gave to prove Your love for me ….” For Christians in the U.S., the season of thanksgiving comes as we enter the liturgical foothills of Advent and Christmas, when we remember how God’s people longed for and received God’s greatest gift. That’s what God has done for us. So how do we say thank you? We need words—great words. The hymnal is one place to find them!
A hymn by the British poet Fred Pratt Green has shaped my thanksgiving. The words are deep and rich. The closer you look, the more you’ll discover.
The first stanza thanks God for creation—all creation. Every nation is a gift of God, as is every person who nurtures God’s gifts. But this stanza also thanks God for things that happen when we can’t or don’t see them, and even for God’s provision for the world’s future needs:
For the fruit of all creation, thanks be to God.
For his gifts to every nation, thanks be to God.
For the plowing, sowing, reaping,
silent growth while we are sleeping,
future needs in earth’s safekeeping, thanks be to God.
Stanza 2 challenges us. It’s one thing to say thank you, it’s quite another to live our thankfulness. This stanza takes us straight to Jesus’ twin commands in Matthew 22, “Love the Lord your God … and love your neighbor as yourself.” God works through us—the help we give, the love we show, and the way we share God’s abundance with those who need it most. This challenges us to remember that God’s will knows no limits—no “me first”:
In the just reward of labor, God’s will is done.
In the help we give our neighbor, God’s will is done.
In our worldwide task of caring
for the hungry and despairing,
in the harvests we are sharing, God’s will is done.
The last stanza thanks God for the spiritual gifts we too often take for granted—the good we can find all around us if we look for it, the wonder we can see in God’s creation, and all we have yet to discover. I’m going to save the last line for just a moment.
For the harvests of the Spirit, thanks be to God.
For the good we all inherit, thanks be to God.
For the wonders that astound us,
for the truths that still confound us,
most of all, that love has found us, thanks be to God.
This hymn can be used in many different ways to help nurture thankfulness. It can be a poem for personal devotion. Pray it, line by line, giving space and silence for God to bring specific gifts and blessings to your mind. Or sing it as you begin or end your day, or as grace before a meal.
You can also use this with your ensembles and your congregation. Notice that the text is a litany with a repeated response: “Thanks be to God” in stanzas 1 and 3, and “God’s will is done” in stanza 2. Pray the text at the beginning or end of rehearsals, or use it as an element of worship.
Finally, notice that the hymn is trinitarian. The first stanza gives thanks to God (the Father and Creator), the second incarnates God’s gifts just as they were in Emmanuel—God with us, and the third explicitly names the work of the Holy Spirit.
Now, about that last line—the one that always catches in my throat. We can and should thank God for every good gift, but all God’s other gifts would mean nothing without the gift of God’s love. Thanksgiving is a time to remember that we didn’t stumble upon the love of God by accident. “We love because God first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) This year, more than most, we need great lyrics like these to keep us united in the mind and heart of Christ even as much of the world around us argues and divides. Wars, violence, elections—no matter what may come in the weeks and months ahead, we who follow Jesus know that Love has found us, and Love will never let us go. And for that we say, “Thanks be to God!”
