The Roman philosopher Seneca said, “He that urges gratitude pleads the cause both of God and men, for without it we can be neither sociable nor religious.” So today I plead the cause of God and humanity, not because I wish simply to urge us to a general thought of gratitude for all good things in life, but rather to urge us to develop an attitude of gratitude. I take up this topic because gratitude is a commodity in very short supply in contemporary American society, perhaps because we’re not aware of what it means. Let me explain.

Gratitude is an appreciative awareness and thankfulness, as for kindness shown or something received.  It comes from the Latin word for ‘pleasing’ or ‘favorable’ and I think has a lot in common with the word ‘grace,’ which implies unmerited favor. This goes along with the whole attitude idea. When we say of someone, “Well he/she certainly has an attitude,” we’ve put a negative connotation on the word. Attitude simply means a position of the body or manner of carrying oneself indicative of mood or condition. It is a state of mind or feeling with regard to some matter, it’s a disposition. Interestingly, it comes from the same Latin word from which we derive the word aptitude or ability. To have an attitude of gratitude is to have the ability to be appreciative of what one has received.

In our society we have developed, for lack of a better word, an attitude of entitlement rather than that of gratitude. We expect that all things will be given to us because it is our right to have them. In some respects we have come to mirror the experience of Israel when they had begun to take their status as God’s chosen people for granted. Thus, the prophet Joel, along with other prophets, had to call them back to the proper disposition or orientation of gratefulness to God. Thus, Joel tells them, “O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God . . . You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord, your God, who has dealt wondrously with you.”

The prophet, and all the scriptures for that matter, tell stories of reversals. God takes the down and out people of Israel and raises them up to new heights. He does this not because they deserve it, but simply because he loves them and is true to the promises he has made to them. God takes a parched and arid land and turns it into a Promised Land “flowing with milk and honey,” but this bountiful land must be recognized for what it is, a sign that God is in the midst of all life. Israel’s task is to recognize God’s presence in the midst of the harvest and then live out their gratitude by deeds of righteousness in imitation of God’s kindness toward them. God’s action, God’s constant kindness is the food or the early rain that brings forth the fruit of righteousness. For Israel, and for us, here is the groundwork for celebrating thanksgiving: God’s favor and our response to it in an attitude of gratitude.

So, how do we go about developing this attitude of gratitude? First we know what we’re grateful for. Above all, what Christians have to be thankful for is that God wills and works for the salvation of all persons. Salvation means that because of what God has done in Jesus Christ (the message borne by the Church to the rest of the world) humans are being brought to faith and the knowledge of God's truth. The result of the advent of faith and truth in the lives of humans is that their manner of life is transformed. Persons of faith and truth lead respectable, godly, peaceful lives; this is what Paul tells Timothy. This means that order is restored to human existence as humans are brought together under the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Thus Seneca was something of a prophet since this gratitude brings sociability and religion. This harmony among humans is genuinely expressive of the oneness of God, who through Jesus Christ has grasped a once fragmented humanity and brought them together with himself into the context of the new community of faith, which presents itself to the world in God’s gathered people, the church.

Those who experience and know this saving work of God through Jesus Christ find their lives transformed. And as they orient themselves toward God through prayer, they offer God thanks for what has been done and is being done for others (and themselves). A true prayer combining petition and thanksgiving will always tend toward praise and asking God to do more of what has been done rather than toward telling God how to be as good as we would be if we were God. Implicit in this lesson is a denunciation of disorder and particularity that denies and undermines the universal scope of God's concern with all humankind. God is the God of all people and in Jesus Christ God acts to reunite humans with one another as through Christ they are reunited with God. For this we give God thanks in prayer. We begin to develop an attitude of gratitude by becoming a people of prayer.

I can hear you thinking out there. You’re thinking to yourselves, well that’s all very right and good and theological and all, but it doesn’t put a roof over our heads or food on the table. Again, it’s a question of attitude. This is what Jesus addresses in the latter section of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel. When he says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear,” he’s not taking the “don’t worry, be happy” point of view. Rather, he’s talking about developing the proper attitude toward all of life — much like Paul told Timothy and Joel told the Israelites.

Since the teaching of Jesus was preserved by the early Christian community, we can understand that it was in the Church that this teaching had particular meaning, so that Jesus' commandments in Matthew are directed toward shaping the life of the Church, then and now.

Jesus' words about not caring or being concerned with the necessities of life are a radical call to life itself. Jesus' commandment forbids both inactive anxiety and anxious active attempts to secure life through things. The call is disturbing, and it is formulated and repeated in a way that shows it is meant to be so. This is not a call away from common sense and basic prudence; rather it is a call away from an attempt to secure life through human effort, especially in terms of material goods. This is a call to God and godliness—to trust God and therefore to have a godly existence. He’s not telling us, “Take no thought of lunch” and expect that it will magically appear on the table. Rather, he’s asking us to live out of an attitude of trust and gratitude as do the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. Jesus calls the Church to relate to God and to form life out of that relationship. The reality of the relationship is assumed, but our experiencing freedom by living toward God is not. In other words, we can obey or disobey Jesus; it all depends upon our attitude, our disposition.

Three hundred and eighty-three years ago our Pilgrim ancestors arrived on the rocky shores of New England with very little but their trust in God’s Word and covenant promise. We all know the stories of the hardships they faced and how they would all have died had it not been for the kindly ministrations of Squanto and others of the Wampanoag peoples. The Pilgrims worked hard, but they did so in trusting faith knowing that God was in the midst of them. When they experienced a good return on their efforts they decreed a holiday so that they might “after a more special manner, rejoyce together.” They understood that what they had received was a grace and that the best thing they could do was offer gratitude to the God who was in their midst and then live accordingly.