Thanksgiving?

How do you offer thanksgiving?

Polite manners beseech us to say “please” and “thank you.”  Refined is our nature when we pen a note to say “thank you” for this kindness or that remembrance.  These social niceties are, well, nice.

What of when the thanksgiving is rooted in a more profound place, phenomenon, or person?

How you offer thanksgiving when so motivated?

In the gospel of Mark, chapter 1, verse 31 we see such a thanksgiving.  The text reads (NRSV)  “¹He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.”  Jesus heals Peter’s mother-n-law who then serves Jesus and the others.

Did Peter’s mother-n-law serve them because she was told to do so by the one who healed her?  The text does not imply such an explanation.  

Did Peter’s mother-n-law serve them because she was set free of the fever / sick bed and chose to return to her gifted participation in the community as hostess?  Very likely and the thought of my sermon on February 8, 2015.

Did Peter’s mother-n-law serve them because she was offering her thanksgiving?  A complimentary thought to the one just previously offered.  Having been healed by the touch of God’s son, Jesus, the natural response is to offer thanksgiving.  This woman offered thanksgiving by serving them.  

How do you offer thanksgiving?

Were you to be set free of obstacles, restored to community, healed of illness, etc . . .

How do you offer thanksgiving?  It is your choice . . .

If you wonder what God would prefer you do offer as thanksgiving, let me share a quote from Frederick Buechner: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

I invite you to ponder Buechner’s words and the cause of your thanksgiving.