“Let us not think we have created ourselves,
as proud princes do.”
— Dr. Doug Ottati, quoting Martin Luther.
Dear Caldwell,
A few weeks ago I was invited by Chris William, host of Carolina Business Review, to be a part of a show focused on gratitude. Together with a major non-profit CEO, a Christian counselor, a Davidson College professor and Chris, we enjoyed a wide-ranging dialogue of where we encounter gratitude, how a spirit of gratitude can lift others and, perhaps most important, the object of our gratitude. (The half-hour program airs Friday night at 8 or can be seen here.)
As people of faith, it’s that last one that calls the question: Are we, ourselves, to thank for all that is good in our lives? Or is our gratitude to begin – and end – beyond ourselves? It has become a cliche to say that we should adopt “an attitude of gratitude.” However, that’s a worthwhile approach to life — if our gratitude is placed in the One whom Thomas Aquinus called “the maker and giver of all good things.”
On the program we taped, Doug Ottati, professor of Reformed Theology and Justice Ministry, offered the quote above this post from Martin Luther. Five hundred years later, spiritual writer Frederick Buechner put it this way:
“Some think of a Christian as one who necessarily believes certain things. That Jesus was the son of God, say. Or that Mary was a virgin. Or that the Pope is infallible. Or that all other religions are all wrong.
Some think of a Christian as one who necessarily does certain things. Such as going to church. Getting baptized. Giving up liquor and tobacco. Reading the Bible. Doing a good deed a day.
Some think of a Christian as just a Nice Guy.
Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). He didn’t say that any particular ethic, doctrine, or religion was the way, the truth, and the life. He said that he was. He didn’t say that it was by believing or doing anything in particular that you could “come to the Father.” He said that it was only by him – by living, participating in, being caught up by, the way of life that he embodied, that was his way.
Thus it is possible to be on Christ’s way and with his mark upon you without ever having heard of Christ, and for that reason to be on your way to God though maybe you don’t even believe in God.
A Christian is one who is on the way, though not necessarily very far along it, and who has at least some dim and half-baked idea of whom to thank. A Christian isn’t necessarily any nicer than anybody else. Just better informed.”
“A Christian is one who is on the way, though not necessarily very far along it, and who has at least some dim and half-baked idea of whom to thank.” I’ve always liked that line. Whom do you thank, at the end of the day?
As we wrap up 2015 and look ahead to 2016, it is a good time to reorient ourselves to the true source of all that is good in our lives, the same source of our strength when life brings its share of challenges and doubts. I invite us all to find time in the 24/7 Prayer Room in the Price Building (front door) for that. The gift of 2016, whatever it holds, is one in which we can live out our gratitude in response to God’s grace. That’s a pretty good place to start.
These are, after all, the days of Christmas, when we sing verses like this from “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”
O holy Child of Bethlehem, Descend to us we pray:
Cast out our sin and enter in, Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels, The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide in us, Our Lord Emanuel!
Look for Caldwell this Week on Friday and make plans to be in worship on Sunday, as we will receive the gift of a sermon by Caldwell friend, Rev. Dr. Steve Shoemaker.
In Christ,
John