We Gather Together

Martha Hodges - 2005-11-20

Homily: "We Gather Together"

Nov. 20, 2005

In a world at war, where each day brings fresh evidence of the human capacity for cruelty, deception and greed, how can we be thankful? How can we celebrate our abundance when children starve, or rejoice in friendship and family when so many are alone and afraid? How do we reconcile these two seemingly irreconcilable truths -- that the world is benign and loving, with plenty for all, and that the world is indifferent to suffering, a battlefield on which all of creation fights for survival?

I wish I had an answer. I do know that despair is not the human destiny. And I do know that gratitude is a spiritual practice, just as is the open-eyed and openhearted facing up to the reality of suffering.

There is wisdom in the universal human custom of affirming goodness and hope. There is wisdom in the timing of this season of celebration. Our Thanksgiving is a harvest festival, but it is also a time when we take comfort in the light and warmth of the hearth as darkness and cold grow. It is an affirmation of community and our covenant to care for one another; when snow and ice threaten to isolate us, hospitality assumes greater meaning.

Similarly, in times of metaphorical darkness, when we are reminded daily of our human failures to care for one another and even nature seems to be responding to our abuse with earthquakes and storms that cause unimaginable suffering -- in such times, the practice of gratitude becomes not irrelevant or naive, but essential.

There is no greater antidote to despair than thankfulness. Thankfulness is available to us at all hours -- in the dark nights of our souls as well as in the brilliant sunshine of confidence and love. Not a pollyanna-ish or shallow optimism, but a deeply felt and fought for recognition of all that makes life bearable.

I invite you and encourage you to make this a part of your lives. Thankfulness on a day like today is not so hard -- at least for most of us, provided that our lives are not beset with great losses, or depression that drains us of strength and the capacity for enjoyment. But what about the rest of the year, those everyday days when monotony or frustration make it difficult to find reasons for gratitude? That is when it is even more important to literally “count our blessings.”

Try it. Before you fall asleep tonight, think of, oh, say, five things that happened today for which you are grateful. A good cup of coffee. A joke someone told you. A hot shower, a song, a cloud, a cardinal on your balcony, the feel of clean sheets. Or that you got through another day without a major illness, a major fight, or a major disappointment. Such moments of grace do not take on significance until we acknowledge them for what they are.

And among the graces for which we wisely give thanks this day is the company of one another in this religious community. For batter or worse, in good times and bad, we have each other and we have covenanted to stick together -- in good times and bad, for better or worse. This is no small thing to celebrate. May we remind ourselves that this community, this church, this faith, are with us all the days of the year, and for this, may we be truly thankful.