Soul Force

Thanksgiving is for Everyone

Rev. Paul Sprecher

Second Parish in Hingham, www.secondparish.org

November 22, 2009

I was looking for a story about gratitude from among some of the ones I’ve collected about our seven principles; unfortunately, our principles don’t include a call for gratitude. There is one reference to gratitude in our principles and purposes at the front of the hymnal; at the end it says: “Grateful for the religious pluralism which enriches and ennobles our faith, we are inspired to deepen our understanding and expand our vision. So, as Unitarian Universalists, we draw inspiration from many religious sources to help enrich our religious understanding, and I kept on looking.

I discovered that gratitude is in fact at the heart of all religions, including ours. In some ways, gratitude is very simple – it’s just as easy as waking up in the morning and saying “Here we are – Hurray!” Some of you know that my wife Deedee & I have a new puppy in our house – and some of you have met our Annie. It’s wonderful to watch her greet every day as an adventure. Mary Oliver tells stories in poetry about her dog Percy; here’s one of them,

I Ask Percy How I Should Live My Life (Ten)

Love, love, love, says Percy.

And run as fast as you can

along the shining beach, or the rubble, or the dust.

Then, go to sleep.

Give up your body heat, your beating heart. Then, trust.

What is the greatest gift?

Could it be the world itself—the oceans, the meadowlark, the patience of the trees in the wind?

Could it be love, with its sweet clamor of passion?

Something else—something else entirely

holds me in thrall.

That you have a life that I wonder about

more than I wonder about my own.

That you have a life—courteous, intelligent—

that I wonder about more than I wonder about my own. That you have a soul—your own, no one else's—

that I wonder about more than I wonder about my own. So that I find my soul clapping its hands for yours

more than my own.1

But there ARE days when gratitude and joy are the farthest things from our minds. I wonder how many of you kids and grownups here know the story of ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY? It’s been around for over 30 years, so I expect some of you know it and have read it. Here’s a little taste:

“Alexander He could tell it was going to a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. He went to sleep with gum in his mouth and woke up with gum in his hair. When he got out of bed, he tripped over his skateboard and by mistake dropped his sweater in the sink while the water was running. He could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Nothing at all was right. Everything went wrong, right down to Lima beans for supper and kissing on TV. What do you do on a day like that? Well, you may think about going to Australia. You might also be glad to find that some days are like that for other people, too.”2

Yes, we all have days like that – even Moms and Dads and grandparents, hard though they may try to protect kids from knowing that they’re having those days. One thing to know about days like that is it can seem that one bad thing leads to another and that to another and so on – sort of like a line of dominos falling one after the other. We even have a name for that cascade of bad things – we call it a “vicious circle.” Sometimes it seems that we can’t do anything about that but to go to bed and hope for a better day tomorrow. But there is something we can do; instead of thinking more and more about all the bad things that keep happening, we can start to count up some good things we can remember and then give thanks for them, we can turn the circle around and then, almost like magic, we can create the opposite – what we could call a “virtuous circle.” So that’s one secret about gratitude. Here’s another secret: Jesus said that “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” That means you will be blessed – made happy and content – when you give to others. Combine these two secrets – give thanks and prepare to give – and you get the real spirit of Thanksgiving.

Song: #1010 “Oh We Give Thanks”

Kids: Hand out Guest at Your Table boxes.

Here’s a story I found about gratitude that might help us get ready for Thanksgiving. It’s called The Stone Cutter, by Anthony de Mello:

Once upon a time there was a stone cutter. Each day, he went up to the mountains to cut stones. And while he worked he sang, for though he was a poor man, he desired no more than he had, so he had not a care in the world.

One day, he was called to work on the mansion of a nobleman. When he saw the magnificence of the mansion, he experienced the pain of desire for the first time in his life, and he said with a sigh, `If only I were rich! Then I would not have to earn my living in sweat and toil as I do now'

Imagine his astonishment when he heard a voice say, 'Your wish has been granted. Henceforth, anything you desire will be given to you.' He did not know what to make of the words till he returned to his hut that evening and found in its place a mansion as magnificent as the one he had been working on. So the stone cutter gave up cutting stones and began to enjoy the life of the rich.

One day, when the afternoon was hot and humid, he happened to look out of his window and saw the king go by with a large retinue of noblemen and slaves. He thought, 'How I wish I were a king myself, sitting in the cool of the royal carriage!' His wish was promptly carried out and he found himself reclining in the comfort of the royal carriage. But the carriage turned out to be warmer than he had assumed it to be. He looked out of the carriage window and began to marvel at the power of the sun, whose heat could penetrate even the thick walls of the carriage. 'I wish I were the sun,' he said to himself. Once again his wish was granted and he found himself sending out waves of heat into the universe.

All went well for a while. Then on a rainy day, he attempted to pierce through a thick bank of clouds and could not. So he got himself changed into a cloud and glorified in his power to keep the sun away — till he turned into rain and found, to his annoyance, a mighty rock that blocked his path, so he was obliged to flow around it.

`What?' he cried. 'A mere rock more powerful than I? Well, then, I wish to be a rock.' So there he was standing tall upon a mountainside. He barely had time to rejoice in his fine figure, however, when he heard strange chipping noises proceeding from his feet. He looked down, and to his dismay, found a tiny human being sitting there engaged in cutting chunks of stone from his feet.

`What?' he shouted. 'A puny creature like that more powerful than an imposing rock like me? I want to be a man!' So he found he was once again a stone cutter, going up into the mountain to cut stone, earning his living in sweat and toil — but with a song in his heart, because he was content to be what he was and to live by what he had.3

Now, I want to be very careful not to be advising anyone that the world is always fair, or that there isn’t injustice anywhere, or that we live in the best of all possible worlds and no one should ever complain. What I’m talking about is much more personal, much more about how we as individuals choose to live our lives, about how we can increase the happiness we experience in our own lives. There are lots of things that need changing, but for each of us the path toward being able to experience life to the full starts with gratitude, with being content to be what we are and live with what we have. It is for that reason we gather each year to give thanks and to remind ourselves of all the things we can be grateful for.

I’d like to close by inviting you to join me in another unison reading; please turn to #484 in your hymnals, a reading by William Henry Channing, nephew of William Ellery Channing.

To live content with small means;

To seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion;

To be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich;

To study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly;

To listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart;

To bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never.

To let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common.

This is to be my symphony.

A symphony indeed!

Amen www.secondparish.org