From the Pastor’s Heart by OP-ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
One member of our prayer group was asked to pray, a prayer of thanksgiving. As he entered into the prayer, I took note of what I call his preface, as he went on to name:
· The onset of winter – the bleakly cold that he noted was on its way to lead us into the flu season.
· The lack of normalcy that has resulted from the election season with seemingly no end.
· The ravaging COVID-19 virus affecting more than 11 Million persons in the United States, and nearly 260,000 dead.
· Other illnesses, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer, now being treated as normal in the face of the pandemic.
After the preface, he gave his thanksgiving list. In his list, he recounted the following blessings:
· Family and friends
· Food to eat
· Freedom to worship
· A church family
· A group in which to pray
· Bodily healing
· Etc.
Though his prayer was short, his list was quite comprehensive. I was so enraptured with his prayer that I have now forgotten some of the items he named. I am very appreciative that he found good reasons to pray with such exuberance amid our dark times, giving thanks to God.
There is a text in the Bible that says, “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18 KJV). I have been meditating on the text and asking how people can say thanks for everything in our present hurt and pain? I have friends who have lost loved ones over the last few weeks, either through COVID-19 or through heart attacks, or strokes, cancer, or other illnesses.
In this pandemic, I know of people who are not even aware of the cause of their loved ones’ death. At best, all they are doing is just guessing at it. In some places, the morgues are overfilled, so trailers are used as refrigerators for dead bodies. Families are standing around the trailers crying, waiting to get the bodies of their loved ones. The volume of dead people is so high that autopsies are not being performed. Yes, the anguish is deep; people are struggling. People are hurting.
The announcement that vaccines are coming cannot bring back the loss of loved ones. As a pastor, when I call families who have lost loved ones, I have to listen for a long time. At times, some individuals I call want to tell me the whole story of how the death occurred and so on. I consider myself a good listener, but I am learning more and more, during this pandemic, to listen without saying much.
At other times, people want to be silent, so I must be sensitive to the need. So if allowed, I say a short prayer and allow them to know that I appreciate their need for silence at the moment. For others who do not wish to speak, I send a text or flowers to show my support level. To each, I make the point that their real source of comfort is in God, no matter what I might say. I do not know that it is easy to formulate a suitable answer for everyone. I cannot tell people to give thanks in their moment of grief. But I hope that someday they will be able to see that “Back of the clouds there is a silver lining.”
The Scriptural passage, I noted earlier, is that one cannot become agnostic or atheistic in the face of darkness; one has to find a way to make meaning. If one loses meaning, then life will end in suicide. To find meaning in life, one has to have faith. One has to hold on to hope in God. Hope means a positive look at the future. I mean, for only in God is there the possibility of ending all the evil we face.
We need to be thankful for the scientific developments of the hour. But in the long term, the best vaccines will not keep us living forever. We have to look beyond the temporal, and find reasons in these times of darkness, to say thanks be to God for his providential hand that is showing glimpses of eternity.
Before his death, the great Gospel singer Andrae Crouch raised a question and found a way to answer. His song is appropriately called My Tribute:
How can I say thanks
For the things You have done for me?
Things so undeserved
Yet You gave to prove Your love for me;
The voices of a million angels
Could not express my gratitude
All that I am and ever hope to be
I owe it all to Thee.
With His blood, He has saved me.
With His power, He has raised me;
To God be the glory
For the things, He has done.
[Bridge:]
Just let me live my life
Let it pleasing, Lord to Thee
And if I gain any praise
Let it go to Calvary.
This means that amid all our pain, we are being invited to make a list of the sunny moments and all the things and persons that have brought happiness to our souls, and give thanks to God for them. As the chorus of one of our Christian hymns says, “Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.” Also remember, “It is God who works in you to will and do of his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13).
