Giving Thanks for DGCC

Next week we celebrate Thanksgiving. The holiday prompts us to do what should be doing “always and for everything” (Ephesians 5:20). Indeed, the Apostle Paul instructs us elsewhere:

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

When preaching on this verse (audio; blog post), I encouraged you to put this into practice by thanking God for:

  • One aspect of salvation,
  • One obvious gift,
  • One clear answer to prayer,
  • One good you are tempted to think you earned or produced,
  • One good you are tempted to think you deserve,
  • One gift you easily overlook, and
  • One difficulty that considered by itself is not good.

In the run-up to the holiday, here are my answers to those prompts, primarily considering the last 22 years of Desiring God Community Church:

One Aspect of Salvation:

Thank You, Father God, that You make rebels deserving of condemnation into Your intimate family, and then delight to do them good, bringing us into the “white-hot enjoyment of Your glory.” Thank You for deepening my joy in You through DGCC.

One Obvious Gift:

Thank You, Father God, for the gift of Jacob as my fellow elder and as my successor Senior Pastor. You answered our prayers so faithfully, beyond what we could ask or imagine, in superintending the search process and in uniting us as elders and as a church under his ministry. Thank You also for the gift of his family, for Amy and Evie and Gigi. Thank You for the way You have complemented Jacob and me through the leadership of Daniel, Wil, and I’John;

One Clear Answer to Prayer:

Beth and I moved to Charlotte in 2002 with little understanding of the challenges ahead and no definite financial support for a church plant. We prayed with friends and family that You would be pleased to plant this church, that You would provide for that church spiritually and financially, that You would send out Your Word through this church. And here we are 22 years later. Thank You for Your grace shown through DGCC.

One Good I am Tempted to Think I Earned or Produced:

Thank You, Father, that this church is faithful to Your Word, is united as one family, and shines with Your Glory because of Your grace and mercy.

One Good I am Tempted to Think I Deserve:

Thank You, Gracious Father, that the members of DGCC respect me, listen to me, seek my counsel, bear with me, encourage me, love me, and pray for me.

One Difficulty that Considered by Itself is Not Good (flipping the order of the last two):

Thank You, Father, for the difficult challenges we faced in DGCC in 2005 and 2007. Painful as they were, You humbled and refined me, and then supported this church so that we together grew in Christlikeness. Thank You for the refreshment and strength You gave to Beth and me through the Desiring God National Conference in 2007, when I was wondering if we could continue.

One Gift I Easily Overlook:

I thank You, Father, for the many who have been part of this church – those who faithfully served, who generously gave, who led in various ways or served behind the scenes, who counseled and wept, who celebrated and rejoiced, who preached and learned, who cleaned and kept the books, who set up and tore down. Following the Apostle Paul in Romans 16 (and, like him, undoubtedly leaving out many I should mention), I thank You:

  • For those early members who worked so hard to begin DGCC: Amanda, Dee, Stacy, Matt, Michelle, Steve, Paula, Court, Linda, Rick, Nathan, Martha, Donna, Jody, Josh, Dana, Earl, Catherine, Jason, Shawnda, Jonathan, Nicole, Tyrone, Sharon, Derek, Damion and Rebecca, the Unsells, Michael and Jessica;
  • Thank You also for the Shanks, Kellers, Johnsons, Mosses, and Teiglands.
  • Thank You for the gift of five sons who worked with effort and joy in those early years to do whatever needed to be done: Jonathan, Thomas, Andrew, Matthew, Joel;
  • For the many children born into DGCC, beginning with Isabelle in August 2003, and the blessing of the many others brought into our church;
  • For David Livingston, for the wise counsel he has given us, the friendship with which he has blessed my family, and his opening up Your Word so many times;
  • For Kenny Stokes, for his devotion to us, his several visits, his vision for the Treasuring Christ Together Network, and his efforts to bring the network into existence and then to flourish;
  • For You, Father, enabling our tag line to become a reality: “A church of the nations with ministries to the nations, both in Charlotte and around the world.” Thank You for the Chinese You brought into the church in the early years, especially Mike and Lily and then Kevin and May. Thank You for the Indians You have blessed us with over the years, especially Sunil and Jerlin, Jonathan, William, George and Trapti. Thank You for the Filipinos, Aileen, Karol, and Fred for his faithful and God-honoring ministry among us. Thank You for the Kiswahili-speaking congregation, beginning with Bruno and then Thierry and Julienne, the Bingolos, Shaba and Mwali, John Felix, and so many more.
  • Thank You for Ty and Carla, for their friendship and hospitality; thank You for the grace You gave through the challenges of Ty’s illness and death; thank You that You have conquered death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.
  • Thank You for the “Taylor girls,” Amanda, Erin, and Erica;
  • Thank You for the dozens of married couples you have brought together, including Josh and Shelley, Andy and Laura, John and Helen, Rachel and Rick, Edward and Carrie, Albert and Natalia, Taylor and Ema, Scotty and Lisa, Blake and Elizabeth, I’John and Bria, Ivan and Stacy, Thomas and Kay, Matthew and Kailie, and now Noah and Sarah;
  • Thank You for Ed and Annette, for their friendship, for their hospitality, for their unwavering support, for their perseverance in witness and in prayer;
  • Thank You for the gift of having so many stay in our home, some for a day or two, some for weeks, including Len, Rachel, Michele, James;
  • Thank You for Amy Meshnick and the gifts of both her music leadership and her loving care for our missionaries;
  • Similarly, thank You for Kristin and her loving, faithful service with internationals and in music;
  • Thank You for sending Albert to us, and his leadership in music beginning the first month he was with us;
  • Thank You for the Suttons, the Taylors, the Timms, the Longs;
  • Thank You for Ray and Tom and Sobe and Selina and Paul and Donna and Rob and Amber and Wes and Jenn and Jarod and Eric and Kari and Matt and Vasti and Dan and Karen and Jeff and Samson and Annet and Maddie and Michael and Liz;
  • Thank You for Karl and Cindy, for so many years of faithful and wise leadership;
  • Thank You for Daniel and Julia, for their partnership in the Gospel and their devotion to leading their family in loving service;
  • Thank You for Michael and Julie, for hours and hours of service behind the scenes, and for their marriage and parenting;
  • Thank You for John Finney, for his week after week service to us and to me;
  • Thank You for Mike and his quiet faithfulness and love for internationals;
  • Thank You for Wil and Katie being members during two stints! For their evident love for you, for their hospitality, for the way their home foreshadows Your future Kingdom.

Thank You, Father, for appointing me to this ministry with these Your people – for the privilege of opening up Your Word week after week and seeing You breaking down barriers, encouraging the fainthearted, and advancing Your cause. Continue, O Father, to build up DGCC for the glory of Your Name and the joy of all peoples.

(To prompt your personal thanksgiving, here is a selection of Bible verses on the topic.)

 

 

Giving Thanks: An Example

[What role does giving thanks have in your life? What role should it have? Over 160 verses in Scripture refer to thanks.  Here is a list of most of them, which I commend for your meditation. Consider these few:

  • Psalm 50:23 The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me.
  • Ephesians 5:18, 20: Be filled with the Spirit . . . giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
  • Colossians 2:6-7   Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (audio of 2022 sermon on this text)

Consider also this quip from G.K. Chesterton: “When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?”

For a period of time, every Monday Beth disciplined herself to record on her former blog items of thanksgiving.  Here is an excerpt from one of those entries from 2010. She reflects on Rachel’s example of a thankful heart, to which we would all do well to pay attention. Consider Beth’s words – and as we celebrate Thanksgiving may we express such thanks! – Coty]

She had major surgery and needed a home in which to recover.  In the beginning, she needed someone to help change incision dressings, prepare healing meals, encourage and comfort through post surgery pain and uncertainty.  She needed an arm to lean on while she slowly climbed the steps and sometimes she needed quiet music, candlelight, and foot rubs.  For three weeks, Rachel stayed here.

While she was in my home, I observed something very special.  Rachel wrote thank you notes. Prodigiously.  From the first week to the last, she wrote them.  In pain and groggy from meds, she wrote them.  In bed, she wrote them.  At the warm, sunny end of the kitchen table, she wrote them.

The EMT’s who arrived in the ambulance and took her to the hospital received notes and cookies.  She was in so much pain when they attended her that night that she had no recollection of who they were, but she called the fire station and got their names from the ambulance log and wrote notes to them.

Her nurses received notes.  She asked at the desk on her hospital floor for all their names and wrote them each a note.

Her doctor and physician’s assistant received notes.  The day of her first follow up appointment, she hand delivered those notes.  The PA smiled broadly, almost dancing upon receiving the envelope, and exclaimed, “This is my first thank you note from a patient!”

When she left our home, everyone here, Coty, Thomas, Joel and I, all received individual handwritten notes.

Her habit of handwritten gratitude puts me to shame and I know I am not alone.  I had a conversation with a friend at church today who admitted that, like me, she often fails to convey her thanks with a handwritten note.

Oh, we mean to do it.  We put “write thank you notes” on our to-do list.  We may even buy thank you cards and stamps.  But we procrastinate, thinking we are too busy at the moment, and time passes.  Finally, so much time passes that we feel embarrassed to write, our failure highlighted by our tardiness.  Perhaps we try to justify our actions by telling ourselves that, well, we said thank you.  They didn’t really expect a note, now, did they?

That EMT certainly didn’t expect a note.  Neither did the PA or the surgeon.  And how often do you think the nurses who measure the urine in the basin or change the colostomy bag get a hand-written note from a grateful patient?

Was that note writing obligatory?  Just the compulsory penning of thanks by a dutiful daughter whose mother taught her well?  Or worse, done because she thought she’d get even better care next time if her care givers got a note this time?  No, no, no!

That note writing was the expression of a heart so filled with thankfulness that it spilled out grateful words across countless little cards.  No detail was forgotten.  No small act of care or kindness done for her was omitted from her written outpouring of thanksgiving.

I am convicted – of my ingratitude, of my procrastination, of the self-centered ways in which I order that aforementioned to-do list to reflect my priorities instead of ordering it according to this admonition….

“in humility, count others more significant than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3)

To fail to give thanks is to set myself above the giver as though I was fully deserving of every gift, as though it were my due.  This dishonors, by failing to recognize and appreciate, the sacrifice and attention of the giver.  If I don’t take the time to say thank you, I have forgotten the giver and thought only of the gift and of myself.

I do this to God and I to it to people.  So very often.

My dear friend’s illness and the way in which she has responded to it has touched many lives.  It has touched mine by giving me the opportunity to observe at close range one who excels in thankfulness.  Rachel’s is an example to follow.  I start by thanking you, Father God, for bringing her, for three precious weeks, into my home.

And more gifts…

  • deepened friendship
  • observation of the generosity of the body of Christ
  • little victories (for Rachel) over new daily tasks
  • children’s voices singing the names of God
  • Kristi’s skillful directing
  • potluck tables filled with good food
  • laughter and fellowship
  • people who pitch in, dry dishes, mop floors, clean bathrooms . . .
  • a helpful little book
  • quiet moments in a busy month

This practice of listing thanks early in the week, of publicly logging thanksgiving for abundant gifts is a marker in my week.  There is another practice that needs to become just as regular – writing my thanks on paper and sending it to those whose generosity graces my life.  There are so many I need to thank.  It’s time to get started.