Thank You for Me

Psalm 138   |   2/7/2010

Random acts of kindness? Don’t think so. The psalmist suggests that gratitude is a very intentional act.

It’s midwinter, and you have the seasonal doldrums. And today, you aren’t interested in the Super Bowl because your team ended the season with a 5-and-11 record. Or something. You aren’t happy.

But now you can be, thanks to Sonja Lyubomirsky’s The How of Happiness. Twenty years of psych research led Lyubomirsky to a scientific approach to our culture’s elusive pursuit of happiness. Slicing happiness up like a pie, she claims there are three major pieces to a cheerful makeup.

Fifty percent of our happiness comes from disposition in our DNA. We are Tigger or Eeyore based more on Mom and Dad than anything else. Like the thermostat on the wall, our temperament has a preset temperature.

Surprisingly, only 10 percent of happiness comes from our life circumstances. A raise at work. The kids’ good grades. Having a cute guy in the church group ask us out.

Looking at newlyweds and lottery winners, researchers have found that people almost always return to their genetic dispositional set points after life events spike their joy. Those kinds of events come and go, and they provide little lasting change in overall life temperament.

Lyubomirsky claims that we have control over the remaining 40 percent of our happiness. That huge slice of the pie represents our thoughts, attitudes and actions. And they can be managed through happiness-fostering habits.

University of Wisconsin researcher Richard Davidson concurs. After studying the brains of Buddhist monks, he found that people can show markedly higher reports of happiness after two weeks by merely thinking about kindness and compassion for 30 minutes a day.

But Lyubomirsky isn’t just taking another lap around the well-trodden path of the power of positive thinking. She adds the power of positive being.

Certain behaviors will lead to certain attitudes — or vice versa — and habits of both will increase and maintain our happiness over time. Lyubomirsky suggests 12 patterns that promote cheers over jeers, including forgiveness, avoiding social comparisons, nurturing deep relationships, taking care of your body and even practicing religion and spirituality.

Is science playing nice with faith?

Looks like it. At the top of Lyubomirsky’s research-proven list is Psalm 138. Well, not exactly. But this is where your sermon is heading.

Her number one happiness habit is being appreciative. Fostering an attitude of gratitude. Not just feeling but expressing thankfulness.

Writing a thank-you note to your favorite high-school teacher, telling who he or she helped you become. Counting your blessings and literally listing them until your haves overwhelm your have-nots. Calling the “How’s my driving?” hotline when a driver is courteous.

Lyubomirsky cites a study in which one group of people listed five things they were thankful for. They did this weekly for 10 weeks. Comparison groups in the study wrote different kinds of weekly lists — “five major events,” “five hassles this week,” etc. The “thankful” group reported more happiness and contentment than did the comparison groups. They even reported improved health in the form of fewer headaches and coughs.

Skip the doc. Just say “thanks” more.

In pay-it-forward fashion, people we intentionally thank will also experience increased happiness. Expressing gratitude is the stone thrown into the flat water. It creates a ripple that affects everything around it.

It appears that looking out for numbers two through 10 is really looking out for number one.

“Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty” exhorts the fluffy, new-age bumper sticker.

“No!” Lyubomirsky would say.

Don’t make your acts random and senseless. Make them planned, intentional and habitual. Attach them to people around you so you can infect them with happiness also.

We can think of this as a halo of happiness. Gratitude first impacts its giver and then radiates through the receivers. Kindergarten teachers love to give out gold star stickers and smiley face stamps because of the joy that recognition creates in their kids.

Although God may appreciate Lyubomirsky’s science — “all truth is God’s truth” — God’s probably smiling a told-you-so grin. Gratitude is a mainstay of biblical virtue.

Research shows that expressing gratitude brings joy to the giver but also radiates happiness to people around them. The first two movements of Psalm 138 work similarly, and the poem ends with the justification for all the gracious gushing:

• David’s personal thanksgiving (vv. 1-3)

• Communal thanksgiving (vv. 4-6)

• Why God should be thanked (vv. 7-8)

Your sermon can capture those themes. Take David’s example and turn it into a very applicational and experiential sermon.

Who should I thank?

The Bible’s history books tell the psalm’s possible back stories. David was plucked from obscurity to be anointed king. God empowered David to kill the giant and become a military hero. David’s life was continually spared as he ran from Saul and his headhunters. He was given power and privilege — then unmerited grace when he abused them.

We could go on and on. Although scholars don’t agree on which experience verse 3 alludes to, the real point is that it could refer to a list of items longer than Santa gets at the mall each year. David had tons to thank God for.

But don’t we as well?

Perhaps you can lead people through a worship response after teaching the psalm. Supply pens and paper and give people five minutes of silence to list the things they’re thankful to God for.

Then whenever those things involved ways God provided through someone else, encourage people to come up with a plan to express that gratitude to them as well.

Another Lyubomirsky study found that people who wrote and delivered letters of appreciation to those they had never formally thanked caused their own happiness to remain elevated for as long as a month afterward.

Expressing gratitude is the new Guinness beer: “It’s not just good; it’s good for you!”

Who should we thank?

David calls for corporate praise of God. God’s words are worthy of celebration (v. 4). His ways merit joyous and emotive expression — songs of praise (v. 5).

Your worship pastor or music leader can use these verses to set up the singing for that morning. Work together to pick music with lyrics that reflect thanksgiving for the ways God has acted on our behalf.

The moments of worship that morning are an actual homily on this psalm enacted.

David was clearly praising God and not people, but it’s still appropriate to move our corporate appreciation toward the people God uses as his agents.

No, not you. Clergy Appreciation Day isn’t until October. Back to the grind until then!

We’re talking about volunteers.

Many well-intentioned Christians — valuing the appropriate sacrifice and modesty of service — miss opportunities to recognize, celebrate and thank those who are extending kingdom values inside and beyond our churches.

The greatest pay for a volunteer is recognition. A personal e-mail. A phone call. A real, old-fashioned personal letter. A mention in the sermon. Dinner at your house. Looking them in the eye or hugging them while honestly saying, “We couldn’t follow God effectively without you.”

Clergy Appreciation Day jokes aside, do you feel appreciated as much as you’d like to be? If so, pay it back. If not, pay it forward.

Create a culture of corporate praise in your church through your worship arts and through your community affirmation.

A bonus thought: Thanked volunteers are happier volunteers are more-retained volunteers.

So who do we need to be thanking in our churches?

How should we thank?

In a survey of 10,000 employees from the 1,000 largest companies, 40 percent of workers cited “lack of recognition” as a primary factor in their leaving the company.

Thank God that he doesn’t leave our churches over similar lack of recognition. While our songs and liturgies encourage words of gratitude, they don’t guarantee the inner condition of our souls, our hearts, our minds and our attitudes.

God is able to see into our heart attitudes. David knew that from experience (1 Samuel 16:7).

But David wasn’t just muscling his praise, giving thanks because he was supposed to. He seemed to have no other choice but to do so. Gratitude, praise, thanksgiving were so deeply rooted in David that they exploded into ecstatic, divine love poetry.

Psalms 7, 9, 18, 22, 26, 31, 34 … okay, Dave, we get it. You will extol the Lord!

How does that kind of gratitude make its home not in our hymns, words and nice notes but in our hearts and souls? How does the latter drive the former?

For David, and for us, praise practice makes perfect.

David’s life was a noble train wreck. It had moments of spiritual brilliance and moments of utter dullness. But God kept using and delivering David, both because of David and despite him.

When you see that kind of love of grace from God in your life, it just changes you from the inside out, from soul into words.

David says this brilliantly in Psalm 34: “Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed” (v. 5). Not look to your circumstances and fix them. Not look to your screw-ups and feel guilt.

Look to God. That will make you radiant.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said it this way: “Unless the outer life expresses the inner world, purity stagnates and intention decays.” Unless Sunday liturgies, hymns of praise and prayers before dinner radiate out of a heart of gratitude, they are just shells of concepts. Empty words. Decayed intention.

“Thank you.”

When it’s truly expressed to God and others, it both changes us and means that we have been changed already.


Participation Pointers:

• Beth Shafer Glass suggests that 3-by-5-inch cards be distributed at the beginning of the service. Worshipers can write the names of people for whom they are thankful, or share any other reason for being thankful, and put the cards in the offering plate. You could read some of these cards before the sermon.

• Ahead of time, invite selected individuals to write a psalm of thanksgiving or compose a song of thanksgiving. Then have them share these with the congregation.


Possible Preaching Themes:

• David seems to point to a missional aspect of thanksgiving in verse 1. How can being thankful Christ-followers “before the gods” lead to outsiders coming to praise God, as in verses 4-5?

• God’s purpose (v. 8) is still fulfilled, despite the troubles we walk through (v. 7). Preach a sermon on an eternal perspective in temporal difficulty.


Sources:

Heath, Dan, and Chip Heath. “Made to stick: Why companies should pave the way to praise.” Fast Company, September 17, 2008. fastcompany.com/magazine/129/made-to-stick-i-love-you-now-what.html.

Lyubomirsky, Sonja. The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want. New York: Penguin Press, 2007.

On Happiness in Monks: video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2487881303657847285.


FILM CLIP IDEA

February 7, 2010

The Text: Psalm 138.

The Movie: Facing the Giants, a 2006 film in which a losing football team finds faith in themselves through faith in God.

The Scene: In which the coach, Grant Taylor, tells his team that if they win, they’ll praise God and if they lose, they’ll praise God; that God is the coach, and they will honor him with their actions.

Commentary

Psalm 138 is a psalm of lavish thanksgiving and praise to the Lord. Although it is attributed to David, in the light of verse 2 (where the temple, not built until after David’s reign, is mentioned), at least part of the psalm was written later.

Thanksgiving is offered with the whole heart (v. 1). See Psalm 9:1: “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.” Also see Psalms 86:12; 111:1. Elsewhere in Scripture, especially passages influenced by Deuteronomistic and/or prophetic theology, there’s also an emphasis on honoring (including seeking, loving and obeying) God with the whole heart: Deuteronomy 4:29; 6:5-6; 10:12-13; 30:2, 6, 10; Joshua 22:5; Proverbs 3:5-6; Jeremiah 29:11-14; Joel 2:12; Zephaniah 3:14; Luke 10:27. To what extent is our own love for, obedience to, thanksgiving and praise to God from our whole heart?

The expression in verse 1b, “before the gods I sing your praise,” gives considerable pause to many. The faith of biblical Israel is typically regarded by a large number of Christian people (even those who are somewhat biblically literate) as strictly monotheistic (a belief in “the one true God” that denies the existence of other gods). But Old Testament literature reveals a much more complex situation.

Many polytheistic Israelites worshiped many gods and goddesses — those of their ancestors or those of the populace of the lands they occupied (see Joshua 24 passim) or gods of the surrounding nations. Some tried eclectically to combine worshiping the Lord God of Israel and other gods. See 1 Kings 11:33.

This is acknowledged in a foundational commandment and perhaps even in a fundamental creed of Israel. One of the Ten Commandments is found in Exodus 20:3 and Deuteronomy 5:7: “[Y]ou shall have no other gods before [NRSV note: “Or besides”] me.” By implication, this allows for the existence of other gods, at least in the minds and hearts of certain Israelite worshipers, if not in reality. The portion of the creedal Shema found in Deuteronomy 6:4 is also instructive: The basic translation of the NRSV is “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.” Alternative translations of the Hebrew include those that appear in the NRSV notes for that verse (see especially “The Lord is one” [rather than alone]). Deuteronomy 6:4 is much closer to strict monotheism, but the wording seems to acknowledge that some people worshiped gods other than the Lord God of Israel. Deuteronomy 6:4 is more an affirmation of faith and a call to such faith than it is a statement that all Israelites held to the sole existence of “the one true God.” The meaning may be this: “The Lord is Israel’s God, so we (are to) worship only this god — the unified/undivided One.”

Prophet after prophet thundered against people with idolatrous beliefs and practices (comparing such unfaithful worship and practices to adultery) because many people weren’t faithful to the Lord God of Israel alone. For example, see 1 Kings 18:21: “Elijah then came near to all the people, and said, ‘How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.’” Isaiah was the prophet who most vigorously called Israel to a strict monotheistic, nonidolatrous faith and way of living: See Isaiah 45; e.g., verses 21-22: “ … There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is no one besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” See also Psalm 115:2-9 and Mark 12:28-34.

Given the wide scope of biblical literature, which honestly portrays the beliefs and practices of Israelites through several periods of biblical-theological history, it would seem that a variety of viewpoints existed within and about Israel: (1) Israel was predominantly (or at least officially, during such reigns as those of kings Hezekiah and Josiah in Judah) strictly monotheistic (see above for a working definition). (2) Israel waffled between monotheism and polytheism (or syncretism). (3) Israel was henotheistic. This means people believed in the existence of many gods but chose to worship and give allegiance to only one god, namely the Lord God who delivered and protected Israel. See Psalms 86:8; 95:3; 96:4; 97:7 (some of the language may be figurative). Similarly, look at the apostle Paul’s “dialogue” in 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, where he deals with parallel issues.

All that being said, there is another contextual possibility for Psalm 138:1b’s “before the gods [’elohim in Hebrew] I sing your praise.” Occasionally the word ’elohim is understood and/or translated other than “God” or “gods” (the word is a plural form in Hebrew). Tanakh translates Psalm 138:1’s ’elohim as “divine beings”; New English Translation has “heavenly assembly”; the LXX Greek has aggelwn (“angels”), and the Latin Vulgate has angelorum (“angels”). In Psalm 8:5 ’elohim is translated variously as “God” (NRSV), “the angels” (KJV) or “the heavenly beings” (NIV and NET). In such a viewpoint, “gods” can be understood as a “divine council” comprised of the Lord God and other divine or divinely endowed beings around the Lord’s throne: Psalms 29:1; 82:1; 89:5-8.

The psalmist and others give thanks to the Lord’s name (God’s character/very being). God’s “name” is associated with God’s dwelling/presence in the temple; e.g., see 1 Kings 8:27 ff. In Psalm 138, David gives thanks because of God’s steadfast love (hesed) and faithfulness (’emet) (v. 2) and because God answered him when he prayed (v. 3). There’s something about hearing God’s word that leads even foreign kings to “sing of the ways of the Lord” (v. 5). (See Romans 10:17 regarding the impact that hearing God’s word has on faith.) Further, our highly exalted God “regards the lowly” (v. 6), and in a reversal reminiscent of Hannah’s song (1 Samuel 2:1-10) and Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), God perceives “the haughty” only from far away. Further, David offers praise for God’s delivering him from his enemies as he walks in the midst of trouble (v. 7).

Verse 8 combines an affirmation and a prayerful plea. David believes that God will “fulfill his purpose” (complete or finish things) for him, out of God’s enduring steadfast love (hesed again). See Paul’s encouraging words in Philippians 1:6: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” See also Isaiah 55:10-11. David implores God not to abandon him or cut him loose. God’s hands have both fashioned David (v. 8) and delivered him (v. 7). May we share David’s confidence in the trustworthiness of God and, thereby, continue with our whole heart to sing vigorously our own delighted songs of thanksgiving and praise.

Animating Illustrations

One Christmas, Mom decreed that she was no longer going to remind her children of their thank-you note duties. As a result, their grandmother never received acknowledgments of the generous checks she had given.

The next year things were different, however.

“The children came over in person to thank me,” the grandmother told a friend triumphantly.

“How wonderful!” the friend exclaimed. “What do you think caused the change in behavior?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” the grandmother replied. “This year I didn’t sign the checks.”

In her book Contagious Joy, Barbara Johnson writes: “So much of the time our prayers are only pleas for help. God welcomes those needy prayers, but just as any parent gets tired of hearing, ‘Please, please, please!’ so does God. And of course we know to thank God for all the blessings he has bestowed on us. He likes to hear our words of gratitude as well. But the thing most of us probably forget to do is simply to praise him — to say, ‘Yea, God!’ now and then to cheer him on and let him know we admire him and respect him.

“After all, God made us in his image, and since we like to hear applause, that must mean he does, too! When’s the last time you prayed simply to praise God?”

I am thankful:

• For the wife who says it’s hot dogs tonight because she’s home with me and not out with someone else.

• For the husband who is on the sofa being a couch potato because he’s home with me and not out at the bars.

• For the teenager who’s complaining about doing dishes because it means she’s at home, not on the streets.

• For the taxes I pay because it means I’m employed.

• For the mess to clean up after a party because it means I have been surrounded by friends.

• For the clothes that fit a little too snugly because it means I have enough to eat.

• For my shadow that watches me work because it means I’m out in the sunshine.

• For a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.

• For all the complaining I hear about the government because it means we have freedom of speech.

• For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I’m capable of walking and I have been blessed with transportation.

• For my huge heating bill because it means I am warm.

• For the woman behind me in church who sings off key because it means I can hear.

• For the pile of laundry and ironing because it means I have clothes to wear.

• For weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been capable of working hard.

• For the alarm that goes off in the early-morning hours because it means I’m alive.

• For the crazy people I work with because they make work interesting and fun.

• And finally, for too much e-mail because it means I have friends who are thinking of me.

When asked about his greatest lessons learned, J. Ellsworth Kalas, the 86-year-old president of Asbury Theological Seminary, said: “Buy a house on Gratitude Street. Do so as soon as you can, because this is the only place to live, and the longer you live here the more you’ll love it. And believe me, you will enjoy your neighbors. The price on this street is steep, but you can afford it. You purchase this property with humility, by acknowledging that you are deeply indebted to both God and people. You confess that you wouldn’t have anything if it weren’t for what has been given to you. The important thing is not only to realize this but to acknowledge it — to say ‘thank you’ as often as you can, to God and to people.”

—Ellsworth Kalas, “Lessons learned,” Asbury Theological Seminary Alumni Link, Summer 2009, 8.

During my parish’s Thanksgiving service, I called the kids to come forward for a children’s message. I reminded them of all the blessings God has given us for which we should be thankful. Then I asked them, “What are you thankful for?”

One answered, “My family.”

Another said, “My home.”

Then little Joey piped up, “I’m free!”

I marveled that a 3-year-old would be able to conceptualize the idea that our freedom is something for which to be thankful. “Very good, Joey,” I exclaimed. “You’re thankful that you are free!”

Then my wife, who was sitting close to the front of the church, got my attention. She pointed to Joey, and then held up three fingers. It was then that I realized little Joey was holding up three fingers and was telling me he was 3 years old.

—Mike Nelson, Triune Lutheran Parish, Cokato, Minnesota.

In the devotional book Streams in the Desert (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1997, 298), John Henry Jowett asks, “Who ever thinks of announcing a victory song as the army is just heading out to the battlefield? And where do we ever hear a song of gratitude and thanksgiving for an answer that has not yet been received? ... Yet ... Praise is actually the most vital preparation to the working of miracles. Miracles are performed through spiritual power, and our spiritual power is always in proportion to our faith.”

There is no such thing as gratitude unexpressed.  If it is unexpressed, it is plain, old-fashioned ingratitude. 

—Robert Brault.

If a fellow isn’t thankful for what he’s got, he isn’t likely to be thankful for what he’s going to get. 

—Frank A. Clark.

Children's Sermon

Take a sheet of poster board and fold it in half to create a large card. On the cover, write the words “Thank you, God!” Begin by asking the children to list some of the things they say in their prayers — requests for help, healing, etc. Point out that these are important concerns, but we shouldn’t forget to thank God for all he does for us. Note that Psalm 138 is a song of thanksgiving and praise, and it begins with the words, “I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart” (v. 1). Ask the children to tell you some of the things they are thankful to God for giving them or doing for them. Let them know that the psalm writer is thankful for God’s protection, saying, “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies” (v. 7). Say that God wants to hear our prayers about all kinds of needs we have, but most of all he wants to hear us say thanks. Give each child a magic marker and ask them to write down one thing they’re thankful for. Then have them sign their name on this big thank-you note to God.

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