I am trying to figure out why we human beings are so quick to turn a gift into an obligation.  A couple of years ago my sister gave me some really expensive earrings for my birthday.  They were beautiful, and even though I said thanks, I wasn't really grateful.  What I was was obligated.  My sister's birthday was coming up in two weeks and I couldn't afford to reciprocate.  It didn't matter to me that she didn't give them to me with any strings attached. I created strings of my own.

We turn God's blessings into laws or obligations even faster.

One of the sweetest blessings we have been given is prayer.  a direct line to the creator of the universe, a link to the savior of the world . Yet instead of seeing it as a great gift, we often make it just one more thing we have to do. 

A very devout member of my congregation confessed to me that he falls asleep when he is saying his prayers at night.  He felt really distressed, as if he had not met some obligation to God.  I told him it was a really beautiful way to fall asleep -- like falling asleep in the arms of God.

And the text I preached on Thanksgiving eve, where Jesus tells us not to worry about what we eat and drink or what we will wear.  He tells us this because he is promising us that God will take care of our needs.  His reminder not to worry is another gift, a glimpse into the kingdom of God that Jesus proclaimed.  And yet we take it as one more law to be obeyed.  My dad called me one day worried about this text.  If he worried, did that mean he had not enough faith? 

Do we really think Jesus said these words so we would have one more thing to worry about? That is how much we worry!

We even turn the greatest gift that God has given us -- the gift of his son -- into an obligation.  My sister in law the other day was saying that when we get to heaven God will ask us what we did with the gift of His Son.  Did we accept the gift?  Did we reject it?

So tell me did Jesus offer Himself on the cross as a free gift, or as one more final obligation for us?

I can't be thankful for the earrings my sister gave me or any or the blessings of God as long as I see them as obligation. 

So as I sit between Thanksgiving and the Advent of our God, I plan to just sit and contemplate how selflessly God gives, without any strings and without any obligations.  It is on the silence of that thought that true thankfulness arises.

It is in the joy of true thankfulness that discipleship is born, and stewardship has its purpose.  As we await the coming of our savior let us spend a little longer just dwelling on the miracle that the one who created everything loves this much.

Lord,
 For all we have and all that we are and all that through the redemption of your son we ever hope to be, we give you thanks.
 Amen
 

Copyright (c) 2003, The Rev. Dana Reardon. Used by permission. Email her at mspastor@aol.com.

The Rev. Dana Reardon is pastor at St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, Warwick, RI.  A lifelong Lutheran, she came to ordained ministry after 21 years in nursing, mostly in pediatric intensive care.  She graduated from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia in 1998 and served 4 ½ years in Upstate New York before becoming a New Englander.  She is still trying to understand the accent.  While in the Upstate New York Synod she chaired the Stewardship Team.  That began her fascination with what makes stewards -- and more, what makes for generosity. She has three amazing daughters: Pastor Izzo says much of what she knows of life she learned from them.