From the very beginning, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s writings centered around the life of the church. The church, its calling and welfare, was his passion. As a young doctoral student, he wrote two dissertations. One was titled, “Christ Existing as Community.” As…
Anxiety versus gratitude
Ask me what my superpower is and I’ll answer with no hesitation: It is gratitude. I have a rich spiritual life supported by many practices including labyrinth-walking, prayer, Scripture memorization, active participation in my faith community, and meditation — especially…
Transferring from Anxiety University to Gratitude College
From the front desk of the YMCA where I work during the early morning hours, I notice a lot of interesting T-shirt designs. On Monday of Thanksgiving week, a woman approaching the check-in scanner was wearing one that read, “Anxiety…
A different kind of Thanksgiving gratitude
Over the last couple of weeks, I sat down to write my Thanksgiving message several times, only to scrap every draft. Try as I may, I find myself incapable of penning some sappy tribute to the season. Don’t get me…
How to Be Grateful When You’re Struggling
When my husband had a stroke this summer, I was lucky to have several friends, neighbors and colleagues offer to make a meal for my family. But I didn’t need dinners — my 17-year-old daughter was on a road trip;…
Praying with our eyes open
I recently gave a tour of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn to a high school youth choir from Georgia. I ask, “What do Southerners think the South is better at than New York?” They give the answers we would expect. “The…
My last visit to a Southern Baptist church
My first visit to a Southern Baptist church occurred in 1971, when I was 15 years old. My family had just moved from Alamogordo, N.M., to my parent’s hometown of Muskogee, Okla. On my first Sunday in town, my aunt,…
Remember to give thanks for the things we don’t know to remember
Some readers will remember moments like those I experienced in Mr. Shea’s 10th grade world history class, as we listened via the intercom to the radio describing what we thought could be the last minutes of the world. The Cuban…
3 reasons to choose an attitude of gratitude
Many of us will be privileged to gather on Thanksgiving Day with family and friends to enjoy a bountiful feast and hearty conversations around the table. As one of our treasured holidays, Thanksgiving is a day set aside not only…
Three stories from Jesus about the danger of hierarchy and gratitude
Remember the parable where Jesus warned against thankfulness in corporate worship? It’s a well-known parable in Luke 18, the first in a trilogy of scenes that question our assumptions about status and blessing in relationship with others. In the third…
A prescription for the 2020 Thanksgiving blues
“This will be the first time in 76 years I haven’t spent Thanksgiving with family,” my friend lamented. Not quite teary eyed, but obviously dismayed, she told me that her Thanksgiving would be spent at home with her husband. “For…
This year, I’m thankful because I do not understand
As is the tradition in most Romanian churches at Thanksgiving, people gather to thank God for their blessings. While the testimonies follow a common pattern — words of thanksgiving and stories about God’s work in their lives — what makes…