Published With Thanksgiving

“Always, we give thanks to the Holy One for you, mentioning you in our prayers continuously” (1 Thessalonians 1.2).

Like, I imagine, many of you, I was overwhelmed at the outset of this pandemic. So many were hurting, dying, and lonely, I could not think what to do in the face of so much suffering except to pray. And, so, I made a list of family, friends, co-workers, neighbors whose names each morning I could take before God.

As I read Paul’s words, I felt convicted. For all these months, I have spoken aloud name after name in the hopes that the Holy One would keep them safe and healthy. That they would be comforted by the love that flows through the Divine into every heart open to receive it. But I have not ever (well, maybe once) just given thanks for each name on that list, each institution that provided me with a community or a place to call home for a while. I got so caught up in concern that I forgot the joy each name meant to my life.

This is not a reflection on how we should give thanks for those dear to us. We should, just as we should pray for them. So rather than talk about the why or should of giving thanks, let’s talk a moment about what that thanksgiving looks like.

Paul’s words are simple and, yet, meaningful. There is something powerful when anyone tells us that they are praying for us. For me, I feel comfort, love, joy. And I feel gratefulness. That someone would take time to say my name amidst the millions in this world that need prayer, that they would carry my concerns and burdens before God when they have plenty of their own, is an action that overwhelms me.

It’s unfortunate that the idea of thoughts and prayers has become trite, a saying that some have begun to use in lieu of action. But we shouldn’t let a few people steal these words from us. The notion of keeping someone in prayer is too important and too powerful to lose.

Perhaps what is missing from such pithy statements of thoughts and prayers is the realization that Paul has pointed me toward. Even as I felt convicted for not stopping to give thanks for everyone on my list, I realized that Paul is not separating these two actions.

Listen again, I haven’t stopped giving thanks for you, mentioning you in my prayers. There is not a praying for and giving thanks for that Paul draws as distinct actions. To pray for someone is to give thanks for them. Because, to take a name before the Holy One is to acknowledge that they mean so much to you, that they are valuable to you, loved by you.

In all these months, as I’ve prayed my litany of names, I have done the only thing I could think of in these times: I’ve held them out before God. Their names are my way of asking for aid, protection, comfort for them. These, I say, are so valuable and precious to me.

And if that is not what makes up thanksgiving for someone, I’m not sure what is.