Gratitude, Thankfulness, and Worship

18 Aug Gratitude, Thankfulness, and Worship

18 August 2026

A bit later today I’ll be speaking in the student-led worship at the Wagga Wagga Christian College. Last week I shared devotions with the staff. Today; the students. I am being uniquely blessed in my on-going relationship with such an exemplary school & I am extremely grateful that even after my days there as the parent of a student have ended, they’re still happy to have my voice & my input around the place. There is much there to be thankful about, & I am.

I’ve been thinking about “gratitude” lately. My family & I have all shared a book, “Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools” by Tyler Staton. It is an excellent book & I highly recommend it to you. The subtitle, ‘An Invitation to the Wonder & Mystery of Prayer,” gives you a hint…but there’s so much more. About “gratitude” he writes, “To be a saint is to be fuelled by gratitude, nothing more & nothing less…Only one kind of person transforms the world spiritually, someone with a grateful heart.” Let that sit in your heart for a bit…I wondered: What would happen in this world if Christians were more grateful & less stressful…more able to slow down & be patient and appreciative & less hurried or demanding?

I’ve often shared with you my sadness about the generational decline in consistent worship among families of faithful grandparents & parents. Across the Western world, since the late 1950s & ‘60s, younger generations have walked away from worship. While there is some indication that trend is slowing or reversing…there’s a long way to go before we can say we’re reaching the 3^rd & 4^th generation with the promise of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m also convinced that it is in worship where we grow our capacity for gratitude or thankfulness; & in that transform the world.

Writer, thinker, philosopher Mark Atwood often offers striking critiques of 21^st Century attitudes & the anti-Christian spirit we sometimes see around us. But in upholding the value of Christian worship he writes: “(The) church lives with a recurring theme: repentance. Not guilt…not shame…but the plain admission that you are not yet what you should be, & the work of closing that gap continues. It has a culture & a mechanism for helping its members do the hard work of being better. Not seen to be better. Be better.” For those who reject the church for the “I’m ok, you’re ok, be true to yourself” worldview he says, “If you decide you worship nothing, then that’s what you will worship. Nothing outside yourself. Nothing higher. Nothing that can tell you no. A church of worshipping yourself.” My sense is, much of the distress we see in our world today is a disappointment with the “church of yourself” because I’m often disappointed with me. Self will always disappoint because self is always human, fragile, mortal, & at times, fails miserably.

But the gospel reminds me that as rotten to the core as I am, I am at the same time redeemed & loved beyond my wildest dreams by Jesus. I am provided with abundant gifts & provisions by the Father. I am shepherded & transformed by the Spirit. I am at home among the company of the rotten-but-still-redeemed people of the church & together we bear witness to the hope that is greater than this universe can contain…and we can be thankful, grateful, appreciative of every blessing big or small because they all come from beyond our reach but are delivered into our laps. “Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High. Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.” – Ps 50:14-15

Now some opportunities in our life together…

• Thursday August 20^th – Ladies Fellowship & Bible Study @ Chez Wiencke (Sue & Trevor’s place) in Settler’s Village – 10:00 a.m. with lunch for those who stay around afterwards. Talk to Sue about what you can bring to share.
• Sunday August 16^th – we continue our worship & teaching series on Joshua – Learning to be Different. Under Joshua’s leadership, God’s people move into their new lives in their Promised homeland. Everything about them is changing, but they are still called to be faithful to Yahweh. Becoming the people God calls us to be is always a process of learning to be His in the varied & shifting circumstances of life. But God is always faithful to his promises. When we fail. God is ready to reclaim & restore. God is always the architect of our days no matter the challenges & changes within them. Join us as we learn to be different under the joyous shaping of God’s hand on our lives.
• Wednesday August 26^th – Caloola Court Devotions – 10:30 a.m.
• And a few in the “Claim the Date” file:
  • Tuesday 8^th September – feeding the CSU UniChurch students! Details will come closer to the date.
  • Sunday 27^th September – Annual InterSport Lake-to-Lake Run-n-Ride – Worship begins at 12:00 noon with lunch in the Guide Hall
  • Please get your September 2026 calendar dates to Sue ASAP…she’s always working ahead on the next thing!

God bless you with his peace!

John