"Gratitude is one of the finest feelings in life"

I love greeting people before and after worship. Those brief exchanges are often my only engagement with certain individuals for weeks on end. Sometimes I say words of gratitude. “Thanks for coming today,” Or, “It is good to see you!”

My family asks me why I, as pastor, thank people for coming to worship. Worship is a voluntary experience, after all, and participants come because they want to, not because they are doing some favour for the pastor. If I believed they were coming for me, it would be a weird understanding of ministry and personal identity.

So why the gratitude? These people are part of the joy of the day. Their presence affects me personally. Even if they are passing through as visitors who may never return, we still get to feel the bonds of affection. Their eyes are honest. They have sung and prayed. They have hit the pause button on life to honour God. Had they not shown up, our whole worship experience would have been different and less whole. On this day, they gave a particular shape to the community, which will never again replicate itself. For that, I am grateful.

In the New Testament, the word charis may be translated as thanks or grace. It can define an act of either giving or receiving. When I say thanks to a worshipper, I don’t do it because I think I am returning something that is owed. The transaction is more about blessing than indebtedness. I feel lucky to be in the presence of that guest.

A host who throws a dinner party may thank everybody for coming. But their thank you is not connected with a sense of obligation to guests who happened to bring an appetizer or dessert. Gratitude simply wells up in the host’s heart because they are moved that friends brought happiness and love together.

My internship supervisor LeRoy Ness said that “gratitude is one of the finest feelings in life . . . nothing beats gratitude for sheer joy; it is, perhaps, the genesis of all other really good feelings in the human repertoire.” Anybody who ever got to witness LeRoy preaching or teaching saw what joy and gratitude did to him. They sent his adrenaline rushing.

See you in church!

Pastor Tuula