Thanksgiving: sight for the blind
by Pastor Fraser Pearce
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Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving. At the same time pray for us as well that God will open to us a door for the word (Colossians 4:2,3a).
In life, when we think only about our own needs and concerns, we can become blind to the fact that we share the world with people made in the image of God. This blindness can show itself in simple, everyday things. Like what can happen when we are being served in a shop by an assistant – we are concerned only with ourselves that we can go through a transaction barely acknowledging or speaking with the person who serves us.
One thing that can open our eyes to others and bring us more deeply into reality is the simple act of saying thank you to the one who serves us. By showing our gratitude with these simple words, we acknowledge that we are dealing with another human being rather than a slave or machine. We grow in our understanding of our place in the world and status in God’s creation.
St Paul encourages us in Colossians to stay alert in prayer and do this ‘with thanksgiving’. St Paul wants us to understand that God serves us in many ways: with his word and sacraments, by giving us our daily bread, and by giving opportunities for his good news to be proclaimed. As we thank God for his gracious service to us, we stay alert and watchful to his presence and grow in humility as we honour others with our gracious conversation with them.
Not only are we free to thank God and grow in spiritual maturity through this, but we are also free to ask God to open doors to the word spoken by those who are especially called by him to proclaim the good news. As we pray in this way, we promote the gospel together with them and mature as people who are loved by God and love each other.
Heavenly Father, thank you for your gracious service to us. Thank you for all the good gifts you give – for the word and sacraments, our daily bread, and the opportunity to speak graciously with others. Open doors to the word spoken by those you have called to preach and grow us together in love with them and all your holy people. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Fraser Pearce is pastor at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Flinders Street, Adelaide. He grew up in Sydney, where he attended St Mark’s Lutheran Church, Epping. He was ordained in 1997 and served at St Paul’s Box Hill, Victoria, and Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Bendigo, Victoria. Fraser has been married to his wife, Margaret, since 1995, and they have four children.
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