Praise as Participation in Philanthropy

Psalm 66, Luke 17:11-19

“One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.”

The story that we just heard from Luke gives to us a vision of what it means to show gratitude to God for something that is done. Whilst it is unclear what aspect of his faith has made him well there are two things that stand out for us from this story. One is to say that the person who returned was a foreigner, not a part of the Jewish people. And the other is to say that all ten were healed but only the one came back to give thanks.

The importance of gratitude as an aspect of our faith is something that links well with the Psalm that we used at the beginning of our service.

“Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise.” (Psalm 66:1)

There is a universal claim made in the first verse of Psalm 66 that points to the whole creation participating in the praise of God. This universal claim is also paralleled by the entirely person claim made in the last verse of the Psalm.

"Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me.” (Psalm 66:20)

There is an overlap between gratitude and praise found in the two Bible readings, however there are subtle and important differences. 

I have given the sermon the title Praise as Participation in Philanthropy to offer a signal to the direction I am heading with this reflection. But to get there I want to unpack the notion of gratitude a little bit more, including offering a critique about our approach to being grateful. I will then move us into the notion of praise and how it connects then to philanthropy.

The importance of gratitude within our culture and its positive effect on us is something that I learned as a teacher over 35 years ago and also reflected on as a chaplain within a school over the last decade. When I first began teaching, I was given responsibility for running what was called Human Relationship Education which has a clear understanding of the importance of people having a positive self-image and the place of gratitude for self and others. 

I can remember a particular activity where we practised gratitude by inviting a student to the front to classroom and each other member of the class was invited to share something positive about that person. The person’s response were simply the words “Thank you”. It is an activity that maybe carried a little bit too much vulnerability and it did not always work well but it highlighted the need to help people develop a capacity to express positive regard for another person and for people to accept praise with gratitude in a reasonable way. 

This morning, we began the service with a similar activity of expressing gratitude to God for our spiritual journey, the creation, our community, and our growth and learning. In pushing you to think of giving thanks for different aspects of our journey in life we were drawn into contemplating what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians:

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.” 1 Thess 5:16-19

The constant invitation to gratitude within the scriptures links to not simply living faithfully in the world but to our flourishing and wellbeing as human beings.  

The work that has been done in developing Positive Psychology and the contemporary interest and focus on wellbeing affirm how important expressing gratitude is as part of our human existence. 

For example, in the model of wellbeing developed by Martin Seligman which is known by the acronym PERMA the P stands for “Positive Emotion”. In its definition of this concept the Positive Psychology Centre says:

“Within limits, we can increase our positive emotion about the past (e.g., by cultivating gratitude and forgiveness), our positive emotion about the present (e.g., by savouring physical pleasures and mindfulness) and our positive emotion about the future (e.g., by building hope and optimism).” (link)

Here is a deep and abiding connection between contemporary understandings within psychology and the church as a place that has at its core cultivating gratitude and forgiveness!

In addition to this, research in neuroscience has affirmed the directions of positive psychology and wellbeing and the emphasis that they give to practicing gratitude. In the online article “The Neuroscience of Gratitude & Its Effects on the Brain” Melissa Madeson shares some of her research. I will mention just a few insights:

“As researchers explore the neurological underpinnings of gratitude, they’re discovering that this simple practice can lead to profound positive changes in mood, resilience, and overall wellbeing.” (Russell & Fosha, 2008).

“Thanking others, thanking ourselves, Mother Nature, or a divine power — gratitude in any form can enlighten the mind and make us feel happier. It has a healing effect on us.” (Russell & Fosha, 2008).

“Research examining specific areas of the brain found that individuals who experience higher levels of gratitude had increased grey matter volume.” (Zahn et al., 2014). 

“Gratitude can change neural structures in the brain, making individuals feel happier and more content.” (Zahn et al., 2008).

Gratitude is good for us, the invitation and command in scripture is affirmed by contemporary research and scholarship. If we are to love our neighbour as ourselves, we do actually need to love ourselves as well!

However, when gratitude is just expressed to achieve personal wellbeing or gratitude expressed when it comes at the expense of another then we might question its communal benefit. Gratitude needs to be accompanied by a wider understanding of life in the world.

Taking us back to Psalm 66 there are a few difficult phrases for us to examine here in terms of why the Psalmist is expressing praise and gratitude to God.

“Because of your great power, 

your enemies cringe before you.”

“He turned the sea into dry land;

they passed through the river on foot.”

The first of these phrases implies that God has enemies, whilst the second of these phrases about the sea being into dry land might have two connections. Scholars do not seem to agree whether the Psalmist is referring to the flight of the Israelite people through the Red Sea from exile in Egypt or whether it may connect to the crossing of the Jordan by the Israelites when the entered the promised land. Both stories portray the violence of God against another people. Something that as followers of Jesus we should find disturbing.

In her commentary of this passage the Old Testament scholar Casey Thornburgh Sigmon is cautious about the promotion of any notion of what is called exceptionalism which is “the belief that a nation, group, or ideology is an exception to a usual rule or trend or is exceptional in relation to others of the same kind.” Sigmon is wary of any interpretation of the Christian faith that is associated with the idea of a Christian nation and it is helpful to be reminded that the concept of modern nation-state only developed after the treaty of Westphalia in 1648.

In contrast the cosmic action of God in Christ serves as a corrective to the violence of God which is portrayed in the Old Testament. Jesus commands his followers to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." (Matthew 5:44 and Luke 6:27-28). The response of Jesus’ life to the violence of humanity is not to take up arms but to yield to the violence perpetrated on him by human beings at the cross. 

Giving thanks is good for us, we know this psychologically and spiritually, but our giving of thanks should be weighed up in the broader context of understanding God’s love for all things and all people –my wellbeing should not come at the cost of someone else’s wellbeing or at the most extreme their life.

This brings me to explore the difference between gratitude and praise and whilst there are overlaps there are differences. 

Put simply, praise, unlike gratitude, focuses not on what we have received but on who God is, God’s character and attributes. Whilst praise may include acknowledging what God has done God’s worthiness of being praised transcends our personal experience of God.

We praise God because God is worthy to be praised not because I got what I wanted from God or what I think God owed me. The universality of the praise of the creation is something that we are all drawn into simply because we exist. As Jesus reminds his disciples, “I tell you, if these stop speaking, the stones will cry out!” The praise of God is present in all things and all peoples, and it is present in each of us.  “Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me.”  

When we understand that our praise of God is not simply the articulation of our praise and blessing of God in the context of worship but has this universal scope, we are called to consider how we live a life of praise. 

Looking back to the establishment of the Festival of First Fruits in the book of Deuteronomy the people are instructed to offer the first fruits of their harvest and called to recite these words “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor” as reminder of their time as refugees who had no permanent home, who wandered the land. The first fruits of the harvest are then distributed in a very specific way 

“When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year (which is the year of the tithe), giving it to the Levites, the aliens, the orphans, and the widows, so that they may eat their fill within your towns.”

The praise of God in this liturgy and ritual involves “giving it to the Levites, the aliens, the orphans, and the widows.” When Jesus says, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) The abundance is to be shared with all peoples. 

As an aside the Old Testament reading which was also set down for today came from the time of the Babylonian exile where the people were encouraged with these words. “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” (Jeremiah 29: 7) Yet another echo of God’s concern for the welfare of all peoples.

This draws us to consider again the title of the sermon “Praise as Participation in Philanthropy”. The word philanthropy comes from two Greek words Philo’s (love) + anthropos (human) → “love of humanity.” When we express praise of God, I believe we are expressing our love for God. This love is expressed because we understand that God first loved us and this love of God that we have encountered and respond to by loving our neighbour. Our primary task according to Jesus, as he quotes from the Old Testament, is to love God and love our neighbour. To do both involve praise and showing gratitude.