Dear American Baptists,
As I sat down to write this Thanksgiving letter, my mind shot back to February of this year. A taskforce from ABC was visiting Malaysia to see first-hand the situation of Burmese refugees in that country.
Throughout that week we heard heart-wrenching stories. Some focused on the ordeal of slipping out of Burma and the dangers involved in fleeing to Malaysia. Others focused on the constant state of fear they experienced as unrecognized refugees who were subject to raids by bounty hunters and deportation back to Burma. Others reminded us of their poverty and the daily struggle to exist.
Yet, Sunday morning as this rag-tag band of Baptist refugees gathered to worship, they began their service with a gospel song, long-familiar to me: “Count Your Blessings, name them one by one . . . count your many blessings see what God has done.” Tears filled my eyes.
Now far removed from them and certainly far removed from their circumstances, I am reminded that the truest form of thanksgiving is seldom motivated by outward circumstances and events.
What I relearned that day in Kuala Lumpur is, true thanksgiving is played on the strings of hearts attuned to God’s steadfast love. When Israel shouted, “O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures for ever,” she captured the essence of faithful trust in God that even in dire circumstances enables our heartstrings to resonate with gratitude to the One who loves us beyond all loves.
Obviously, such is not our natural inclination. Perhaps that is why the songwriter wrote, “Come Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy praise.” As we are invited ever deeper in communion with God, we find our hearts being retuned through the craftsmanship of the Spirit, to be instruments of praise even when life is struggle.
This day my heart will hum in a new way, “Count your blessings . . .” May our thanksgiving and praise mingle with that of all creation, of angels and archangels, of cherubim and seraphim, declaring, “O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures for ever.”
Centered in Christ and United in Mission,
Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley
General Secretary