[AI translation] The other day I was talking about something we all have a lot of: our problems. Now I want to talk about something we all have little of in our hearts: gratitude.I was reading a little parable by Turgenev the other day, in which it is described that once the angels in heaven had a great feast to which they invited the various virtues. And they all appeared, the big ones and the little ones, dressed in festive costumes, kindly, friendly, as if they knew each other well, since they were all members of one big family. One day, however, one of the angels noticed two very beautiful virtues, who did not seem to know each other at all. He immediately took one by the hand and led them to the other to introduce them to each other. 'Good luck,' he said, pointing to one of them. 'Thanks,' he said, pointing to the other. The two Virtues were stunned beyond words: it was the first time they had met since the world began.
If we compare this little tale with the story of the cure of the ten intestinal lepers, we see that what Turgenyev had to say about human ingratitude is not so much exaggerated. Here, too, according to the Gospel story, only one of the ten thought of giving glory to God for the good deed he had done. Here gratitude is related to the good deed as one to ten.
One does not realize how quickly one forgets gratitude. One would think that it is only natural that if one has received something good, one should give thanks. But he doesn't, and it's not because he doesn't want to. I am convinced that the nine healed people in the story did not go back to Jesus because they were angry with him, because they were his enemies. He didn't hurt Jesus on purpose, but - he is healed and life goes on, new problems push the old ones into the background and you don't even notice that you have forgotten something. It's not a big thing, just gratitude.
It's interesting that especially with God we tend to forget this most easily. But then we have nothing to give God but gratitude. And even that we give so very rarely. That is perhaps why there are so many calls for thanksgiving in the Bible, so many verses, such as our basic verse, which encourage, stimulate and prompt us to give thanks.
"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all my soul to his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not his good deeds." (verse 1-2)
We, the church in Pasareth, have a very special reason to give thanks together, to praise God. I have here in my hand an old letter, written exactly a quarter of a century ago, a circular letter sent out by nine enthusiastic brothers to the Reformed people living in the Pasarét area. Let me read it in full.
Dear Brother Hittest!
A good number of Reformed people living in and around Pasarét have long felt the need to have a suitable prayer room here, too, for the time being, and then, with God's help, a prayer house built of stone, a church. We all need pastoral care. Our Catholic brothers and sisters have already met this need. They have beautiful churches, a flourishing spiritual life. And we have nothing. Our churches are difficult to approach because of the great distance. The church has never had a more important calling to care for souls than today. Our parishes, both the parishes on Szilágyi Dezső Square and the parishes on Böszörményi Road, cannot provide us with adequate pastoral care because of the aforementioned great distance. Going to church and involving ourselves and our children in the social life of the church is almost impossible because of the expensive cost of transport and the time lost. This can only be ensured by building a centrally located church, appropriate to the geographical situation of the area. The most suitable place for this is the area around Budagyöngye in Pasarét, where we believe that suitable land can be found. We are convinced that our movement is born out of the will of the good God.
The final solution to our cause can only be the establishment of a Reformed church or at least a congregational prayer hall in Pasarét as soon as possible. For this we ask the help of the good Lord and the support of our dear brother in faith. Please fill in and sign the enclosed postcard and return it to us as soon as possible. We would also like to emphasise that joining us does not imply any financial commitment, but is only an assessment of our strengths, and we would like to ask you to apply for this.
Budapest, 15 March 1937.
With paternal affection: nine signatures, five of whom are no longer living on this earth.
This is how, 25 years ago, the idea and the movement that became the Parish of Pasarét began. The old dream was realised, the land, the church, the congregation and all the facilities for regular pastoral care were provided. Those of us who have seen and lived through the development of this congregation look back over the past 25 years and remember the initial touching zeal, the awakening life, the efforts to pray for new and new plans and ideas, the blossoming spring joy of faith, the first flame of love, the devotion of the handful of faithful gathered in the house on Gábor Áron Street, then we recall the rubbish dump that stood on the site of this church, then the walls that were rapidly being built, the first sound of our bell, the first booming organ, then the walls that collapsed during the war, the sad building bleeding from nine gaping wounds, and the healing of those wounds anew: We confess to God with all our hearts, in the words of the psalm:
"Bless the Lord my soul, and his holy name my whole being." (verse 1).
But even if not all of us can recall these memories of the past, we should all know that we are God's people, we are a church, we are sweet brothers and sisters, we belong together, we are children adopted by grace for the sake of Jesus. We have a Father who loves us all equally. We have a Saviour who has equally put away the sins of us all. We have a spiritual home here in the hustle and bustle of the earthly world, the church community, and we have a home in heaven as a rich inheritance waiting for us. It is for the acceptance and living out of all this in faith that this congregation was formed and has been for 25 years.
That is why he preached his word oh how many times! That is why he has invited me to his table, with oh how much renewed love! And to think that there have been people who have received assurance of the forgiveness of their sins in this church, who have breathed in the renewing power of eternal life for the first time, who have experienced the love of Christ in this church, that has come to them through human goodness, then we must say that in the last 25 years Someone has been here, we have heard His word, felt the touch of His blessed hand, the warmth of His heart, the mysterious work of His Holy Spirit. Blessed be His holy name. Yes, bless my soul, a thousand times bless my soul the Lord, and all my soul His holy name!
The editor of the circular letter read 25 years ago had the idea of making this year a year of thanksgiving. Yes, this brother is right: let this 25th year of the life of our church be truly a year of thanksgiving for us. If only we would truly learn to walk and live with a grateful heart in this world. If only we could truly learn the art of what this word means: gratitude. Because what does it mean?
In the verse that we read, the psalmist is urging his own soul to open itself to praise God in thanksgiving. He does not say, "Let my lips bless the Lord," but thus: "Let my soul bless the Lord, and my whole being bless his holy name." Thanksgiving is not just about folding my hands and saying something in thanksgiving. It's more than that: to give thanks is to be grateful, so it's an attitude, a behaviour, a spiritual warmth that permeates my whole being, a temperature of the heart.
It can then, of course, be expressed in words, in the form of thanksgiving: 'It is a joy to one,' says the Word of God in the Epistle of James, 'to sing praise' (James 5:13). The most beautiful psalms are precisely those in which the grateful soul praises God for his goodness. And indeed, when one's heart is very full of thanksgiving, it is so good to pour it out in a beautiful psalm-song or hymn of praise. Try it! You will see your joy multiplied!
Of course, gratitude can be expressed not only in words, but also in deeds. Do you know where the true altar of thanksgiving to God is? In some kind of trouble of my fellow human being in which I can stand by him, help him. Are you grateful to God? Express your gratitude in a good deed for your fellow man. In the other person's trouble, that's where God receives the gratitude you want to give Him. When one is thankful to God, it always means a concrete joy to someone or something here on earth.
And true gratitude is not only expressed in a single good deed, but in fact the whole Christian life is nothing but thanksgiving. Gratitude is a distinctively Christian way of life. The essence of pagan piety is that man tries to repay God by all kinds of good deeds, and the essence of Christian piety is that man, indebted to God's goodness, tries to repay God for what he has received. The essence of pagan piety is a life of service for the sake of obtaining the divine good. Christian piety is a life of serving with a grateful heart for the divine good that has been obtained.
So when we talk about gratitude, we are talking about the basic stance of our whole life of faith and of our whole Christian life, a basic stance from which a further movement follows. Now, one might say: what reason could I have to be so very grateful to God, since I have so many problems and troubles in my daily life. I have so many annoyances, so many inconveniences, or my life is so dull and uneventful, and so rarely does anything good, something extraordinarily joyful or fortunate happen in life, as it did with these intestinal polyps in the story. No wonder, then, that my heart is so seldom filled with jubilant, great thanksgiving. Well, yes: one thinks at first that one owes thanks to God only for some good deed which the world generally calls good fortune.
We think that gratitude begins with extraordinary things. We often liken ourselves to the child whose gratitude to his parents is only for a Christmas present or extra pocket money, otherwise their hearts are full of grumbling, complaining, grumpiness. You know what's wrong with that? It is that we take for granted what is not at all self-evident. Because if you think about it: it is not self-evident that we are alive at all. Or that we are here and the Word speaks to us, sings its psalm. Nor is it self-evident that you have a coat and shoes. Nor that when you turned on the tap at home in the morning, refreshing, clean water came out of it.
Once in Egypt, in the time of Moses, when the water of the Nile turned to blood and became undrinkable, then everyone understood what a great gift ordinary water is. We too have such memories from the recent past. It would be good to think about it sometimes. Many times, one has to go through troubles and perils to reach the paradise of ordinary everyday life, and to realize that even the most ordinary life, thought to be the most ordinary, is full of God's gifts. We have become so used to God's smaller, larger good deeds that we take them for granted. If God then takes away such a self-evident accessory of our lives, how can we grumble about it, even though we never gave thanks for it while we had it. What do you have just by yourself: Nothing! You have received all things from God.
God created everything for himself, for his own glory. Even you. Your child too. And art. All the many secrets of nature that science is slowly discovering and systematizing. The peoples, too. Look around the world. Everything belongs to you, Mother. Your existence is not an accident of chance, not the will of men, not the result of circumstances, but the creative act of God. That is how you can truly know the task, the mission you have to fulfil. To do your best for His reign in the world.
Amen
Date: 18 March 1962.
Lesson
Lk 17,11-19