I remember growing up and having my mother tell me that writing thank you notes is an important thing to do. I have not done a great job of writing them in the past few years. While I have been very thankful for the many generous gifts I have received, sometimes it seems hard to write a thank you note. Sometimes that it is because it just gets lost in the shuffle of the post-Christmas life, but sometimes that is because as natural as it might seem to give a gift around Christmas —sometimes it seems a little beyond to write a note of thanks. I don’t know why that is. I’m not even sure if anyone else feels that way.
Nonetheless, that is our “Red Letter Challenge” as a congregation this week. We just had Christmas, so we have gifts laying around that we haven’t found a permanent home for in our place. You probably only need to look around your house or apartment to find a gift that you could give thanks for.
The “Red Letters” this week aren’t a direct quote, but something Matthew records generally as Jesus saying. In Matthew 15:36, Jesus “took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them.” This week we are challenging you to add one “thank you note” to God the Father who has given you all things. While you’re at it, maybe write a few notes to the people who were so generous to you.
Jesus knew that gratitude helps us to see what we really have. Jesus could see the ability to feed four thousand people in just seven loaves and two fish (five loaves and two fish a few chapters earlier). As you turn to give God thanks for this Christmas’s haul, let Him show you what is possible in those gifts. Don’t forget either, that the greatest gift is already yours in your Baptism that Christ has given to you by way of His Cross.