Thinking on Thanks
By The Rev. Lisa Fischbeck
As the Church of the Advocate, Chapel Hill, celebrates its 10th anniversary, its vicar reflects on those who have shared the journey and how thinking and thanking often go hand in hand.
Etymologically, the word “thank” is of the same root as the word “think.” To thank means, in effect, to think favorably on the one being thanked. To think on someone isn’t just a matter of engaging our heads and intellects, as if the someone was a problem to be analyzed or solved. To think on someone also engages our hearts. And when we engage our hearts and think favorably on someone, it feels good. It is good. It affects our actions and our attitudes, and the relationship flourishes.
A letter my German great-grandmother sent in 1938 to her oldest granddaughter away at college begins: “Ach! Grandpa und I was so glad last week, when we received a nice letter from you, that you was thinking on your old Grandpa und Grandma…”
To think favorably on someone makes him or her glad. My great-grandparents were made glad by being thought on by their granddaughter, and their granddaughter was no doubt made glad by her grandparents’ response. Thus, she treasured that letter for the rest of her life.
When we think favorably on someone, when we are thankful from the heart, we recognize and we acknowledge that they have somehow made our lives better, easier, brighter and more meaningful. And when we express thanks from the heart, we break down the walls that divide. We realize and celebrate the genuine goodness of others, and we are brought into relationship with, and appreciation of, them. Expressing thanks completes the circle of give and take. It helps to make things whole.
The Church of the Advocate celebrates its 10th anniversary this season. As we complete the final stages of site development and building restoration on the old St. Philip’s Church, we are profoundly aware the chapel we are preparing for accessible worship would not even be able to be restored if it weren’t for the tender care of many through the decades. We are aware of the care and support the Advocate has received through the years. We simply would not exist if it weren’t for the generosity and attention of our sponsoring parishes (St. Matthew’s, Hillsborough and Chapel of the Cross and Church of the Holy Family, Chapel Hill), the Diocese of North Carolina and the dozens of friends and visionary elders. We think on all these good people in these days. And we are thankful.
