I Thank My God for You

I thank my God every time I remember you. (Philippians 1:3)   This first little sentence of the letter is worth lifting up all on its own. On the one hand, we know that Paul did not begin all of his letters this way (for example, see: Galatians 1:6).  But Paul did begin many of them this way—with thanks to God for the church he was writing to. Gratitude is not always—perhaps not even very often—our first reaction when someone pops into our minds.  Often we think of someone because that person is connected to something we have to do, or something we have felt that we still need to process.  For example: a person could pop to mind because of some challenging interaction we've had with them that we're mulling over, or something challenging going on in their life that we're thinking of supporting them in, or some task that we still have to complete with or for them.  People may certainly come to mind for other reasons, but I think that covers the bulk of them. So people become to-do lists in our minds or they become situations rife with emotional complexity.  But how often is it that our very first act is giving thanks to God when a new name or face comes to mind?  Perhaps these are not immediately people that we are thankful for.  Nor even that we want to be thankful for.  But what if we did it anyway, as Paul does here?  In Christ and in the humility of Christ, there is always a reason to give thanks for another person created in his image—another subject of his love.  Indeed, as Paul said in his words of greeting: the grace of Christ was already with and among this church and its people.  In the Greek language Paul wrote in, "grace" (charis) and "thanks" (eucharisto) are nearly identical words.  Grace is the "charis" that God gives to us, and "eucharist" is the grace that we give back to God in response.  You may, in fact, recognize an older, but common word for the Lord's Supper in this second word "eucharist."  In Greek, this is simply the word thanks, which is how the meal came to be known early on in the life of the church.  But to come back to the main point: in response to the grace of God given to and through the Philippian church, Paul responds by thanking God.     CS Lewis once noted how the best way of learning to love someone was to start to do the actions of love toward them.  Start acting like you love someone, and eventually you may just find that you do.  Not all at once, of course.  But slowly you may find that you are annoyed less, that you begin to notice positive or clarifying, nuancing qualities in them more.  New possibilities open up that weren't there before.  Eventually forgiveness and love begin to flow as well. It all starts with a word of thanks.  If not at first a true thanks for the person that's come to your mind, then at least a responsive word of thanks to God for the self-same gift of grace that he gives both to this person and to you.  Try it out in the next day or two.  Every time you remember someone, respond in thanks to God for them before you do anything else.  In this small, repetitive act of faithful response, just see what God might do within you to increasingly transform your mind to that of Christ—and transform your relationships too.