Grief and Gratitude -- SHIFT Friendsgiving 2023

INTRO

Alright to start, i’m going to say word pairings and I want you to respond whether or not you think they go together. If you think they go together, say YEEEEAAAAHH. If you DON’T think they go together, say BRUUUUH.

Ketchup and Eggs

Peanut Butter and Pickles

French Fries and Ice Cream

Joshua Bassett and Sabrina Carpenter

Spongebob and Patrick

Pineapple and Pizza

We’re here together at this Friendsgiving to celebrate friendship and enjoy great food together. As you know, Thanksgiving is a time when friends and family get together and express their gratitude. But do you ever find yourself finding it really hard to be grateful when life isn’t going well?

Like, how could we be grateful when i’m struggling to pass all my classes? How can I be grateful if I come home to parents who fight all the time? How can I be grateful when I go to a school filled with people who don’t even acknowledge my existence? How can I be grateful when I’m not even grateful to be alive?

How can I be grateful when I know that innocent people (men, women, and children) are dying in the Middle East?

Just yesterday, I was at a coffee shop down the street. As I was packing up my stuff, a dude came up to me, asking if he could sit in at the table I was working at. And I was like, “Yeah, bro! Of course!” With all my stuff in my hand, I asked him how he’s doing. And you know when you ask someone how they’re doing, more often than not, they just say “I’m fine!” Well, instead of giving a short “I’m fine”. This guy said that he’s been grieving this past month. He’s grieving the fact that across the globe, thousands of innocent people are dying at the hand of oppressors, and he’s just in a coffee shop. Watching the country he lives in fund genocide.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE BOTH GRATEFUL AND GRIEVING? Doesn’t it seem like grief and gratitude are two things that don’t go together?

Well, Psalms 13 gives us insight in the heart of someone who was literally within that tension.

BODY

Let’s read the whole chapter together. It’s only 6 verses.

“How long, LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long am I to feel anxious in my soul, with grief in my heart all the day?

Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, and my enemy will say, ‘I have overcome him,’ and my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.

But I have trusted in Your faithfulness; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because He has looked after me.”

Who is King David

What are the Psalms and Why you like the Psalms

How Psalms 13 is structure.

Three pairs of verses.

Verses 1 and 2

Verses 3 and 4

Verses 5 and 6

How King David is feeling.

First, he’s grieving.

Then, he’s grateful.

But there is something that happens between verses 1-2 and verse 5-6.

Prayer is the place where grief and gratitude can meet.

Your story: Grief and Gratitude can live in the same heart.

It was this experience that taught me that grief and gratitude can, indeed, go together.

Psalms 13 teaches me that its OK to be in desolation and delight. To feel deep pain and to sing intimate praise. To be deeply grieving and to be deeply grateful.

CONCLUSION

In this Thanksgiving season, I encourage you to pray. And not to just go through the routine prayers. I encourage you to let God know every emotion you are feeling. To be real, open, and honest with God. To scribble your emotions in your journal. To scream your frustrations into your pillow. Give yourself space to grieve…and do it in the presence of your Jesus.

On the same note, give yourself permission to be grateful. Give yourself permission to take yourself on a picnic. Give yourself permission to do that thing you’ve been putting off for a while. Give yourself permission to take care of yourself for once. Give yourself permission to smile…and do it in the presence of your Jesus.

This is what true gratitude looks like. God gives us space to grieve and be grateful. And you should give yourself space, as well.