Gratitude is action, not words

‘Come From Away’ food for thought

First United Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville is in the middle of a sermon series on gratitude. The month of November is stewardship season, as well as when we celebrate Thanksgiving, so it’s the perfect topic for this time of year. I also think it ties in nicely with how grateful most of us are that the covid-19 numbers seem to finally be coming down — or at least they were as I was writing this. By now too many of us have lost a friend or family member due to covid, or have had our personal lives disrupted in some way.

I will not be preaching during the series, so I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on the subject because gratitude has been on my mind since I was fortunate to attend a performance of “Come From Away” at the Walton Arts Center. All performances at the Walton Arts Center are superb, but this one really created a buzz among those who saw it. “Come From Away” is a musical set in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, and tells the true story of 38 planes being ordered to land in the small town of Gander, Newfoundland. How the residents of the small town respond to the needs of over 7,000 stranded passengers, and how those passengers react to their circumstances, offers a very personal look at the traumatic event.

While it was one of the best things I’ve seen at the Walton Arts Center, that’s not why I have been thinking about the play.

It’s the generosity of the people of Newfoundland and the gratitude of the passengers in the midst of tragedy that is sticking in my mind. This year we commemorated the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11. It is appropriate to remember the sacrifices of the men and women who bravely went toward the danger in order to assist others and lost their lives in that act, as well as those who died in and around the World Trade Center towers and on the planes used as weapons. So much life was lost. And lives changed forever. Protocol at airports will never be simple again. And suspicion of anyone from the Middle East remains with us as a curse and an additional facet of our inherent racism.

But while this play incorporates the tragedy into its story, the big takeaway following the show is how the people of Gander and surrounding communities shared everything that they had with the stranded passengers without thought of being compensated. And most of the passengers were permanently changed for the better due to the generosity of their hosts. Not only that, but they responded with their own acts of generosity in gratitude.

As I was reflecting on the play with a friend visiting my home the next day, I happened to spot a dish towel in my kitchen. On it is a quote by John F. Kennedy that encapsulates this idea of gratitude to my way of thinking. It reads: “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”

As we approach Thanksgiving, may we remember that thankfulness is more than the words “thank you.” It is living a life that gives generously, with gratitude for everything we experience.