By Sherri Dietrich, UTO Board President
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. (James 2:14–18)
I often think of these verses in James as I try to live out my faith and ponder what they mean for living in gratitude. James doesn’t say that faith without deeds is not possible or worthless, but he clearly believes that it’s only half the picture—and that faith WITH works is the whole package. Faith without actions can be satisfying and valuable to the person with faith, but it does not materially further God’s work in the world or engage with God’s other beloved people all around the person with faith. Such self-contained faith only partially serves God and the person of faith, and the same is true of gratitude without giving.
Gratitude requires connection with the one to whom we are grateful and also requires giving something in response. We can feel gratitude, offer a brief prayer of thanks to God, and move on to the rest of our day, which does give thanks to God and make us feel good for a while. But like faith without deeds, that moment of self-contained gratitude does nothing to further God’s work in the world or share God’s love with the people around us—those parts of faith and giving require us to act and to give. Giving in gratitude both carries out God’s work and makes the giver even happier and more grateful, thanks to the “fearful and wonderful” way humans are made.
Those of you who attended (or watched online) UTO’s webinar on “Gratitude and Mental Health” heard Dr. Marta Ileuca talk about her study on prayer and pain, which was funded by a UTO grant in 2020. She spoke about the brain areas that light up (on fMRI) when people pray or give, the areas associated with happiness and social connection. Our brains and bodies know and feel that it is truly better to give than to receive!
UTO wants everyone to feel and share the gift of gratitude, and over the past few years we’ve worked hard to explore the meaning of gratitude and shared how to live in gratitude, focusing less on the giving element of gratitude while we laid that groundwork. But living grateful lives is only half of UTO’s work. The other half is sharing that gratitude with a needy world, which UTO cannot continue without financial gifts from grateful people. Powerful projects like Ileuca’s study, which is actively connecting faith and science, cannot receive UTO grants without your generous donations to UTO’s Ingathering.
Live into your gratitude more fully and spread that gratitude around the world by taking time today to put money in your Blue Box, mailing a check (The United Thank Offering | DFMS – Protestant Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 958983, St. Louis, MO 63195-8983), texting “Ingather” to 4144 to give, or going to www.unitedthankoffering.com/give and making a donation—consider setting up a recurring gift and add a moment of gratitude as you review your credit card bill each month! Thank you.