It's Thanksgiving Week. Time to count your blessings.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and place to sleep ... you are richer than 75% of this world of ours.

If you have money in the bank, cash in your wallet and spare change in a dish someplace ... you are among the top 8% of the Earth's wealthiest people.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness ... you are more fortunate than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation ... you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend this worship service, or any other religion-related meeting, without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death ... you are fortunate. Billions of people in the world cannot. This fact alone is reason to submit your estimate of giving card this week, and to support the work of this church in the year 2003.

It's not hard for us to count our blessings, is it? Most of us could quickly and easily jot down a rather lengthy list, including thanks for family, for friends, for food, for clothing, for cars, for a home, for a job, for health, for freedom, for opportunity ... yadda, yadda, yadda.

But THINK about this. If we follow this logic, then it means that if we LACK these things, we cannot give thanks. We can count our blessings only if we have something to count. What if you have no family ... no car ... no home ... no job? Does this mean you cannot give thanks?

Not at all!

In today's passage from Ephesians, Paul encourages us to give thanks for nothing. In fact, he offers us the example of his own thanksgiving for nothing at all -- not one physical, material, tangible THING.

Instead, Paul gives constant thanks for things which are not things: Faith in the Lord Jesus, love toward the saints, a spirit of wisdom and revelation, the riches of God's glorious inheritance, and the immeasurable greatness of God's power (Ephesians 1:15-19). None of these blessings can be seen, touched, purchased or possessed -- like food, clothing, cars, boats or homes. And yet, they are the very greatest gifts we could ever receive.

Thanks for nothing, Paul!

In the classic children's book The Little Prince, the fox character is saying goodbye to the little prince, and as he leaves he says, "And now here's my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeats, so that he will be sure to remember. This fox's insight is right in line with what the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18).

It is the unseen that is eternal. What is essential is invisible to the eye.

This approach to Thanksgiving runs counter to conventional wisdom, and it refuses to fall into step with the swarm of shoppers that will surge into shopping malls this Friday to begin the Christmas buying binge. "Black Friday," they call it -- the biggest shopping day of the year. It's not black because it's bad, according to merchants, but because they count on it to turn the red in their books to black, the color of profit. For the merchants at the mall, Black Friday is a Good Friday.

But ponder the perspective of the apostle Paul. He doesn't give thanks for gold jewelry, Game Cubes, leather jackets, personal care products, computer games and DVDs. He refuses to focus his gaze on the things that can be seen, because he knows that these things are temporary.

Instead, he looks only at the essential and eternal things that are invisible to the eye. When he counts his blessings, he lists absolutely nothing you can buy, and nothing you can own -- only faith, love, a spirit of wisdom, a spirit of revelation, God's inheritance, God's power. And that, in the eyes of many, makes him appear to be a real wacko.

What do YOU think? Is he nuts to give thanks for nothing?

Maybe we can learn something from the way of this wacko. In fact, some of the greatest heroes and heroines of history have done their best work on the border between great truth and great craziness. Think of the philosopher Socrates, an odd little man who spent most of his time out in the streets, collaring anyone who would talk with him. Or John Nash, the schizophrenic, Nobel-winning mathematician depicted in this year's best picture, A Beautiful Mind. Nash told his biographer, "The ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the same way my mathematical ideas did. So I took them seriously."

We would do well to take seriously the insights of people who possess "crazy wisdom." People like Socrates, and John Nash, and the apostle Paul. Jon Spayde defines crazy wisdom as intuitive, boundary-busting, ever-youthful, turbulent, and scandalous. He reminds us that fools, clowns, jesters, religious reformers, and Spirit-inspired poets have shaped our world as significantly as any of their saner brothers and sisters … and many of them still have the power to fascinate, delight, and dismay us. Crazy wisdom makes us uncomfortable, but it links this discomfort to a fresh discovery that fills us with energy, joy, and a renewed sense of life. It calls us to have the childlike mind of wonder that Christ insisted was the only way into the kingdom of heaven. (Jon Spayde, "The Way of the Wacko," Utne Reader, May-June 2002, 64-65)

So when Paul encourages you to give thanks for nothing, don't blow him off. He's offering you some life-giving crazy wisdom.

Faith and love are the first two invisible, essential, eternal items that the apostle mentions in his letter to the Ephesians. "I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints," he reports, "and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you" (1:15). Paul knows that the sign of true success is not a Lexus, or a house in the mountains, or a job with a six-figure salary. Instead, success is being a person who trusts Christ completely, and who loves neighbors consistently. This living out of the vertical and horizontal dimensions of life -- a vertical relationship with Jesus, combined with a horizontal relationship with neighbor -- is the key to a perfectly balanced and fulfilling life.

So, how are you doing with YOUR relationships? Are you developing and deepening a set of commitments to God and to the people around you? If so, count your blessings. If not, you've still got time. Part of the crazy wisdom of Christianity is that everything in life revolves around relationships. Everything.

Paul also speaks of "a spirit of wisdom and revelation" (v. 17) … a spirit which he prays will come out of our ever-expanding relationship with God through Christ. This spirit of wisdom opens our eyes to what God is planning for us, and it helps us to see that there is nothing richer or more valuable than a life in communion with God, both today and in the life to come. It is with this spirit of wisdom and revelation that we can finally grasp the riches of God's glorious inheritance (v. 18), a heavenly inheritance far more valuable than stocks or bonds or savings accounts or real estate.

Remember: It is only the UNSEEN that is eternal. What is essential is invisible to the eye.

The final invisible item that Paul wants us to appreciate is the immeasurable greatness of God's power, a power that has raised Jesus from the dead and seated him in the heavenly places. This power has put Jesus in a place of ultimate authority, far above every earthly ruler, not only in this age but also in the age to come, so that everything on earth is now under the soles of his sandals (vv. 19-22).

In short, Jesus rules. In spite of the fact that there are many earthly powers that APPEAR to be in control, especially in times of terror and international conflict, the conviction we have as Christians is that Jesus has conquered all the powers of this world, even the power of death itself.

But that's not all. God's amazing power is also at work in those of us who believe -- this power is experienced as we take part in the life of the body of Christ, that body of believers known as the church (vv. 19, 23). It doesn't really matter how much wealth or power or prestige or personnel or inventory or square mileage we control in this world, because our greatest influence comes through our work as disciples of Christ. It is as followers of Jesus that we experience the divine life and power of God that fills all things. It is as followers of Jesus that we are able to endure incredible hardship and overcome enormous personal obstacles. It is as followers of Jesus that we are able to share the love and grace and hope and peace and forgiveness of our Lord. It is as followers of Jesus that we are able to step out in mission and share the gospel in both our words and our deeds.

None of these is a "thing," in a material sense. But whether we are rich or poor, homeowners or homeless, working or unemployed, we have access to an amazing set of essential, eternal, unseen treasures.As Christians, we can honestly say to God: Thanks for everything. Amen.

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