Gratitude, Grace, Guilt

You know, the normal formula, but backwards.

Introduction

This isn’t a dramatic think piece or criticism of anything in particular, I just had a somewhat humorous thought that at Thanksgiving we tend to take the normal worship pattern of Guilt, Grace, Gratitude, and turn backwards at our annual Thanksgiving turkey dinners. Allow me to explain.

For Those Not ‘In The Know’

As a Cumberland Presbyterian, I stand in the Reformed tradition of Christianity (whether or not my Reformed brethren actually accept us Cumberlands is another issue), and it is our tradition to follow the pattern of guilt, grace, and gratitude in our worship service. This idea of Isaiah’s encounter with God in Isaiah 6:1-8.

In Isaiah 6:1-5, Isaiah personally experiences the holiness of God in a way that reveals his own lack of holiness and his subsequent guilt. Then, in Isaiah 6:6-7, an angel touches a hot coal to Isaiah’s lips as a sign that his iniquity has been purged (grace), and finally when he hears the voice of the Lord asking, “Who shall go for us?” Isaiah…