Do you know the name James Weldon Johnson? Like me, he was born in Florida. He was the first African American to be admitted to the Florida Bar. He was the first Executive Secretary of the NAACP. He was Professor of Literature at Fisk University. I first heard of James Weldon Johnson from the comedian Bill Cosby who quoted, or performed, his most famous poem, "God’s Trombones." James Weldon Johnson was fond of saying, "Leave the trumpet playing to Gabriel, but if you are preaching your voice should sound like a trombone, deep and thunderous, covering the range of musical notes from top to bottom."

Do you remember how in his poem "God’s Trombones" James Weldon Johnson preaches the creation story. After God makes the heavens and the earth and God steps back to admire his handiwork, sun, moon, stars, oceans, lands, plants, birds, insects, animals—all so beautiful and good. God is right proud of all this work. God pats God’s-self on the back and congratulates himself for his magnificent creation. And then slowly God realizes something is missing. God ponders what’s lacking in this good creation, and finally God says to himself, "I’m lonely. I know, I’ll make me a man."

To quote James Weldon Johnson, "Up from the bed of the river God scooped some clay; and by the bank of the river he kneeled down; and there the great God Almighty who lit the sun and fixed it in the sky, who flung the stars to the most far corner of the night, who rounded the earth in the middle of his hand; This Great God, like a mammy bending over her baby, kneeled down in the dust toiling over a lump of clay till he shaped it in his own image; Then into it he blew the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Amen. Amen."

And this is our first clue about the benefits of being thankful. When you and I give thanks, the first one who benefits is not us, but God. God is lonely unless we give God thanks. That’s why we live and breath, so God won’t be lonely. God needs us, us shaped in his own image, us who are living souls. If we turn away from God, forget to give God our thanks, we deprive our creator of communion and fellowship with us. And God doesn’t like being lonely.

Jesus tells us this truth in his parable of the prodigal son. You remember the Father grieves when his younger son takes his inheritance and leaves home. But that Father loves his younger son so much he lets him go. But all the time he is gone, his Father stays awake longing for his son, straining his ears to hear any words of his missing son, and when his son finally wakes up, comes to his senses and starts back home, his Father is out looking down the road, straining his eyes to catch the first glimpse of his younger son coming back at last. What tears of joy are shed when his son is back in his loving arms so he can celebrate their reunion.

Jesus sends ten lepers off to be certified clean by their priests, but only one returns to thank Jesus. Jesus asks, " Where are the other nine?" All ten were cleansed, so you don’t have to give thanks to be healed. But Jesus longs to receive their thanks. Even one who returns, a foreigner, a Samaritan, makes Jesus’ day. And so the first benefit of being thankful does not come to us, but comes to our creator and redeemer, who needs our thanksgiving, having done all that’s necessary for us to be able to be thankful. Our motivation for thanksgiving first of all should be we are making our great Lord God happy. I don’t know about you, but I get quickly ashamed of myself when I realize how I disappoint my Lord by failing to give thanks, when I realize how much my Lord needs, longs, and smiles with pleasure when I give thanks as I am created to do.

And there’s a second benefit of being thankful. You remember when God creates the first man so God will no longer be lonely, that man Adam looks around at the Garden so beautiful, and Adam, like God, says to himself, "You know what, I’m lonely." And so God gets busy again and takes one of Adams ribs and makes him a woman, Eve the mother of all descendents. And the only way Adam can thank God is to welcome his new partner, take care of her and share with her the duties of homemaker and parenthood.

And when they get into trouble, God comes walking in the garden in the cool of the day, looking for them, as they hide from him, God seeking to set them aright, clothe them, protect them, and promise them a brighter future in their covenant walk together. As Adam learns, with Eve, how to give God thanks, he is grateful to his partner, and his partner benefits from his devotion. And when their offspring get into trouble, the surviving heir, Cain, has to learn this second benefit comes not to himself alone, but to others, who benefit when he wakes up and hears God promise to protect and bless his descendents.

The prophet Micah puts this second benefit in social or community perspective. "With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" In other words, proper thanks unto God means to benefit others with justice, mercy and humility. And so it’s the others who receive the second benefit of being thankful.

As Jesus puts it, "Love your neighbor as yourself." "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." And when these first two benefits line up, thanks unto God, love for others, then the third benefit follows as night the day. I discover myself to be the third benefactor. When I thank God and thank others, I benefit myself, as God’s blessing pours out upon me.

Jesus sent all ten lepers off to be certified clean by their priests. All ten were cleansed, but only the one Samaritan who returned to fall at Jesus’ feet, thanking Jesus, only this one heard Jesus say, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well." This cleansed leper hears Jesus say you are made whole, you are saved, your life is fulfilled, because you are thankful unto God your creator and redeemer. This thankful one receives the third benefit of being thankful, while the other nine miss this blessing for themselves, failing to return to give their thanks unto Jesus.

The prodigal son comes home to thank his father, and his father showers him with blessing. Alas, his older brother grumbles with resentment, refuses to come to the banquet celebration, chooses to leave himself out, because he has no thanks to express to his own father who has blessed him all along, and no welcome for his long lost brother. This older brother shares none of the three benefits of being thankful, because he settles for self-sufficiency and thus lonely independence.

The Apostle Paul, writing to the Philippians from jail, commends them for sending help to him. "Not that I seek your gift, but I seek the profit that accumulates to your account. I have been paid in full and have more than enough; I am fully satisfied, now that I have received the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours, according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

You see, when you and I hear our Lord God calling unto us for our thanksgiving, so God will not be lonely, when you and I thank our Lord God so God is no longer lonely, when we give our thanks with and for each other, then each one of us receives the blessing God is waiting to pour out upon each one of us. Once more, here is how the Apostle Paul puts it: "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Dear sisters and brothers, for this good news of the three benefits of being thanks, let us acclaim, "Alleluia! Amen and Amen."