Love Means Having to Say Thank You

At Faith and Web, Anna Belle reflects on the experience of being thanked for her church volunteer work.

She notes that too often church volunteers are not thanked for their contributions. So true! She also writes:

I hear there are other faith traditions where volunteers aren’t even told thank you and that’s okay. I’m not sure how this works, but I think it has to do with an understanding that God sees, and your work is done for God. I love this approach, although I’m certain it wouldn’t work in Unitarian Universalist congregations.

This may be the practice in some traditions, but it’s not a good model for congregational life. The idea that there’s no need to thank devout people for their service is right up there with the Love Story tagline, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” As if.

Just because God sees someone’s good works, that doesn’t mean the rest of us are off the hook for saying thank you. When a person serves God, he or she is usually doing so by serving other people. When we are the one who has received such a service, we can embody God’s kindness by saying thank you. This goes not only for the services provided by volunteers, but also for the acts of love that we receive from friends and family.

There is a theological case to be made not only that we have an obligation to say thank you, but that we benefit from doing so. When we say thank you, we cultivate our own gratitude and our awareness of the blessings in our lives.