Thankfulness
Thankfulness is one of our six core Christian values. We will focus on one value each term through our daily act of collective worship.
Christians believe that Jesus loves each of us in many different ways. Their response to this is to be thankful and to praise God through hymns, worship, prayer and stories.
We explore this value through collective worship to think about the things that we have which we can be thankful for (such as food, fresh water, families, friendships, freedoms & rights). We will also think about ways in which we can grow and become stronger from experiences which don’t always seem so positive at the time (for example arguments with friends and learning from our mistakes).
How do we live this out in school?
• Say thank you to each other and know that saying thank you is important and polite.
• Show appreciation for the achievements of ourselves and others.
• Know that that having food, clothes and lovely things is a blessing and not something enjoyed by everyone in our world or our community
• Show thankfulness through our support to charities that help others who are not as fortunate as ourselves.
• Give thanks to God through our hymns and our prayers.
• Learn to be thankful for the skills of others and the ways in which they enrich our lives.
• Give thanks to people in our community who visit and help us. Care for our world and our environment.
Jesus' Golden Rule is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." This is the key to our behaviour policy.
We should not say or do anything unless we can answer "Yes" to the question, "Would I want that said or done to me?"
In the same way, we should aim to do the good things we would expect of others, whatever their background, culture or religion.
Thankfulness in The Bible
Luke tells the story of the ten lepers who were healed and is probably challenging his readers to examine themselves when he tells of the amazement of Jesus that only one, a Samaritan, came back to thank him. (Luke 17:11-19). Jesus gave thanks to God (Matthew 11.25) and although the word ‘thankfulness’ is not common in the Gospels, recognition of his dependence on the Father is evident across the whole life of Jesus. Thankfulness is a wholehearted response. It stems from an awareness of God’s gifts and blessings. It is a joyfulness that erupts into praise. Paul frequently encourages us to ‘be thankful’ (Colossians 3:15), to ‘give thanks in all circumstances’ (1 Thessalonians 5:18) and says that our lives should ‘overflow with thankfulness’ (Colossians 2:7).
For Christians the greatest of all acts of worship is simply called ‘thanksgiving’ (“eucharistia” in Greek) which is thanksgiving for the death and resurrection of Jesus and the way to forgiveness which Christian believe this creates.