Spring Semester (2025-2026)

The Omnibus Classroom

Never Without Notice and Always with Gratitude 

The late 19th-century American painter, Winslow Homer, purposed in his heart to “never let the sun rise or set without my notice and thanks.” I often think of this quiet oath as I begin my school day in the empty classroom, practicing our hymn for the day, and tying back the curtains to greet the sun, and then again at the conclusion of the day when the students depart with, “Thank you, Mr. Blackwell. Have a good weekend.” Never without notice and always with gratitude.

The early church fathers spoke often about the importance of living eucharistically. Eucharist, the term that some Christian traditions use for the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion, is the Greek word for thanksgiving or giving thanks. Thankfulness to God for his good and undeserved blessings, the greatest of which is the indescribable gift of his own Son. They believed that it is not unimportant that twice during the institution of the Lord’s Supper we are told “Jesus had given thanks.” “And when he had given thanks, he said, ‘Take this and divide it among yourselves.’” And, “When he had given thanks, he broke the bread and gave it to them.” Thus, the Eucharist is not just a ritual; it is Jesus’ restoration of a good and properly ordered creator-creature relationship, an order that had been established in creation but broken by the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, and gratitude is at the heart of that restored order.

Irenaeus of Lyon, the early Greek bishop and theologian, also saw the fall of man not merely as disobedience but as a breaking of proper order. Adam, having succumbed to the temptations of Satan, failed to acknowledge God as the one who had given him all his many blessings: an abundance and variety of delicious food hanging from every tree, a perfect and loving companion, good and meaningful work, surrounded by glorious beauty. He instead saw God as one who withheld something good from him which would make him god-like, namely, the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and  evil. So Adam moved away from a posture of humbly receiving everything as a gift, recognizing his dependence on God for all good things, and gratefully acknowledging God as the giver, to a posture of grasping and taking with an ungrateful heart. In this sense, Adam’s sin was anti-eucharistic.

Jesus, in the institution of the Lord’s Supper, restores the proper God-ordained creator-creature order, established in creation but broken in the fall. He begins by giving thanks to God, the giver of all good things. He then gives the bread and wine as a symbol of his body and blood for the disciples not to grasp and take but to humbly and thankfully receive with open hands, acknowledging not their independence and self-sufficiency but their utter dependence on God, who giveth to all mankind life and breath and all things.

Luke the Evangelist includes the account of Jesus’ cleansing of the ten lepers to remind us that though Christ would restore the proper creator-creature order, a eucharistic life characterized by notice and gratitude is still rare and must be sought and cultivated. While on his last journey to Jerusalem, as he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee, Jesus entered a village and cleansed ten lepers, but of the ten, only one, “when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving thanks.” Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” (Luke 17:16-18).

Only one saw, returned, and gave thanks and praise to God. What was it that the one leaper saw that the other nine did not see? He saw that the healing of his body was not just a “fortunate event” that he could go home and tell his friends and family about. He saw that this was a powerful, miraculous, gracious, creative work by a person, and his name was Jesus. Furthermore, the one leper understood that this was a work that only God could do. Therefore, he concludes, “I must return. I must tell Jesus, ‘Thank you.’” Something happened in the heart of the one leaper, and it began with seeing, “he saw that he was healed,” and it culminated in gratitude and his soul being made well, “he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving thanks” (Luke 17:15-16).

Parents and students, I am grateful to God for you and for another year of study. May we be the “ones,” the ones who truly see and then return to acknowledge and praise God from whom all blessings flow. May we trace every blessing back to Him, make thanksgiving a daily practice, let gratitude lead us into worship and praise, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs … with thanksgiving. May the sun never rise or set without our notice, and thanks, not just thanks for the beauty and warmth of the rising and setting sun itself, but thanks to the Father of Lights who spoke the sun and the moon and the stars into existence and to the Son who even now upholds the universe by the word of His power, and to the Spirit who brooded over the waters and brought a marvelous order out of chaos.

Knowledge and Wisdom in Submission to God,

Chris M. Blackwell