So, is he blowing a kiss to someone, or what ?
OK, if you didn’t know, the guy is showing the American Sign Language motion for “Thank you.”
 
Let’s think about “thank.”
It’s kind of a weird word: what exactly does it do ?
It’s a sound we make, something we say, to let the other person know that we acknowledge whatever gift or kindness they did for us, and that we feel grateful toward her or him.
Being a word-nut, I had to go find out where “thank” comes from.  Surprise!  A thousand years ago in Europe, it was developing from the same root as the word “think.” 
 
Think-thank; thank-think. 
 
It makes sense, doesn’t it ? 
When we thank someone, we are telling them that we think about what they did for us:  we don’t just take it for granted; we notice.
Being a word-nut, I also had to go into the language of the New Testament to understand what Jesus, Paul, and others meant by the words we translate as “thanks.”  It turns out that, with one notable exception, these words are always based on the word “charis,” meaning “grace” or “a gift.”  To this day, when Greeks express their gratitude, they still say “efcharistó,” which literally means something like, “nicely gifted!” or “goodness gracious!” 
That same word is the word we use for Holy Communion, the “eucharist” : it’s the word for what Jesus always did when he broke bread for his followers – including at the Last Supper: he gave thanks to God for the gift of the bread.  I hope that whenever we take part in the Lord’s Supper, we seriously consider God’s gift of Grace to each of us.  “Goodness gracious !”
 
The exception to the New Testament’s use of words based on “charis” (grace) for giving thanks was in Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 11:25.  Here, Jesus is praying to God his Father: “I thank you, Father…”  Here, where it says “ I thank,” Jesus is using a Greek word which would normally be translated, “I fully confess / fully acknowledge ….”  In other words, when Jesus thanked his Father God, he indicated that he was really paying attention to what God had done for him and his followers.  “I get it !!”
This week we have our annual national day of Thanksgiving.  We also have a big boost into the annual national shopping frenzy, an annual national eating orgy, and a special episode of football watching. 
In the midst of these other religions, I pray that we followers of Jesus will make the effort to fully acknowledge the grace God has given us.  Not only do we get food and shelter and freedom and many, many more gifts in this world: the main thing we get is a Father God Who pays attention to us— our God Who gave Himself for us in Jesus Christ.
Our mission as God’s children is to point the world around us— in all its chaos— to notice the goodness of God and to give God thanks.
As a pastor noticing God’s gifts to us in the church, I share the feelings which Paul. Silas, and Timothy expressed to the church at Thessalonika: 
How can we thank God enough for you 
          in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you?  
Night and day we pray most earnestly 
          that we may see you face to face 
                  and restore whatever is lacking in your faith. 
Now may our God and Father himself 
       and our Lord Jesus 
               direct our way to you.  
And may the Lord make you increase and 
      abound in love for one another and for all,
                just as we abound in love for you.  
And may He so strengthen your hearts in holiness 
       that you may be blameless before our God and Father
               at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
(1 Thessalonians 3:9-13)

[Jesus] sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury.  Many rich people put in large sums.  A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny.  Then he called his disciples and said to them, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.  For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on."                          Mark 12:41 – 44
With Hallowe’en and All Saints Day, we are now astronomically in the second half of Fall.  As the Autumn weather turns the leaves to flame, we notice more the chill in the air and the dimming of the day.  Folks who are living on the edge of not having enough food or enough money to pay the rent feel this time of the year with greater urgency: fewer hours of daylight to make a little money, more severe consequences to lacking shelter.
Being aware of this might make you feel like seeking a way to help our poor neighbors.  Good.
However, according to recent study data, Americans do not all share the same impulses to give to the needy.  The web-journal Philanthropy.com reported in January, 2015:  
https://philanthropy.com/article/As-Wealthy-Give-Smaller-Share/152481
“As the recession lifted, poor and middle class Americans dug deeper into their wallets to give to charity, even though they were earning less.  At the same time, according to a new Chronicle [of Philanthropy] analysis of tax data, wealthy Americans earned more, but the portion of the income they gave to charity declined….
 “The wealthiest Americans— those who earned $200,000 or more— reduced the share of income they gave to charity by 4.6 percent from 2006 to 2012.  Meanwhile, Americans who earned less than $100,000 chipped in 4.5 percent more of their income during the same time period. Middle- and lower-income Americans increased the share of income they donated to charity, even as they earned less, on average, than they did six years earlier.”
 
Do you keep track of your own giving trends ?
 
In a StillSpeaking Daily Devotional this week,
http://www.ucc.org/daily_devotional_the_poor_are_not_lucky?utm_campaign=dd_nov3_15&utm_medium=email&utm_source=unitedchurchofchrist
Rev. Lillian Daniel reflects on this passage from the Gospel of Mark:
“Listen carefully to what I am saying— and be wary of the shrewd advice that tells you how to get ahead in the world on your own.  Giving, not getting, is the way.  Generosity begets generosity.  Stinginess impoverishes,” Jesus said.
- Mark 4:24-26, The Message translation
A well-dressed woman at a religion conference told me that she had learned that it was harder for rich people to experience God's love than the poor.  “The poor,” she explained, “have so little that they have to rely on God's love so much more.  They just seem so much happier.” This was presumably why she delighted in mission work overseas, where the poor were “just so grateful.” …
I have heard rich people say that the poor are lucky before.  But I have yet to hear a poor person say it.
Yes, Jesus does say that we get closer to God by giving away what we have.  But the poor do not get closer to God by having less.  Most people in the world are not poor by choice.  They are poor because other people have more than their fair share.  Whole nations steeped in poverty are not an accident of fate.  Whole nations who enjoy most of the world's wealth are not God's will.
"Generosity begets generosity," Jesus says.  Generosity ought to inspire others to be generous.  Mission trips are miraculous faith-filled pilgrimages when they alert us to the injustice in the world and inspire us to be generous and to change things.  Mission trips are self-serving vacations when we come back thinking that the poor we met overseas are the lucky ones.
We can admire the poor people we meet, and we can respect them, but to call them lucky is ridiculous.  When generosity begets stupidity it wasn't really generosity to begin with.  But when generosity begets more generosity, it is the real thing.
Prayer:  Dear God, give bread to those who are hungry and a hunger and thirst for justice to those who have plenty.  Amen