The Attitude of Gratitude

By Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist


Isaiah 43: 1-7
Luke 3: 15-17, 21-22


“Hot diggity dog!”

Have you seen the youtube video?

“Hot diggity dog!” is what the football fan shouted when his son gave him a Bear Bryant fedora for Christmas, a gray hat just like the legendary University of Alabama football coach used to wear . . .

It was the best Christmas ever for Don Buckhannon, from Oxford, Alabama. He put the hat on his head right then and there. And he shouted “hot diggity dog”! And he clapped his hands. And he grinned from ear to ear.

And he was grateful!

For the hat. And for the team. And for the son who knew him so very well.

But that was not the end of the story.

“What size is the hat, Dad?” you can hear his son asking in the background of the video. And so he takes the hat off his head. And he looks inside to see what size it is. And then this old bear of a man begins to weep with joy. His son has hidden a ticket to the Alabama-Notre Dame national championship college football game inside the hat.

“We’re goin’ to the game, Pop!” his son shouts. And the video camera starts to shake. And the whole family is laughing and crying. And Mr. Buckhannon keeps on shouting “Holy Moly!” over and over again.

“Hot diggity dog!” “We’re goin’ to the game!”

The video, which has gone viral on youtube, ends with a resounding, “THANKS!” from this grateful Dad. A Dad who is . . . without a doubt . . . very pleased with his beloved child.


When I first saw this video my mind went straight to our own Mac Holmes, whose life we celebrate today in the sacrament of adult baptism.

Mac is also a huge football fan. And Mac also has a beloved child with whom he is very pleased. And Mac’s beloved child also went to great lengths to get him tickets to a really big football game, up in Dallas, on Thanksgiving Day. [I will not reveal which football team he was rooting for, except that it was the “right” one. Mac and I have discovered we are both big fans of Robert Griffin III.]




It is the “attitude of gratitude” that I think of most when I think of Mac Holmes. Because Mac is just like that football fan from Alabama, who would be grateful just for a hat. And who honestly would be grateful for his beloved child without even needing a hat.

The truth is Mac Holmes has a way of being grateful just for the day. Just for the mere fact that he can get up in the morning. Just because he has beautiful children. Just because he can come here and be part of a community that loves him just the way he is. Just because he has a God who loves him just the way he is.

And the thing about Mac’s attitude of gratitude is that this is a hard-fought feeling for him. Mac knows all too well that life is just plain hard sometimes. He has had more than his fair share of rough shakes, and plenty of reason to throw his hands up in despair. But instead he says, “hot diggity dog.” I’ve got another day of living. Better make it a good one.

We need that reminder, Mac. From you. From our football fan in Alabama. From the God who created every one of us good. And is very pleased with us.

We need that reminder the same way Jesus did when he went to the Jordan and joined in the suffering of the teeming mass of humanity all around him. Jesus said “alleluia anyway” for this dousing in divine grace. And he dunked himself in the water of the deep, at the hand of John. And the tears of gratitude from the God who loved him beyond compare flowed. And a voice from the heavens shouted a resounding, “THANKS!” My beloved child. I am so pleased with you.

It was not because Jesus had actually done anything that God was grateful for him. There was not even a fedora involved! It was just that God loved him. It was just that God was grateful for him. The same way Mac is grateful for his children. The same way we are grateful for all of our children.

“Hot diggity dog,” God says to us in our baptism. “We’re goin’ to the game.”


The great debate in biblical and theological scholarship around the baptism of Jesus, of course, is why in the world he needed to be baptized. If he was truly without sin, scholars wonder, what was the point?

The point is this, at least as far as I am concerned: baptism is far more about gratitude than it is about guilt. Let me say that again. Baptism is far more about gratitude than it is about guilt! When we baptize an infant we say “alleluia” for the God who claims us before we even know how to ask. And when we baptize an adult we say “hot diggity dog” for the grace of the God who created us good and is very pleased with us. Not because we have done anything. Or because we have decided to stop doing anything. But just because we are.

In fact, I would venture a guess that it was this resounding “THANKS” from the God who was so very pleased with Jesus that gave him the strength he needed to minister the way he did for the rest of his life. To reach out with joy to the ones who seemed to have nothing to be grateful for. To see a couple of fish and a few loaves of bread and say “hot diggity dog” for the feast. To love the very violence that raged around him as he faced his death. To comfort the community that tried to figure out how to carry on the mission without him. 

“You are my beloved,” God says to Jesus . . . and Jesus says, “thank you for another day,” in return. And shows us how to do it, too. Which is what Mac is also showing us today.

And we are all grateful!

So “hot diggity dog, Mac! Holy moly! We’re goin’ to the game!”

Amen.