Blessed

What are you thankful for? It's a good question to ask ourselves, not only when Thanksgiving rolls around, but any day of the year. And if we are only thankful for the luxuries that we enjoy as middle-class Americans, maybe we should reevaluate our list! This sermon talks about exactly that.

Back in the day, when I was in elementary school, the week leading up to Thanksgiving was pretty much a throwaway as far as lessons were concerned. Nowadays many school systems take off the entire week, but that wasn’t the case when I was growing up. Because we students couldn’t concentrate on lessons, the teachers thought up all kinds of projects to keep us occupied. We made pilgrim hats out of construction paper, Native American garb out of brown paper bags, and turkeys out of our own hand prints. And almost every year, we would be asked to draw a picture of what we were thankful for. There were all kinds of responses to that! The kids who wanted to please the teacher (like me) drew pictures of people kneeling in church to signify freedom of religion, even though we had no idea what that really meant. The ones who were honest usually drew a picture of their families, their toys, or even the hamster.

That’s still a good activity for us adults, even though no pictures are necessary this morning. What are we thankful for? Take just a moment to think about that. What is tops on your list this morning? Is it your house? Your warm clothing? Your family? Those are the things that many people name when that question is asked. But what would happen if all those things were taken away? What would happen if, like Job, we suddenly lost every single one of the things that we so often take for granted in our lives? No roof over our heads… no soft bed with warm bedding... no refrigerator full of turkey and cranberry sauce… no telephone… no car with a full gas tank… no warm coat to keep out the cold. Would we still give thanks to God then?

Before you answer that question, let’s go back in time to the year 1620, when the Pilgrims first landed in Massachusetts. It was a very difficult time for them. Not only had they crossed the Atlantic very late in the season, they had landed much farther north than they had intended to land. When they finally started building a permanent village, it was late October and winter was coming on. Most of the Pilgrims lived on the ship during that first winter, because it was impossible to build homes in the cold and snow. Their food supply had been nearly exhausted during their ocean voyage, and very little fresh food was available. Half of them died of exposure, scurvy, or disease. If it had not been for the native Squanto who taught them to grow corn and squash, tap maple trees for sap, and catch seafood, the rest of them might not have survived, either. But they did survive; and the following fall, they shared a feast of thanksgiving with the Native Americans who had, quite literally, saved their lives.

What were the Pilgrims thankful for? Not soft beds; they didn’t have any of those. Not big homes; their houses were small, dark, and uncomfortable. Not a closet full of clothes; most of the Pilgrims had only two sets of clothing: one for every day and another for Sunday. And all of them had lost loved ones during that first dreadful winter. What could they possibly be thankful for in circumstances like that? The answer is that they were thankful to be alive at all! They were thankful that, because they had been helped by Squanto and other members of his tribe (surely a sign of God’s grace), they now had plenty of food to eat. They were thankful that they now had shelter on the mainland. And they were thankful that, even though some of their loved ones had died due to cold and disease, other loved ones still surrounded them. They were thankful for the basics: life, food, shelter, and loved ones! We who are surrounded by unbelievable bounty every day of the week tend for forget about all those basics, don’t we? We are so accustomed to life’s luxuries that we enjoy as middle-class Americans that we forget the blessings that we have simply as human beings: life, shelter, loved ones, and enough food to survive. And the reality is that if we don’t have those things, nothing else really matters a hill of beans!

At the United Church of Christ regional gathering that I attended recently, the host church was a mostly African-American congregation on the west side of Cincinnati. When they led us in worship, it was in what I would describe as a typical African-American style. We sang joyfully as we stood up and clapped with the rhythm of the upbeat music. We were encouraged to sing out; and we gave thanks to God for all God’s blessings over and over again. It made me stop and think; and I realized that African-American churches who have the fewest material blessings are the very ones who praise God the most enthusiastically. African-American congregations always have praise at the center of their worship! No matter how much injustice or inequality the preacher may lift up – and believe me, African-American congregations know a lot more than we do about injustice and inequality – the foundation of their worship isn’t complaint or lament, but praise!

We can learn a lot from our African-American sisters and brothers. They witness to us through their worship that despite all the difficulties in our lives – and all of us do have many difficulties – we can always thank God for the blessings that we have. We are alive. We are can get up and move around. We can see and hear and taste. We can love; and we have people who love us back and help us out when times are hard. Most of all, we have God’s presence with us every single day of our lives. We have Jesus Christ walking with us over both smooth paths and troubled waters. We have the Spirit within us giving us comfort and peace, courage and guidance. We have so many reasons to thank God! And when we do that, it changes our perspective. When we give God thanks, it takes our focus off the things that are going wrong in our lives and puts that focus squarely back on the things that are going right! Praise and thanksgiving have the potential to change us from Grumpy Gus into Grateful Gertie. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather be Grateful Gertie than Grumpy Gus; and I’m pretty sure that the people around me would agree with that.

Are we blessed? You bet we are! God has done so much for us that we can’t begin to keep track of it all! So… on this Sunday before our national day of Thanksgiving, what are you thankful for? Turkey and cranberry sauce, parades and football games – sure! But I hope that topping your list are life, love, and the presence of God. That’s what the Pilgrims gave thanks for. That’s what our African-American sisters and brothers give thanks for. And I certainly hope that you’re giving thanks for those things, too!

Be Prepared

What would you do if the world was going to end next week? How about in a month? In a thousand years? We Christians believe that it will end some day when the Kingdom of God arrives. So... how do we get ready for that? This sermon might help you think about that.

While I was scanning Facebook recently, I came across the astonishing prediction that the world is going to end next Sunday. According to someone named Terral Croft, the world will be destroyed by massive earthquakes on Sunday, November 19 “when Earth passes behind the Sun relative to the Black Star in the Libra Constellation.” (This quote is allegedly from Mr. Croft’s blog.) Call me a skeptic, but I don’t believe that prediction; and it’s not just because I am looking forward to enjoying Thanksgiving. No, it’s because lots of other people have predicted the end of the world before now; and they have all been mistaken in their calculations. I understand that even Sir Isaac Newton took a crack at that kind of prediction. He thought that the world would end in the year 2016. Since that date has passed and we are all still here, I assume that he was also wrong.

But what if the world was really going to end next Sunday? What would you do to get ready for that? Would you go out and buy all the things that you have always wanted? Would you quit your job and spend next week with your family? Would you find a quiet place to pray and meditate and just wait for the end? Fortunately, we don’t need to do any of those things right now. I’m fairly certain that the world will go right on turning throughout next Sunday into a week from tomorrow. (And if I’m wrong, I’ll certainly be the first one to apologize!) But one day, this world will, indeed, cease to exist; and we Christians believe that when it does, God will recreate this world into the Kingdom of God. We don’t know the details of how that will happen; and the Bible only offers imaginative glimpses of what that might look like. We don’t even know when that will happen. In fact, we really don't know anything at all about it -- only that it will happen someday.

How can we get ready for something like that? There are lots of different responses to that question. Some people just ignore it the whole thing. Their opinion is, “If it won’t happen in my lifetime, then I’m not going to worry about it.” They do whatever they want to do, and they don’t give any thought to the long-term future. Their motto, like that of the goofy character who graces the cover of Mad Magazine, is “What, me? Worry?” Other people know that life is short and nothing is certain; and they follow the advice that a beer company once offered: “You only go around once in life, so you have to grab it with gusto!” Like those who ignore the whole situation, they do whatever they want to do, as long as it is legal (and sometimes even if it isn’t). “Seize the day!” is their motto. “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die!”

We Christians have a different motto. We join the Boy Scouts in advising “Be prepared.” Be prepared for anything to happen! Be prepared for the world to end tomorrow; and be prepared for it to last for another million years! We know that God will recreate the world into the Kingdom of God, but we don’t know when that will happen. So, again we ask, “How do we get ready for an event that might happen today, or tomorrow, or not for another millennium?” The beginning of the answer, I think, is to consider what kind of person will fit into that coming kingdom. We all know what that kingdom will be like. It will be peaceful, with no more conflicts. In fact, it will be full of the kind of love that all of us want to get but that almost none of us are able to give: a love that accepts us no matter who we are, or what mistakes we have made in our lives. And because that kingdom will be peaceful and loving, there will be no more pain, no more suffering, and no more tears. That’s what we all yearn for, isn’t it; and that’s what we all look forward to at the end of time. So… if God’s kingdom will be full of peaceful, loving people, how do we get ready for it? The answer should be obvious: we practice being that kind of person right now; and we keep right on practicing until God’s kingdom comes in fullness – whenever that may be!

That may be an obvious answer, but it’s not an easy answer. Have you tried to be loving, forgiving, and accepting? Have you tried to put aside the differences that separate you from other people? Have you tried to reach beyond the divisions of politics, religion, and culture to find the common humanity that we all share? Of course you have; and so have I. Have you succeeded? Of course you haven’t; and neither have I. We will never love, forgive, and accept others the way that we should until we are transformed into the image of Christ when the kingdom of God arrives in its fullness! But that doesn’t mean that we should stop trying. On the contrary, we need to keep trying our best to practice love, forgiveness, and acceptance every single day until this world becomes the next one, whenever that may be!

That next world might be a long time in coming. In fact, we might practice our entire lives while we’re waiting for God’s kingdom to arrive. And we can’t practice anything that long without something to help keep us going! That’s what this morning’s parable from the gospel of Matthew (25:1-13) is all about. It tells of ten young bridesmaids who were waiting for a wedding to begin. In Jesus’ time, a wedding began when the bridegroom arrived at the bride’s home to take her to his own home. The whole wedding party would escort them there carrying lights. This particular bridegroom was late; and some of the bridesmaids hadn’t brought any extra oil for their lamps. In other words, they didn’t have any extra batteries for their flashlights. When the bridegroom finally showed up, their lights were out! They had to go looking for a convenience store that was still open at midnight in hopes of buying some new batteries; and while they were gone, the wedding started, and they were left out in the dark.

Friends, we are those lamps! Jesus tells us (Matthew 5:16) to “let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” Love, acceptance, forgiveness: these are the lights that Jesus wants us to shine. They are the acts that will mold us into saints who are fit for the kingdom of God. But they are hard things to do! We need the resources of prayer, study, and community support to be able to do them on a regular basis! The resources that connect us with God and with each other are the oil in our lamps. If we try to be “good people” all by ourselves, we are behaving just like the five foolish bridesmaids who left their lamp oil at home.

So, how are you doing getting ready for the Kingdom of God? Are you filling yourself with the oil of prayer? Are you in a community of faith that supports you as you practice love, forgiveness, and acceptance? Are you worshiping regularly so that you stay connected with God? We want our lights to shine brightly until the kingdom of God comes in fullness! And when we are discouraged, we can hold on to the hope that one day, we won’t need oil for our lamps any longer; because Jesus will supply all the light that we need when we are invited into his home for the wedding feast.

Remembered

Do you ever worry that you will one day be forgotten? This sermon that I preached for our All Saints Day worship may reassure you.

On a recent short vacation, Fred and I visited a cemetery in south-central Pennsylvania that is situated next to a historic log church. Since the church wasn’t open for us to tour, we had to settle for pressing our noses against the old window glass to peer inside. Then, wanting to linger just a little bit longer, we wandered through the graveyard and admired the artwork on the gravestones. Many of those stones are very plain, just an upright slab with a name and the years of birth and death; while others are much more elaborate. These contain ornate scrollwork around their edges; and some even have tiny angels that hover above the name of the deceased. All of them, though, whether plain or elaborate, are there for the same reason: as a reminder of a life so that it is not forgotten. The reality is, however, that no matter how many gravestones we put up, and no matter how large or elaborate they are, almost everyone will one day be forgotten. Some people, of course, who have made huge contributions to our society – people like the Wright brothers and Mother Teresa – will be remembered for centuries. But most of us won’t be so lucky. In time, all of us will be just names on gravestones; and even our great-great-great grandchildren will wonder about who we were and what we did. “Hmmmm…” they will say. “I wonder what kind of person she was. Was she a good person or a jerk? Did she contribute to society, or was she a freeloader? Did she love her kids? Take in stray dogs? Pay the bills on time?” And they won’t know the answers to those questions any more than we know the answers to questions that we have about our own distant ancestors.

Now, I will be happy to have my faults forgotten. But the thought of one day being only a name on a grave marker is really depressing. We all want to be remembered; and we all deserve to be remembered! But here’s the good news: although we humans might forget the people who came before us, God doesn’t. God is in the business of remembering! Why, the Bible is full of instances of God remembering things that other people had completely forgotten. In the midst of a flood that grew to cosmic proportions, when it looked like the waters would never recede – and when no one else was around to remember anything – God remembered Noah and his family and all the animals in the ark; and God sent a wind to push back those waters (Genesis 8:1). When Jacob’s wife Rachel had given up all hope that she would ever bear a child, God remembered her, and she gave birth to Joseph, the one who rose to power in Egypt and saved his family through seven years of drought (Genesis 30:22-24). And when the Hebrews were suffering in slavery in Egypt, God remembered his covenant with Abraham (Exodus 2:23-25), and appointed Moses to help lead all of them to freedom.

God doesn’t forget anyone – not one person who has ever lived! That may be way beyond our human capabilities, but it isn’t beyond God’s. We may not know the names of all the saints who live eternally in God’s presence, but God knows them! God knows my grandfather Will and my great-aunt Helen. God knows your great-great-grandmother, and that ancestor who was legendary for being generous with his time and his money, even though you were never quite sure of his name. God knows your brave ancestor who boarded a sailing ship with only a Bible and the clothes on her back and traveled to this country to find freedom and opportunity, even though you never knew anything about her. God not only knows our ancestors who are just names on gravestones to us; God is on a first-name basis with them!

God will never forget us, either. We are part of God’s memory just as surely as all the other saints down through history have been. None of us will ever be just a name on a neglected gravestone to God. Our promised destiny is to live in God’s presence eternally, as surely as God has promised to be a part of our lives in life and in death. So don’t worry if you don’t remember the names of all the saints in your life. God will never forget even one of them.