Making Room For Joy

Philippians 4:4-7    

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Today we are celebrating the third Sunday of Advent (we will actually celebrate it again next week). 

Our Advent theme this year is: Is There Room at the Inn? 

We began by talking about making room for hope, last week I focused on making room for peace -- next week we will make room for the cantata, and then we will look at the fourth theme -- making room for love.

Of course we will then wrap it all up as we seek to make room for Jesus on Christmas Eve.

This morning we are going to talk about Making Room for Joy!

As Christmas draws closer --- Joy seems to be in the air.

          Christmas movies

          Christmas music

          Christmas cookies

          Christmas Parties

         

Each Advent my mind seems to be drawn to a strange song. 

For me this song is what Advent is all about. 

It is an obscure song composed by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim for the 1957 play West Side Story.

Anybody have any idea what song I am talking about?

I am not really sure why --- but playing this song is one of my requirements for the Advent season. 

Along with watching

          Charlie Brown Christmas

          It's A Wonderful Life

          Miracle on 34th Street

          and my girls require that I add The Muppets Christmas Carol

My favorite version of this song from West Side Story is actually from the band Utopia, and I bet you are familiar with the song but probably not that version.  The words go:

Could it be? yes it could.

Something's coming, something good,

If I can wait!

Something's coming, I don't know what it is

But it is

Gonna be great!

Christmas is just a little over two weeks away -- something's coming and it is gonna be great.

And I know it will --- because we will be celebrating with Miss Hattie Mae and the rest of our girls . . .

Joy feels natural this time of year

Our text this morning follows along with this theme.

Paul in his letter to the Philippians is calling on us to:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

It’s easy to see why this is the text that churches read on this third Sunday of Advent.

Who doesn’t like to hear about joy this time of year?

As we light our candles, we can boldly proclaim our joy in

our words,

and in our prayers,

and in our songs.

Christmas is almost here, and we are joyful.

But, what about those times when joy feels hard to find?

What do we say then?

Six years ago I was busy preparing for the third Sunday of Advent. 

The theme was once again joy, but I was having a hard time wrapping my head around it.

One year earlier Nancy and I had left a car at St Luke's UMC as we picked up our daughters who came over from Bloomington and drove together to North Carolina to celebrate Nancy's dad's life.  Six months later we made the trip again, this time to bury her brother.

But something else happened six years ago --- the actual anniversary is on Friday.

20 students and 6 adults were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut

Over those next two days --- like most of the clergy I know ---- I went back and forth between the TV screen, and a blank computer screen

          How does one talk about JOY in the midst of such pain?

The church, I believe struggles with speaking to the realities of our world.

We love to talk about hope, peace, joy and love.

But when we confront the injustices in our world we struggle --- and the truth is many of you don't want to hear about it from the pulpit.

We want happy stories -- we want to sugar coat our lives and have God bless them.

But when we fail to deal with the hard realities of life --- What are we saying to the people who are caught in the midst of those painful realities?

If we don’t acknowledge the pain and suffering in the world, and instead just say “be joyful”, how can anyone ever feel welcome to tell us their stories?

How can one caught up in the pain of life feel welcome in the church?

How can they find peace when they are mourning?

How can they find hope when they are depressed?

How can they find joy when they have lost their job and are struggling to make ends meet?

To deny what is happening in our world is not a Christian response.

Jesus always confronted the realities of his day.

He didn't gloss over the pain, anger, injustice and just talk about happy things.

Instead, Jesus told us that we are to embrace the hurting.

          To bind their wounds

          To comfort the brokenhearted

          To bring peace and justice to those who suffer

Jesus called on us to tell the truth -- even when it hurts.

So while we are to make room for Joy this advent season, in order to do that we have to acknowledge the things that steal our joy from us.

Christmas can be hard --- and I want to acknowledge that.

But at the same time --- we as a church, we as followers of Jesus can't stop there.

Yes, we must acknowledge the brokenness of the world, but we also need to go one step further and proclaim that it doesn’t have to be that way.

There is another way.

There is a better way.

And it is in Advent that we point to that fact.

We point with hope to the future, and to the ways Christ is coming into this world.

Our passage from Philippians reminds us of that:

Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Scripture doesn’t promise us easy lives, or lives without pain.

But it does promise us that those things do not have the last word.

On this third Sunday of Advent we light a pink candle. 

If you are wondering why pink, you would be like most Christians.

Three of the Advent Candles are blue or purple which are the color of penitence.

They are also a royal color and signify the coming of the prince of peace.

The third Sunday of Advent is also known as “Gaudette Sunday” which means “rejoice”.

Pink is the in-between color of purple and white.

We light the pink candle because just as the white mixes with the purple and transforms it and makes it pink --- we are waiting for Christ’s light to break into our world and bring the joy that feels so elusive.

We stand here in the real world, at the junction of where pain and hope meet, and we look for something better.

          We long for joy.

And we say, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”,

Come God, and be with us.

And we do something more.

We proclaim --- just by being here ---- what real joy means.

We testify that the joy that comes with Christ never really ends.

It’s there in the best of times, but it’s also there when times are hard.

It tells us that we can be a joyful person but at the same time still cry alongside the world when it is hurting.

Being joyful means you know that the pain in the world isn’t the way it is supposed to be.

Being joyful means that you know that there is a better way.

As we gather together in 15 days on Christmas Eve, we will turn out the lights to acknowledge the hurt and pain in our world. 

          To --- in a way --- experience the darkness that so many feel

But we will also be reminded of what the Gospel of John tells us:

          “The light shines in darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Jesus is the Light of the World

          Nothing can extinguish it!

Remember what Paul wrote in Romans:

If God is for us, who is against us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angles, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If that light cannot be extinguished, neither can that joy.

We gather here today because somewhere deep inside of us we believe that to be true.

We believe that Jesus is the Light of the World and that the light will always overcome the darkness.

We believe . . .

Our responsibility as followers of Jesus is to spread that light – to share that joy!

Joy is different than just a feeling.

Joy is a way of living as people following the light of Jesus into the world.

Listen carefully ---

Claiming joy is an act of faith,

Living with that joy is a revolutionary act --- especially when we share it with the world that is in desperate need of it.

God’s gift of joy is there for us --- and we are invited to claim it --- not just in the good times, but especially in the bad.

And so, and as we watch and wait this Advent, make room for Joy.

Let the light of Jesus fill your lives and experience the joy it brings.

Live as a people who believe that this joy, and the child who brings it, can change the world.

If you do that, you will have plenty of room at your Inn, for you are halfway to Christmas.  Amen.         

Making Room for Peace

Making Room for Peace

Luke 3:1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

    make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,

    and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall be made straight,

    and the rough ways made smooth;

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

November 11^th has many different meanings to different people.

November 11^th, 1918 marked the end of World War I, the war to end all wars.  At 11:00 am, on the 11^th day of the 11^th month (Paris time) an armistice was signed

At 5am that morning, members of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) went over the top and sustained 3,500 casualties.

Battery 4 of the US Navy's long-range 14-inch railway guns fired its last shot at 10:57:30 am from the Verdun area, timed to land far behind the German front line just before the scheduled Armistice began.

Henry Gunther, an American, is generally recognized as the last soldier killed in action in World War I. He was killed 60 seconds before the armistice came into force while charging astonished German troops who were aware the Armistice was nearly upon them.

November 11^th, 1919 Woodrow Wilson proclaimed that it should become a day of remembrance, but it wasn’t until 1938 that it was made a legal holiday

In 1954, after ten years of wrangling, Armistice Day was changed to Veteran’s Day to honor “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace”.

Since the end of the war to end all wars there has virtually not been a day when conflict isn’t taking place somewhere in our world.

The late historian Eric Hobsbawm claims that 187 million have died in conflicts the last 100 years.

Why am I telling you this?

Because this morning we are looking at the concept of peace and its relationship to advent.

And I want to make this bold claim --- We cannot make room for Advent unless we follow the path of peace. 

But peace is more than the absence of conflict.

While November 11^th stirs many patriotic emotions in each of us (which it was not created to do). 

November 11^th means something more to me --- something that kept me from finding peace for years.

November 11^th, 1985 was the day 23-year-old Stewart Wesley Conger died from cancer.

And the peace that I sought after that day is certainly not the same kind of peace that was sought on November 11, 1918. 

          But it was peace never the less

We cannot make room for Advent unless we follow the path of peace. 

I believe that there are primarily three types of peace that we strive for

·         Inner peace

·         Peace between people

·         Peace between nations or groups

I am not really going to spend time this morning talking about the second two kinds of peace (peace with others, peace between nations or groups) because I am convinced that until we find peace in our own hearts --- we cannot make peace with others.

One of the things that I love about preaching on topics like this is I get to do all kinds of research and find out all kinds of wonderful tips --- now if I could just stop preaching about them and start living them.

Psychologist Robert Puff, in an article on “How to Find Inner Peace” in Psychology Today claims that he has a simple solution that will bring almost immediate relief and not cost a penny. 

He says the solution is only three words long, but most people ignore his advice.

And what does he suggest?  BE IN NATURE.

He writes:

By nature, I’m referring to an environment that fosters stillness and silence. This doesn’t necessarily mean a national park or a rural location far from city life. In fact, in the midst of nearly every busy city, where you’re surrounded by buildings, people, and urban gridlock, you can still stand outside, look at the sky, listen to the birds, hear the wind blow, watch trees sway, and observe a sunrise or sunset. In other words, nature is accessible to all of us. Nature can even be something we bring indoors. Potted plants and flowers are simple and wonderful ways to bring the outdoors into our homes and workspaces. When we’re feeling anxious, having plants and flowers nearby encourage calmness.

This is the quiet place free from mental noise that fills our minds throughout the day.

What he really is wanting us to find is quietness --- stillness in our lives.

 

When we quiet ourselves we can begin to allow peace to overflow in us.

In many ways I agree with him --- finding time in nature is wonderful.

When I want to get away from everything and become filled with quietness the best place I have found is a cruise ship. 

It is one of those places where no decisions are required --- you are disconnected from the day to day rat race. 

I find a cruise the most relaxing vacation I have ever taken because I can slow down in a way that I normally can’t do

One of the greatest examples I have ever seen of inner peace is found in the Atticus Finch character in To Kill A Mockingbird.

There's a scene in which Atticus, the small town attorney defending a falsely accused black man, encounters Bob Ewell, the low-life white farmer who is the accuser.

A drunk Ewell calls Atticus a stream of filthy names and then spits in his face.

In the movie, this scene is played beautifully by Gregory Peck.

With spittle covering his glasses, he doesn't say a word but reaches for something in his pocket while staring at Bob Ewell.

Ewell flinches thinking Atticus is going to hit him, but instead Atticus pulls out a handkerchief and calmly wipes his face and glasses, then walks away.

Not many people could maintain that state of equanimity in such a situation.

Finding inner peace is more about being than doing.

It's about leaning toward rather than struggling against.

It's about being fully present and focused on the task at hand.

The rewards of finding peace are numerous.

They include mental and physical health and well-being, self-confidence, better relationships, and a more intense and joyful experience of life.

If we want to experience inner peace --- there are a few things we can practice in order to get better at it. 

These come from life coach Barrie Davenport.

1.        Have nothing unresolved

Don’t leave the unresolved, unresolved --- seek help if necessary to put away those things that sap your energy and steal peace from your life

2.        Surrender and accept what is

We need to let go

3.        Take full responsibility for how you react to others

Know that you get to choose how you react to others. 

Decide who you want to be in all circumstances

4.        Become aware of and sensitive to feeling rather than ignoring them

Not only others feelings --- but your own as well!

Figure out what is behind the feelings you have

5.        Tell the entire truth

It is amazing how good we are at lying to ourselves and others --- if we want peace we must quit lying

6.        Know your higher self

Distinguish between your self versus your mind, ego, needs or past experience.

Take the time to understand who you really are.

What are your values, your goals, your joys and passions, your integrity?

Those are what define you and make you authentic.

7.        Unhinge from adrenaline

Slow down and let go — or risk losing your health, your relationships, and your peace of mind because of our adrenaline addiction

8.        Know what rattles your cage

Keep asking yourself, “Why do I feel this way?” until you know the real answer.

Then deal with the answer directly.

9.        Step over nothing, even the small stuff

Don’t ignore the small stuff

You may not be able to change everything, but awareness and the ability to manage tolerations in a healthy way can bring you peace.

10.     Prioritize peace ahead of performance

Most people live 28,500 days --- prioritize the days you have left to live.

I think there is some great advice there --- but I would change the order and urgency of some of them.

As a follower of Jesus, the number one thing that the scripture tells us we must do (must achieve) if we want peace in our lives is SURRENDER.

And that is the problem in a nutshell

I want to be in control

I want to choose which scripture to follow

I want to choose who I love and who I don’t

I want to decide who my neighbor is

I want to decide how I spend my money

But God says that PEACE – the peace that passes all understanding --- only comes from putting our full trust in God.

Every Sunday, as a part of our worship service, we pray: THY WILL BE DONE --- but do we really mean it?

Or do we say --- Thy Will Be Done --- but only after I explain why my way is better.

Dwight L. Moody said

“Spread out your petition before God, and then say, ‘Thy will be done.’ The sweetest lesson I have learned in God's school is to let the Lord choose for me.”

Until we realize that we don’t steer the ship --- that we are not in control --- peace will always escape us.

Christian Author J. Oswald Sanders has defined peace as, “not the absence of trouble, but the presence of God.”

Peace isn’t a “thing” that can materialize all at once, out of nothing, just because people get tired of strife and violence.

Peace — whether international peace or simply good and open relationships in the home, or with people we deal with daily — this peace is a process that takes place over time, as we learn to lay aside our self-centeredness and obey God.

Peace comes to us when the Prince of Peace comes to us.

Paul said Jesus “is our peace.”

During this Advent season we prepare to receive Jesus afresh into our troubled world, into our church, into our families, into our own hearts.

But the Prince of Peace is here now.

There is peace in our midst, for Jesus is here

·         here in the proclamation of his word;

·         here in our sharing of his gifts, the loaf and the cup;

·         here in the loving touch of those who know him.

Jesus who is our peace is in our midst.

Therefore, as we prepare to gather around the table we remember when Jesus said:

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”  John 14:27

Make room for Peace this Advent

Let us pray:

Soften my heart Lord as I seek to surrender and admit: I can’t control people, plans, or even all my circumstances, but I can yield those things to you, and focus on your goodness. Thank you today for every good gift you’ve given, every blessing you’ve sent, all the forgiveness I did not deserve, and, yes, for being with me in every moment of life. Teach me to let go and believe you. I know that when I pray and give thanks instead of worrying, you have promised that I can experience the kind of peace that passes all understanding. That’s your kind of peace, Lord. And it’s the kind I crave.  Teach me to surrender.  Amen.

There is a wonderful Peanuts comic strip, in it Charlie Brown and his little sister Sally are talking.

Sally proclaims that she has inner peace, but is really restless.

She starts ranting and raving about someone she doesn’t like.

“I thought you had inner peace,” says Charlie Brown.

“I do,” says Sally, “but I still have outer obnoxiousness.”

Gratitude and You

Gratitude and You

Matthew 5:1-11

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Last week I attempted to take a concept that we perceive of as simple, and explain it in a new light.  The main point that I wanted to make is that Gratitude is not transactional. 

And I believe that if we can shift the view of gratitude away from transaction --- we can change the world

Unfortunately, that is how most of us experience it.

          Most of us see gratitude in a debt/duty type of way

We often think of it in terms of some benefactor giving us a gift

          We are the beneficiaries of that gift --- and we are in the benefactor’s debt for it

                   Think of how often we say: I owe you a debt of gratitude

We are in debt until we discharge that debt.

How do we do that --- all kinds of ways

·         giving a return gift

·         sending a thank-you note

·         doing a favor in return

This cycle of reciprocity is so pervasive in our society that we don't even recognize it anymore --- it is just a part of the way things are done.

But it also is hierarchical

Generally you have a benefactor --- who has more resources, maybe even richer --- who then gives a benefit to people who are without the capacity to have those things themselves.

This cycle is very demeaning to people who are in need of our "generosity"

But, this is not the vision of gratitude that the bible presents

In the Bible it is all about abundance and the sharing of gifts for free without any expectation of return --- and the image that the bible loves to use over and over again is one of table fellowship.

In the 14th chapter of Luke there is a great exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees on what it means to be a follower of his.

Jesus is talking with some of the leaders of the Pharisees, and they are discussing table etiquette.

First Jesus talks about where one should sit and he suggests that we should give up the seat of honor and sit in the last place.

And then Jesus makes this rather profound comment.

I am going to share this from The Message (Luke 14:15-24),

the text says Jesus turns to the host of the party and says:

“The next time you put on a dinner, don’t just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, the kind of people who will return the favor. Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. You’ll be—and experience—a blessing. They won’t be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned—oh, how it will be returned!—at the resurrection of God’s people.”

Jesus seems to be destroying the debt/duty understanding of gratitude and gift giving and quite literally says to us --- that we must invite the poor BECAUSE there will not be any payback.

Immediately following that story, Luke gives us the story of the Great Banquet in which we are charged to fill God's table with whomever can be found.

In other words, we are all invited --- even though we have no capacity to repay this gift. 

Because it is a gift --- there is no obligation.

Personal gratitude --- once we move beyond the debt/duty cycle to one of gift and response is fairly easy.

·         being more attentive to people around you

·         keeping a gratitude journal

·         celebrate each day --- as the gift that it is

I could go on and on, there are hundreds of books written all the time about how we can experience gratitude more fully in our lives.

But how do we experience and live out gratitude in the public square?

Diana Butler Bass wants to make clear in her book GRATEFUL, that if gratitude is deployed as a transaction of debt and duty, it will then become a mechanism of control in order to reinforce the structures of injustice.

What she has challenged me to do, and what she is challenging you to do --- is to see gratitude differently.

What if gratitude is put into the context of a communal table?

What if gratitude is understood to exist within a universe of abundance --- where, quoting Wendell Berry "everything we need is here".

The question becomes for us:  How do we pass the gift around with no expectation of return to make sure that everyone is fed and everyone is cared for and that everyone has access to the good gifts of all creation?

Think how different the world would be if we lived with an attitude of: How do we steward these gifts? rather than, How do we control their distribution?

The responsibility of the Christian community (the Church) is to build practices around the understanding of gratitude as table fellowship so that we can create a doorway into grace and gift. 

We need to help end the debt/ duty cycle and usher in God's more grace-filled approach to gratitude.

So how do we do this? 

How do we shift our attention away from the world's mode of gratitude --- one that is based on debt and duty --- to God's vision of gratitude that is filled with:

·         real grace

·         real gifts --- with no strings attached

·         and authentic response not drawn from obligation but from real gratitude

The key I believe is attention --- attention to anything that draws our eyes toward places where grace and gifts are present in our lives (just a hint --- that is everywhere!)

Robert A. Emmons, is the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude.

He is a professor of psychology at the University of California, at Davis, and is engaged in a long-term research project designed to create and disseminate a large body of novel scientific data on the nature of gratitude, its causes, and its potential consequences for human health and well-being. 

His website: Emmons Lab is fascinating.

Along with all kinds of scholarly books, Robert Emmons has a little tiny pocket book that can go anywhere with you called: The Little Book of Gratitude.  It offers great tips on how to practice gratitude daily.

Emmonds' offers what he calls the "ARC" model of gratitude:

          Gratitude:     amplifies goodness

          Gratitude:     rescues us from negative emotions, and

          Gratitude:     connects us to others in meaningful ways.

Amplify, rescue, connect

but following this does not make it easy --- it just helps us have tools along the way.

Mary Jo Leddy in her book Radical Gratitude offers ten "habits of being that can help us live with spirit . . . in dispirited time and place."

Her ten habits are:

1.            Begin before you are ready.

Take baby steps

"Beginning steps in gratitude do not have to be great or grand. 

They need only be real"

2.            Practice gratitude

     Prayers

     Chants

     Reflections (journals)

     Meditation

3.            Gather with like spirited people

Find or create a group that is willing to be committed to practicing gratefulness as a way of life

4.            Live more simply

Let go of material things that burden you

5.            Look for good examples to emulate

     Learn from people who have figured this out

     We all have grateful people in our lives, they can teach us a lot!

6.            Think with the Mind of Your Heart

Trust your feeling of gratefulness and your longing for a better way of life.

7.            See from the Center and the Edge

     See differently --- develop "soft eyes"

              eyes that see nuance, eyes that are less judgmental

8.            Be Connected to a longer Tradition, a Wider Community

Go deeper in your spiritual walk and learn from the masters of the past

9.            Find a Beloved Community

     Get involved in your community --- truly commit to it

10.         Contemplate the Face of the World

Gratitude empowers us to stare at reality and overcome what is challenging, violent, and evil. 

Do not turn away from the world, turn toward it.

         

You don't need to do all ten things --- but you must do number one BEGIN

Bass writes:

Leddy's list is a hinge between personal and public practices of gratitude, but if we want to create a politics of gratitude, we need to develop specific practices for shaping our common life.  If it is difficult to live gratefully as individuals, achieving a communal sense of gratitude will challenge us in profound ways. 

Bass goes on and quotes from Robert Christian, a young Roman Catholic ethicist as he was explaining the Golden Rule in an article called The Politics of Gratitude.

The politics of gratitude necessarily leads to a focus on the common good and a whole life commitment to securing conditions that reflect the worth and dignity of all.  It leads one to affirm the universal destination of goods --- the recognition that the goods of creation "are destined for the whole human race."  One's claim to such goods, to one's most basic needs, is just as legitimate if one is an orphan in the Democratic Republic of Congo as if one is born to a Senator or CEO in one of the wealthy enclaves of the United States.

What a powerful political description of gift and response gratitude when he wrote: goods of creation "are destined for the whole human race.

The question is how can we move toward practicing generosity in community?

Bass offers two suggestions.

First, those beloved communities that we are engaged and committed to --- that Leddy talked about --- we need to focus on gratitude as a community.

What would it look like if we focused only on GRATITUDE?

What if we started every meeting, every class, every small group by sharing a few minutes of gratitude?

What if school boards did that?  Or City Councils?

What if businesses emphasized how grateful they were for their employees and their customers?

          That is what we saw happening Thursday night at the Holiday Block Party

The simple truth is; we cannot create a politics of gratitude if we fail to practice it together.

Where else to begin but in our schools, our work places, and our churches?

Secondly, Bass suggests that we need to frame a new political language.

Too much of our political language is in the form of debt and duty.

"Entitlements" is the very antithesis of gratitude, and it provokes sharp, competitive feelings between citizens.  Far better is a language of "benefit."  We --- all of us --- can, should, and do benefit from the goods of public resources and economic growth (like education, transportation, and clean air and water.)  We need to recognize that our lives are profoundly dependent upon goods and gifts that others created and, in some way, shared.  We all receive, and we all give.  No one is only a "taker" or a "maker." (p. 191)

Ann Fleming Tannehill sent me an article from the Wall Street Journal this week written by A.J. Jacobs. 

He started his piece by saying:

I recently had the opportunity to gaze at one of the most mind-boggling accomplishments in history. This marvel is the result of thousands of human beings collaborating across dozens of countries. It required the combined labor of artists, biologists, politicians, mechanics, miners and goatherds. It took airplanes, boats, trucks, motorcycles, vans, pallets and shoulders. It depended on a vast range of materials, from steel and wood to explosives and bat guano. It relied on ancient wisdom and space-age technology, on freezing temperatures and scorching heat.

It is my morning cup of coffee.

His son, for some reason dared him to thank everyone who helped bring about his coffee.

I pledged to thank every person who had even the smallest role in making my cup of coffee a reality: the barista, the farmer and everyone in between.

Some were easy and obvious to thank -- the barista, the farmer --- but as he got thinking about it, there were thousands of people --- the everyone in between --- who brought him his cup of morning Joe.

He traveled to Brazil, and New York City --- he even visited NorthWest Indiana to thank the steel workers who made the steel for the coffee machines.

What he realized is that we are all interconnected and all need each other. 

And ultimately that everything is a gift of one form or another.

I don't know if you noticed the quote at the top of the bulletin.  It is from Albert Schweitzer.

“The greatest thing is to give thanks for everything.

He who has learned this knows what it means to live.

He has penetrated the whole mystery of life: giving thanks for everything.”

I think Schweitzer figured it out.

          To learn gratitude is to know the "mystery" of life.

However, he makes a huge mistake in the bible verse he alludes to.

We are not called to give thanks FOR all things, rather we are called to give thanks IN all things.  That is a huge difference.

We don't give thanks for evil or injustice, for violence or hatred. 

But we give thanks that despite the evils, God is with us showing us --- inviting us --- to a better way.

I chose the Beatitudes to be the text this morning, and I did so for a simple reason.  I wanted to start with something that sets the table for gratitude.

Come to the table

All are welcome

All are invited

There is a place for you!

Give Thanks!

Diana Butler Bass concludes her book with this Thanksgiving Prayer that I want to share with you and end with this morning.

Let us pray:

God, there are days we do not feel grateful. When we are anxious or angry. When we feel alone. When we do not understand what is happening in the world or with our neighbors. When the news is bleak, confusing.  God, we struggle to feel grateful.

But this Thanksgiving, we choose gratitude.

We choose to accept life as a gift from you, and as a gift from the unfolding work of all creation.

We choose to be grateful for the earth from which our food comes; for the water that gives life; and for the air we all breathe.

We choose to thank our ancestors, those who came before us, grateful for their stories and struggles, and we receive their wisdom as a continuing gift for today.

We choose to see our families and friends with new eyes, appreciating and accepting them for who they are.  We are thankful for our homes, whether humble or grand. 

We will be grateful for our neighbors, no matter how they voted, whatever our differences, or how much we feel hurt or misunderstood by them.

We choose to see the whole planet as our shared commons, the stage of the future of humankind and creation.

God, this Thanksgiving, we do not give thanks. We choose it. We will make this choice of thanks with courageous hearts, knowing that it is humbling to say “thank you.” We choose to see your sacred generosity, aware that we live in an infinite circle of gratitude. That we all are guests at a hospitable table around which gifts are passed and received. We will not let anything opposed to love take over this table. Instead, we choose grace, free and unmerited love, the giftedness of life everywhere. In this choosing, and in the making, we will pass gratitude onto the world.

Thus, with you, and with all those gathered at this table, we pledge to make thanks. We ask you to strengthen us in this resolve. Here, now, and into the future. Around our family table. Around the table of our nation. Around the table of the earth.

We choose thanks.

Amen.

Gratitude and Me

James 1:17-27   (NRSV)

Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.

But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.

If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Over the last few weeks, you were invited to share what you are grateful for.

Your responses have been amazing and insightful.

I knew the question: "What do you struggle with being grateful for?" --- would be the real hard one.

          And by your responses it clearly was

                   But some of you shared some very profound insights

If you missed any of those three Sundays --- and even if you were here --- I invite you to take a minute and answer these three questions.

          Grab the pencil out of the pew rack

                   What am I thankful for?

                   What do I struggle being thankful for?

                   How am I grateful for Meridian Street UMC?

I am going to give you a minute to do that, because I think it is important.

I said it is important but why?

Why is that important?

Because gratitude changes our attitude.

Studies have shown that an attitude of gratitude will actually change our body chemistry in some very beneficial ways.

So why do we struggle with gratitude so much?

I struggle with gratitude

          I am not really sure why . . .

          But I can tell you I have struggled with it all my life

I have preached on gratitude --- I have invited you to keep a gratitude journal.

          I don’t think I lasted even a week at it

I struggle with gratitude --- maybe some of you are like me ---

I want to be grateful but . . .

Part of the problem is that gratitude isn't a once and done thing ---

          gratitude is a lifelong attitude adjustment.

And for me --- it is a real challenge

Even though I have spent the last couple of weeks reading article after article that talk about the benefits of gratitude, I sometimes wonder --- does it really work?

What really is gratitude?

Why does it seem so hard?

Does it really change things?
Would my life be different if I was more grateful?

Is gratitude the key to the BIG problems in our world?

Tough questions, that I hope we can answer a bit over the next couple of weeks.

And while many of us struggle with personal gratitude; it is clear from looking at the news, watching the political ads of the last few months (I AM GRATEFUL THEY ARE OVER!) that we are failing miserably with communal thanksgiving.

As a people we are anxious and angry

·         haunted by nightmares of scarcity

·         dystopian fears that outsiders are going to come and take everything from us

·         that there is never enough

·         afraid we won't get what we deserver

But I don't want to focus on communal gratitude today --- today is about personal gratitude

And, as I have been on this gratitude journey the last few months, the thing that I have come to understand is that my struggles with gratitude really stem from my failure to understand what gratitude is really all about.

Studies suggest that about 78% of us say that we felt gratitude in the past week.

But those same studies suggest that we do not have any consensus on exactly what gratitude means.

I have preached on gratitude over and over again --- and I have come to the conclusion that I really have failed to understand gratitude fully.

Most westerners have defined gratitude as a commodity of exchange --- it is a transaction of debt and duty --- subtly organized around notions of wealth and power.

Benefactors would give benefits to persons who in turn would be indebted to those benefactors.

This model built on reciprocity is so pervasive that most of us no longer even recognize it.

This model, even though it is the predominate view, hasn't served us very well.

What if we could experience a different way of seeing gratitude? 

A model that sees gratitude as a spiritual awareness and results in ethical transformation? 

A model that is one of gift and response rather than debt and duty.

Would we be willing to give it a try?

Gratitude at its simplest level relates to emotions --- feelings

We are grateful for:

·         safe travel

·         new job

·         safe arrival of baby

·         veterans

·         go read the list that is in the display cases --- or what you just wrote down

I am willing to bet that what we wrote has at its root --- emotions

But we each experience those feelings --- those emotions differently

This underlying radical idea of gratitude being something other than a debt-duty response has always been present in our Christian tradition.

Soon, the display cases in the hallway will no longer have our grateful statements pinned to the boards --- soon they will be replaced with nativity scenes

Have you ever looked real carefully at the manger scenes?

          Animals

          Shepherds

          Mary, Joseph

          Baby Jesus    (almost always shown as white Europeans)

          3 Wise men   (almost always shown with dark skin)

Why am I suggesting that the manger scene is so radical?

          What did the Wise men bring?

In the traditional understanding of debt-duty the holy family would be indebted to the Wise men for their extravagant gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

There is no chance that this peasant holy family could pay back the generosity of these gifts --- there was only radical gratitude

These gifts are upside down

          Peasants brought gifts to kings

                   Not the other way around

Baby Jesus did nothing to deserve these gifts and has no capacity to repay them.

Obligation is gone

The gifts really are gifts.

It is radical generosity

Not surprisingly, studies have shown that men have a much more difficult time with gratitude than women.

Men are much more likely to be stuck in the debt --- duty understanding of gratitude

one author went so far as calling gratitude a "humiliating emotion" that is best concealed.

Men are often taught to abhor indebtedness and seek independence --- which obviously are a stumbling block to an attitude of gratitude --- especially if you are stuck in the debt --- duty cycle.

Getting gifts can be hard and uncomfortable --- while giving them, for most of us, is much easier

One of the things I learned in Diana Butler Bass', wonderful book simply called GRATEFUL is that gratitude and grace come from the same root word.

Bass writes:

grace and gratitude form a different moral "equation."  The standard model of gratitude is a closed cycle of gift and return bound by social obligation and indebtedness, whereby a "benefactor," a superior of some sort (someone wealthier, more powerful), provides a benefit for another, a "beneficiary," a person in a state of need or trouble.  In the closed cycle, the beneficiary is dependant of the benefactor in a way that feels demeaning or signals indebtedness. . . . This is why my grandmother found gratitude humiliating.  No wonder.  Few want to be on the receiving end of an unequal transaction.

Our Christian ethos teaches that we are never independent of each other

          rather we have a "mutual reliance" to each other

We need each other

And we need to learn to be grateful for the kindness of others who help us along the way.

Somehow we need to move from this closed cycle of debt and duty to an open one of grace --- of gift and response

Bass writes:

in an open cycle of gratitude, gifts are not commodities.  Gifts are the nature of the universe itself, given by God or the natural order.  Grace reminds us that every good thing is a gift --- that somehow the rising of the sun and being alive are indiscriminate daily offerings to us --- and then we understand that all benefactors are also beneficiaries and all beneficiaries can be benefactors.  All that we have was gifted to us. . . . gifts come before givers.  We do not really give gifts.  We recognize them, we receive them, and we pass them on.  We all rely on these gifts.  We all share them.

She goes on:

Gratitude is complicated.  Feelings of dependence --- and interdependence --- can be both elusive and resisted, mostly because they are caught up with soul-crushing ideas of obligation and debt.  But if gratitude is mutual reliance upon (instead of payback for) shared gifts, we awaken to a profound awareness of our interdependence.

The great German theologian of the 19th century, Friedrich Schleiermacher, understood that gratitude was the truest state of reality.  He believed that everything existed in an infinite relationship of gifts to everything else.

Gratitude toward others, the world and God was the starting place for finding meaning in life.

I love what the author of James writes:

Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light.   (James 1:17 The Message)

God is not handing out gifts and expecting thank you notes in return.

God is giving every gift and they are rivers of light cascading down from God.

James goes on to say that when we understand in our heart that gifts and gratitude are a part of the very fabric of the universe, we will not only be a better person, but we will do good in the world.

Learning to open our hearts to the constant flow of receiving and responding to all that happens around us makes us more generous.

Diana Butler Bass writes:

Gratitude, at its deepest and perhaps most transformative level, is not warm feelings about what we have.  Instead, gratitude is the deep ability to embrace the gift of who we are, that we are, that in the multibillion-year history of the universe each one of us has been born, can love, grows in awareness, and has a story.  Life is the gift.

Elie Wiesel, holocaust survivor and author was asked by Oprah Winfrey about gratitude.

Wiesel said:

When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity.  A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.

Gratitude is not what we have --- but that we are.

Too often we make gratitude the caboose of our faith train, but God is inviting us to see it as the beginning.

Philip Watkins, the psychologist was asked if there was a word that captures gratitude and his answer was remarkably simple.

          Grace, grateful people are full of grace.

To be grateful is to know that life is a gift.

My prayer is that you can begin to see the grace --- see the gift --- in all of life and be filled with gratitude because of it.

Today we celebrate giving our faith promise cards. 

My first hope is that you turned one in. 

My second hope is that you did it not with an attitude of debt and duty, but because you have come to experience that all of life is a gift and that gift is because of God's unending grace.  Grace that cascades down like a river of light.