November 18, 2007

Stewardship #4
Philippians 4:4-9
Matthew 6:25-34

Stories to Tell/Gifts to Share / Thanksgiving

"It's a little ironic that the season in which we give thanks and the [season] in which our children are making their holiday wish lists come so close together." [1] But how can we be grateful when there's so much to want?

Boys and girls, have you made your Christmas list? Moms and dads and the rest of us, have we? Oh, wait... that's right... the holidays do begin this week, but they begin with Thanksgiving.

A parent-educator named Susan DeMersseman says, "We try to give our children so much, but sometimes we forget to give them... the capacity to appreciate. Without that we can never give them enough. We may want to give [our kids] many things, but how do we do this and not [at the same time] give them a sense of entitlement?"

Camping for a couple of days on the north California coast, we walked the beach daily picking up sand dollars, seashells, and other curiosities. I noticed that there was less to gather later in the day, and I realized that other people were doing the same thing we were. I found myself annoyed, even afraid, that they might have picked up something that I wanted - and I started to think of those people as threats. Then I realized that the tide keeps coming in, you know, twice a day, in fact, bringing with it an endless supply of souvenirs. That, and we could carry only so much.

Switch back to that counselor, Susan DeMersseman. "In my work as a school psychologist, a mother with a rather crabby 9-year-old came to see me for help. [He complained about everything and nothing was ever right.] We worked out a way to instill a bit more gratitude, but not with reminders of how fortunate he was. Instead we focused on bedtime. [The mom would] start by spending a few minutes talking about her day, the things she was grateful for - a friend who had complimented her; a polite store clerk; the quiet evening with not too much laundry. Then she'd ask him if anything good happened in his day. He got the idea, shared a few things, and it soon became a ritual... What she most appreciated is that this outlook started seeping into his day...

"Part of what I do in working with youngsters," the counselor says, "is to help them be aware of what is good in their lives. With the right perspective, there's so much to appreciate. Without that perspective, there will never be enough. And only the things they don't have will seem important."

Perspective - your viewpoint, outlook, how you see things, the angle of our vision - that's what these words of Jesus really are about. When I read this text late last week to put it in today's worship folder, I, too, found myself thinking, "Yeah, right, 'don't worry' - and what about those people who really DO have to ask, 'What will we eat' because they're going hungry?"

I think what Jesus says is, "Perspective, friend!" - how you see things... the way I looked at that California beach and thought scarcity even as the tide was coming in. Food and clothing and the necessities are not foolish things to think about. We need them. God knows we need them. But do we not have them? Do WE not have them... in abundance?

The intro to the Sermon on the Mount (from which these words are taken) says that Jesus directed his words not to the crowds but "he sat down, his disciples came to him, and he taught them." [2] These words about what we work for, what we want, and what we worry over - these words are meant for US.

No, you wouldn't direct these words of Jesus to homeless people; this text isn't intended for refugees. People who literally don't have what they need don't need a sermon - they need loaves and fishes and disciples to deliver them. These words aren't meant for the crowds filling the stores this coming Friday. "The multitudes are always worried about such things," Jesus said. Jesus is not talking here to the needy or the general population.

Important principle of biblical interpretation: Ask, "Who is this talking to? Who is the intended 'audience'?" Jesus is talking to people he has called to follow him. He's talking to us.

If you found yourself, as I did, looking over there, pointing to problems we don't have, asking frankly irrelevant "But what about?!?" questions - that's avoiding eye-contact with Jesus, yada-yada-yada-I'm-not-listening, making sure we miss the point. The point is not about legitimate concern over the necessities of life but to remind us that anxiety can be debilitating. And it will angle us away from seeing God's role in our lives and responding to it, and therefore, away from gratitude and thanksgiving toward scarcity and fear.

The remedy is prayer and appreciation. That's St Paul's contribution to your mental health. Pray for what you need, Paul says. Hey, acknowledge a certain level of anxiety, perhaps. But pray with gratitude, gratitude for what we have already.

And I'll tell you what will happen. One result of where you put your attitude (perspective)... what you "Think about these things..." (What things?) "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is pure... if anything is excellent and worthy of praise..." - the result of such a point of view: "The peace of God, beyond all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds." When I was growing up that was the common, every-Sunday conclusion to the sermons in our church. That's the formula for mental health and sanity in the coming holiday season and in church stewardship. The peace of God.

Every vocation has its own quirky professional literature and so does mine. I heard about this one published just this last month, and lest you be too impressed with my up-to-date-ness, I didn't read it; I read an excerpt in a magazine of mine... a book entitled, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. [3]

A.J. Jacobs is an editor for Esquire magazine and the author of The Know-It-All book, if you're acquainted with that. Jacobs grew up in a secular Jewish household and considers himself an agnostic. But he says, at some point he became impressed with the power of religion as "an enduring force" and he decided to explore his own religious background. He decided, he says, to "find the original intent of the biblical rule or teaching and follow that to the letter.

If the passage is unquestionably figurative... I won't obey it literally. But if there's any doubt whatsoever - and most often there is - I will err on the side of being literal." So here's a piece of what he discovered.

"Day 54. A spiritual update: I'm still agnostic, but I do have some progress to report on the prayer front... I am testing out some of my own prayers instead of just repeating passages from the Bible."

Interesting: He got some advice from a Lutheran pastor in Des Moines, one of his advisors on this project. Jacobs says he learned about prayer from this pastor - Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. But Jacobs is having some trouble with the model.

"Adoration feels awkward. Confession feels forced. As for Supplication... I feel greedy asking God to help my career. Should I really be cluttering God's in-box by asking for better visibility for The Know-It-All at airport bookstores?

"But thanksgiving, that I'm getting into... Today before tasting my lunch of hummus and pita bread, I stand up from my seat at the kitchen table, close my eyes, and say, 'I'd like to thank God for the land that he provided so that this food might be grown.'

"Technically," Jacobs says, "that's enough. That fulfills the Bible's commandment. But... I decide to spread the gratitude around: 'I'd like to thank the farmer who grew the chick-peas for this hummus. And the workers who picked the chick-peas. And the truckers who drove them to the store. And the old Italian lady who sold the hummus to me at Zingone's deli and told me 'Lots of love.' Thank you.'"

Now, here's why I'm quoting A.J. Jacobs at such length: "The prayers are helpful. They remind me that the food didn't spontaneously generate in my fridge. They make me feel more connected, more grateful, more grounded, more aware of my place in this complicated [human] cycle. They remind me to taste the hummus instead of shoveling it into my maw like it's a nutrition pill. And [my prayers] remind me that I'm lucky to have food at all. Basically, [my prayers] help me get outside of my self-obsessed cranium."

"And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Nathan Castens
Chanhassen, Minnesota

[1] Susan DeMersseman, "Gratitude Training," The Christian Science Monitor, November 24, 2004 edition, through csmonitor.com

[2] Matthew 5:1-2

[3] A.J. Jacobs, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, Simon & Schuster, 2007, exerpted in Christian Century, October 16, 2007