A Month of Thankfulness

Lectionary Reading for Sunday: Matthew 23:1-12 (NRSV)

We associate quite a bit with November.

Sports fans think about Bedlam which usually occurs during the month and fans of the Cowboys and Sooners usually pay a little more attention to the hype in the upcoming week.

For the shoppers, there is Black Friday, when the retail stores finally get into the black for the year financially.  This usually involves lots of lines, lots of sales, and more than a little bait and switch for the big box stores.

For Oklahomans, pecans usually begin to fall this month and can be collected for some tasty snacking (or pies if you are crafty in the kitchen like my mother-in-law).  I am reminded of these because we have several pecan trees on the church property.

Nature lovers enjoy the fall foliage turning brilliant colors.  The leaves used to change in October but that month seems to be warmer now.  I know because I swam in an unheated outdoor pool more than once within the last couple of weeks.  So November has become the month for seeing all the variations of orange, red and yellow.

Some thanksgiving activities are a little bizarre
but amusing nonetheless!

Aside from all of these things, I think most Americans associate November with Thanksgiving.  Children perform in plays involving pilgrims.  Turkeys abound and we usually feast with family.

Growing up, we spent a lot of Thanksgivings in Houston, Missouri.  My mother's mother lived there and we had all of the usual suspects on the menu: turkey, ham, green beans (hers were better than any I ever had), sweet potatoes, hot rolls (I liked to put the cranberry sauce on mine) and of course, dessert.  Pumpkin pie was always a staple during this holiday with a lot of Cool Whip dolloped on top!

I have pretty good memories associated with all of these things.  I am grateful for my family as they shaped me in important ways.  They taught me gratitude and I try to maintain a grateful attitude. 

This month, we will look at a sermon series on thanksgiving.  Being thankful has all kinds of benefits.  We are happier when we count our blessings.  We are healthier too.  Being grateful deepens your relationships and allows you to go father in your career.  So how do we develop thankfulness?

This month, we will be looking at the gospel of Matthew from the lectionary and this particular Sunday, we will examine how thanksgiving takes humility.  It also happens to be All Saints Sunday (another thing the religious may associate with November) and we will remember our loved ones who have died in the past year.  Our gratitude should extend to these friends and family whom we appreciate and whom we miss.

I hope you'll take the time to join us for worship if you're in town.  We now worship at 8:30, 9:45 and 11 am in the sanctuary and 10:50 and 7 pm in Wesley Hall - five chances to cultivate your thankfulness!  And of course, if you miss them, you can check out our livestream on Facebook which can be engaged at any time.  I'm looking forward to a November where we realize our many blessings! 

In Christ,

Sam
 

Photo by Pinke' via Flickr.com.  I first felt sorry for this poor animal but the photographer claims that the dog actually likes dressing up because he knows he'll get treats.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

The Presence of God in the Midst of Suffering

I am one who has seen affliction
    under the rod of God’s wrath;
he has driven and brought me
    into darkness without any light;
against me alone he turns his hand,
    again and again, all day long.

                                     Lamentations 3:1-3 (NRSV)

This word from Lamentations speaks not of how we imagine the character of God but of the despair that human beings sometimes feel.  Jeremiah or a prophet close to him speaks of the emotional and spiritual void following the destruction of the capital city of Jerusalem and God's Temple which resided there.  These are words which most human beings unfortunately experience in some form or fashion as none of us escape suffering unless we refuse to love.

I suppose that people who have been hurt may refuse to love others for fear of being hurt again.  Ultimately, our loved ones will leave us as we pass from this life to the next.  It is painful and inevitable.

But when tragedies strike, such as the recent hurricanes or earthquake, we are left reeling knowing that we could have been dealt this tragic blow but somehow escaped.  The recent mass murder in Las Vegas is an unfortunate punctuation of suffering for an already hurting world.

One of the common threads of inquiry surrounding the Vegas shooting is the search for meaning.  Right after it occurred, even though the shooter likely took his own life, we begin to seek out some kind of rationale.  Was he connected with terrorist activity?  Was he a violent person?  Did he have a history of mental illness?  What was his motive?

The flags flying at half-mast
remind us that we are
a people who care for others.

What we are trying to do is to solve the "why" behind this tragedy.  Human beings like order and when someone acts irrationally, it disturbs us in profound ways.  If a grudge against country music fans were somehow determined, it wouldn't change the horrible act but it would allow our brains to cope with it more easily.

As we seek to cope with all this recent tragedy, one of the ways that is common is to disengage.  We try to ignore it and hopefully it won't touch us.  When we do this, we become more akin to the priest or the Levite in Jesus' parable than to the good Samaritan.  Rather, the Christian call is to compassion.  We seek to offer a helping hand to those in need - even if it is just a shoulder to cry on. This is exhausting but we do so because it is needed in a hurting world.  We realize that it could just as easily be us weeping.

As we continue to pray for those suffering - as we continue to give toward those seeking recovery from natural disasters - we become a part of the resurrection story with which we view the world.  We may not understand why tragedies happen but we can understand our response.

Our narrative fits with the author of Lamentations who moves from despair to hope later in the chapter:

I called on your name, O Lord,
    from the depths of the pit;
you heard my plea, “Do not close your ear
    to my cry for help, but give me relief!”
You came near when I called on you;
    you said, “Do not fear!”
You have taken up my cause, O Lord,
    you have redeemed my life. 

                                       Lamentations 3:55-58 (NRSV)