PROVERBS 9:1-6

PSALM 34:9-14

EPHESIANS 5:15-20

JOHN 6:53-59

Sermon – August 17, 2003

Today’s Epistle contains a phrase which challenges us, whatever our current situations or faith experience, to grow in spiritual maturity through our lives. It’s a phrase we hear frequently in the Bible, especially the New Testament, so today’s passage is neither unique nor obscure nor unimportant. It is as simple as it can be hard:

“Be filled with the Spirit...giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We live in an era of “entitlement”, at least in this country, when many people feel like they are “entitled” to whatever their definition of “the good life” is. A vast chunk of the federal budget is considered untouchable by Congress because it is spending on “entitlement” programs, programs which did not exist a century ago but which now people depend on. Yet larger percentages of the population feel they are “entitled” to quality programs and services at every level of government while also being entitled to tax cuts so that they don’t have to pay for them...presumably, the next generation will.

Until three years ago, some people acted as though endless double-digit annual gains in the stock market was something they could expect by natural rights, or something. For some people, even wealth – or its anticipation – felt almost like an entitlement.

And, of course, there are people like Elda and myself who have tenure in our respective jobs and risk taking too much for granted, especially when most people have no job security at all.

A person can work for what that person understands to be a more just society and still be thankful for the good things that exist. It’s all about attitude; without an attitude of gratitude, we as individuals and as a country risk becoming whiners, perpetually complaining like spoiled children.

Perhaps the recent blackout, which affected 50 million people, has helped put some things in perspective. Certainly, there was massive inconvenience and some real danger and suffering, but perhaps the amazing thing is how much patience and help there was. Hats off to all the emergency service personnel, public and private, who worked so long and hard for public safety and well being in so many ways. And hats off to anyone who directed traffic at an intersection without traffic lights until a cop arrived, who checked in on an elderly friend or neighbor, who shared a ride, or water, or did anything to help someone else get through the situation. Let us all give thanks for all those people; the importance of community and mutual aid stand out in a big way.

I was particularly moved to hear of the 18 children who were on life support in a hospital which lost power and had limited backup power, all of who were transferred safely. We’ll never know the names of all those who made that possible.

“Entitlement” is an attitude of “me first, me second, me third”; gratitude is an attitude that gives thanks for all the other people we depend on. And you know what? I think normal life is going to be sweeter this Monday than last Monday, for the reality is that we always depend on other people. I don’t usually include the South Brunswick Water Dept. or PSE&G or the phone companies or the busses or NJ Transit or the media in my prayers of thanksgiving; I think it’s time I did. Police, Fire, First Aid all come more readily to mind – but saying thank you some more is good, too.

But not just “thank you” to them but for them. “Giving thanks to God the Father” for people, yes, including those in normal times. Including when there’s a traffic jam...and then you creep close enough to see the ambulance and police cars. I try to take a deep breath and not get mad when I‘m stuck and can’t see the problem, but to pray and give thanks for those, whoever they are, who are dealing with the problem. There are plenty of other frustrations of daily life which we can turn either into sources of rage if we approach them with an “entitlement” attitude or into sources of serenity if we see for what or who we can give thanks in that circumstance.

Stuck in line in the grocery store? You could either think of all the things you could be doing and build up your frustration, or you could take a deep breath and give thanks for the abundance of food in the store, for those who grew it, picked it, transported it, displayed it and for God who created it. You could ponder the people ahead of you in line and give thanks to God for each of them, all made in God’s image and blessed with infinite spiritual potential. Which actions and attitude help your spiritual (and emotional and physical) well being? Which obey the commandment in today’s Epistle to “Be filled with the Spirit...giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ?”

Of course, giving thanks while “suffering” merely the inconvenience of a long line at the grocery store – or the tollbooth – or the airport – or the bus stop – is really just a spiritual “baby step” compared to the real spiritual challenges of these words. The hard part is “at all times and for everything.”

Certainly, the people of Liberia have a lot to be thankful for, now that food has reached the capital, President Taylor has left and there seems to be some hope that the International peace-keeping force will be just that. In this country, people complain when food isn’t quite cooked to their taste; in Monrovia, people are eating raw cornmeal. Gratefully.

How do we give thanks when we lose a job? Of course, we can give voice in prayer to our hurt, our anguish, our fears in this and other scary or difficult situations – but it is also important to find something or someone to give thanks for in all circumstances. Without that, our prayers for help may swerve towards mere torrents of self-pity – and we may not remember the resources we have which can help us unless we give thanks.

In time of affliction, we can complain endlessly of friends or family who ignore us – or we can give thanks for those who do care. We can spend all our time complaining about what we can’t do – or ponder what we can. And if it involves doing for others, that also helps us get “out of ourselves.”

Last Sunday, I visited Marge Post in St. Lawrence Rehab, where she is recovering after her sixth knee operation. She has been in serious pain for the last 13 months. When I saw her, she was in a wheelchair, getting physical therapy but not yet able to walk. Oh yeah: also, she was knitting baby blankets for premature infants in a hospital. Her legs weren’t working the way she wanted them to, but her hands could. In a very practical way, she was giving thanks for what she could do, and thinking of others in need at the same time.

Our parishioner Lois Nichols can no longer see well. She can’t drive, can’t see faces clearly, can only read if the print is enlarged to BIG HEADLINE-sized type. But her hands work. She knits hats which she hangs on the “mitten tree” in the welcoming area each Advent, hats which go to people in the homeless shelter or to sailors served by the Seaman’s Church Institute, sailors recruited from tropical countries who suddenly find themselves facing winter in the North Atlantic for the first time.

“Giving thanks to God the Father at all times for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

If part of your body hurts or doesn’t work, yes, pray for healing – and also give thanks for the parts that don’t hurt and do work, and for the opportunities you have to glorify God and help others with what you can do. If part of your life is a mess, pray for help and guidance – and also give thanks for whatever parts of your life are working and how you can glorify God and help others with what you can do. And in fact, the broken parts of us – physically, emotionally, relationally, whatever – offer opportunities for glorifying God and helping others in ways that we wouldn’t have if we didn’t have the problems! Several years ago, when I was going through divorce, someone assured me there was a positive side – “I’d be so much more sensitive.” I responded, “Couldn’t I just have taken a course!” Well, no, it wouldn’t have been the same. So if life gives you lemons, make lemonade – and give it away to someone who’s thirsty, giving thanks to God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ.

My final example is the most serious and the most remarkable example of “giving thanks in all circumstances” that I know. If giving thanks while waiting in a long, slow checkout line is a “spiritual baby step”, this example is part of a “spiritual Olympic marathon race”. The example is from the book The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.

Corrie Ten Boom and her sister Betsy were “ordinary” Christians thrust into extraordinary situations who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, did extraordinary things. They were Dutch citizens who, during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, hid Jews in their home. Eventually, the Nazi’s discovered them and sent the sisters into captivity. Corrie survived to tell the tale, a triumph in itself, but there is more, much more.

Through their deportation, forced marches, hellish train ride and movement from one camp to another, Corrie had managed to keep her Bible – even, miraculously, when the sisters reached Ravensbruck, the notorious women’s extermination camp, where the prisoners were stripped and denied all their personal clothes and possessions. She smuggled her Bible in. There, as the prisoners huddled outdoors in all weather on lice-infested mats, Corrie and Betsy held Bible Study. “Nothing in all creation shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus” they read to the famished, brutalized women around them.

Then, they were herded into a barracks, of a sort, packed with far too many women for the space which was crammed claustrophobically with sleeping platforms stacked high, platforms which reeked so much the sisters felt nauseous, platforms which were crawling with – fleas.

The passage they had read that morning was from 1 Thessalonians 5:14-18: “Comfort the frightened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances...”

They gave thanks – that they both were still together, assigned to the same ghastly barracks, that they still had their Bible and there had been no inspection by the guards, even giving thanks for the horribly crowded conditions. Betsy declared “Since we’re packed so close, that many more will hear” the Bible when they read aloud. Betsy even managed to give thanks for the fleas, though Corrie thought that was going too far.

Giving thanks regularly was one of the reasons Corrie Ten Boom survived – and not merely survived, but lived as an embodiment of God’s love in the midst of Hell on earth, not lowering herself to the attitudes of her captors, who never became here conquerors.

Let us, as God guides us and the Holy Spirit can fill us “give thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything” and by so doing be able to live, serving others, enduring and growing ourselves, and glorifying God, who understands suffering fully and invites us to walk thorough suffering towards the fullness of joy.

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church