Thankful Thoughts, sermon for Nov 25.

November 25, 2018      Thankful Thoughts        Pastor Carol P. Taylor      

Psalm 136

¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
² Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.
³ Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.

⁴ to him who alone does great wonders,
His love endures forever.
⁵ who by his understanding made the heavens,
His love endures forever.
⁶ who spread out the earth upon the waters,
His love endures forever.
⁷ who made the great lights—
His love endures forever.
⁸ the sun to govern the day,
His love endures forever.
⁹ the moon and stars to govern the night;
His love endures forever.

This last weekend of November is for many people the beginning of the Christmas season. Retailers of course have been putting out Christmas stuff since Halloween. (they are merely competing for our money after all!) HOWEVER in the church year, Advent-the season of anticipation of the birth of Christ, doesn’t begin until NEXT Sunday, (Promo advent devotional booklets!) So the church year is in deep competition with our commercial society. One pastor I read said this time of year, the church is in an alternate universe from the culture! It’s really too bad that the consumer culture is so strong, it can take so much away from the actual holiday! and from other faiths who celebrate December holidays besides or instead of Christmas.

So here in our church, we are wrapping up our Thankful November, and next week begins the season of giving. It’s only appropriate to celebrate the Thankful season first, isn’t it! We give most generously out of gratitude and recognition of our blessings.  As Pastor Hayes said at our community service last week, We must be thoughtful in order to be thankful!

Our first scripture (thank you Kari) is from the Psalms. The Psalms were written to be sung. Didn’t you almost want to chant along or even sing along.. His love endures forever!

To hear, to say, to sing a phrase like this over and over, helps get it deeply into our mind and into our hearts, doesn’t it? And how about if we were to say it, with emphasis on a different word each time.

HIS love endures forever, (Whose love?) God, who created heaven and earth, the sun moon and stars, and created humans in God’s own image.

his LOVE endures forever, God’s unconditional, pure love! Love that does not depend on what we do, who we are, or how good we are! Love that is compassionate!

 his love ENDURES forever, it continues or remains, it is constant, it never changes!

his love endures FOREVER! From the very beginning of time to the very end.

God, who created all things and all people, God’s perfect love is for all things for all time!

This is the promise made over and over in the Bible. Unfortunately, in life, things happen, like storms, earthquakes, fires, People fail to live in love and hurt other. These things are not of God, but God is still with us thru all these things. A widely quoted saying of Mr Rogers is look for the helpers. And it is comforting to know that there are always helpers! This is why we pray for the helpers, first responders, for they are doing a tough job, an exhausting job, and part of our prayer is that they remember that they are the Hands and Feet of God in the world, and that they see the image of God in those they are working to help.

Our New Testament lesson today is from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi. These people were very dear to his heart, and this letter, even though written while he was imprisoned, is a letter full of the deepest joy, the kind of joy that can only come from that enduring love of God.

READ NT LESSON: Philippians 1 New International Version (NIV)

1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: ² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving and Prayer ³ I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴ In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶ being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

⁷ It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. ⁸ God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

⁹ And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰ so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Commentary, Philippians 1:3-11, Edward Pillar, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

• "Paul is addressing a community who are deeply committed to the cause of the gospel, and actively share in defending and confirming the gospel. Paul expresses his confidence because he is sure that the Philippians will continue along this road. And as they do so, so also God will work powerfully in their lives to change and transform them, causing love to overflow from them."

This was a group of people who had a deep abiding love of God and a sure faith in Jesus the Christ. The church was based in the home of Lydia, the woman who sold purple fabric, which was rare, luxurious and expensive! So this was a woman of independent means, who about 10 years prior to the writing of this letter, met Paul as he was traveling, and upon hearing the Good News of Jesus, she believed and then opened her home to the rest of the new believers. The Philippians were able to send generous gifts of money and necessities to Paul while he was traveling and during his imprisonment. He had a special place in their hearts, and they in his. So Paul writes this letter to them to affirm his special feelings for them, despite his imprisonment and all the hardships he has faced over the years since he first met them.

And he prays for them. Knowing their hearts, knowing they are rooted in Christ, knowing they are praying for him, He prays that their love will grow, in knowledge of God. That they remember their roots and the deep love of God and that they continue to live it out, and do so even more than before! That they stay strong in the Love of Jesus and do what is right, by the teachings of scripture. He prays that they grow in mind, hearts, and souls, in the Love of God thru Jesus. Wow.

If while I was reading this passage, you had a sense that I am saying these things to YOU personally, you are absolutely right.  I know how deeply the people of this church Love God and are committed to reaching out into the community to share that love. And I do pray that we indeed continue and strive to grow in that love and outreach.

It’s a challenge sometimes. There is so much in the world that is not godly…so many people who are hurting and who may react poorly to any mention of God or Jesus. But we human beings, created by God to be in relationship with God and with each other are all connected, whether we like it or not, whether we admit it or not.

Author Brené Brown defines the word Spirituality as the recognition that We are all connected to each other …and that our connection … is grounded in love and compassion.

In her social research “the research participants discussing spiritual disconnection….described a diminishing sense of shared humanity. Over and over, participants talked about their concern that the only thing that binds us together now is shared fear and disdain, not common humanity, shared trust, respect, or love.”

I have read other authors saying similar things. And I believe –no I KNOW—that we, people of faith, can help our culture get past this disconnection. And we must. A culture in which people are bound by fear and disdain, and even hatred, is a culture that WILL fail.

But when people are very intentional about practicing kindness and compassion we can and will prevail.

We do this by being thoughtful and thankful! Fredrick Buechner:

Jesus did not simply tell us that God loves us even in our failures, and wants us to love each other the same way and to love God too, but that if we will allow it to happen, God will actually bring about this unprecedented transformation of our hearts himself.

IF we remember Gods Love Endures Forever…if we remember Grace and Peace of Jesus Christ, IF we remember, keeping them in our hearts, we can live out that enduring love.

To remember is to bring back to the mind, to bring back to ourselves.

Remembrance--literally to again belong… to bring back to belonging together. To remember Gods love is to deliberately bring it back into our minds and hearts.

And when we hear “Do this in remembrance of me”, We re-member jesus, we bring Him back to our hearts and minds. And pray, thankfully, that he gave his all for us.

Jean Vanier: Jesus has chosen us to live his mission. He wants our hearts to be wellsprings of living water, loving people and helping them achieve their goals. Thus, when we announce the Good News to the poor, it is not to tell them, “Jesus loves you,” but rather to say, “I love you. I commit myself to you in the name of Jesus.”

  Let’s pray… God of enduring eternal love, Guide us to be thoughtful and mindful of you, re-membering Your Love as given thru Jesus Christ, that we may commit ourselves to you and thus give generously of Love and time and talent in the coming season. In Christ we pray, Amen.