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.
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.
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.
- "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.
