Readings:
Joel 2:21-27; Psalm 126; 1 Timothy 2:1-7; Matthew 6:25-33 Don’t
you love it when someone says, “Don’t worry!
Everything will be fine!” “It’s
easy for you to say,” you think.
“This is my life. It
isn’t happening to you. It’s
happening to me. Your job
isn’t on the line. Your
child isn’t having trouble at school.
Your marriage isn’t on the rocks.”
I
wonder what the disciples said to him when Jesus told them not to worry.
I can hear them thinking, “Don’t tell us not to worry.
We’ve given up everything to follow you.
We haven’t been home in months.
Most of the time we don’t know where our next meal is coming
from. Not that we’re
complaining!” "Your
citizenship is in the kingdom of God,” he tells them. "You can afford to lose your possessions.
You can even afford to lose your lives.
You are children of God. God
will never fail or forsake you."
Jesus is not saying, “Give up your work.”
He is saying, “Examine your priorities.
What are you going to put first in your life?
What is important to you?” Our
primary concern in life should not simply be with material things.
The meaning of life is not to be found in things.
It is not to be found in jobs, income, pension plans, food,
clothes, reputation, status. But
hold on. That isn’t a
very practical form of discipleship.
It makes too many demands of people.
It calls for real commitment to the will of God.
It demands that we put God first.
It is a good message for us to contemplate as we celebrate the
harvest, the wealth that God has provided for us, but it is not an easy
message. Even in our own
country where we live in the midst of plenty these are not the easiest
of times. We don’t worry just about death and taxes.
We worry about job security.
We worry about raising our children.
We worry about health care issues.
We worry about growing old.
How are we to follow Jesus’ admonition not to worry?
The
Old Testament passage from Joel is God's response to the people of
Israel. They suffered a
terrible locust plague. Rather
than moaning about their fate, they responded by appealing to God.
They remembered their past experience with God.
In their remembering, they gave thanks that the God of history,
the God they have worshipped in the past, the God that has sustained
them through many difficulties and trials, that God is with them still. The
passage from the letter to Timothy urges the people to pray, to
intercede, to give thanks, for everyone.
He calls for them to understand the importance of prayer.
God knows the needs. But
we are the vehicles through which God can meet those needs with that
loving grace which is so freely given to each of us.
That kind of prayer calls for thankfulness. It calls for remembering what God has done for us and
continuing to praise God with all our hearts.
For
whatever reason, as a people who are certainly blessed with more than
our share of the world's wealth, we don’t always seem grateful for
what God has provided. We
want more than simply a good harvest.
Produce has to be perfect or people will not buy it. We import
food from all over the world so that we can have variety in our lives.
And yet we still find it very difficult to thank God for all the
great gifts of creation. We
have a long list of things that we need, but a short list of things for
which we are grateful. Why
is it that we find that so difficult?
What do we expect? What
is central for us? What are
our priorities? What do we
put first in our lives? Isn’t
that the point of the readings? We
need to learn to live a more balanced life.
We need to set our priorities.
Most of all we need to understand what it means to lift thankful
hearts and voices to praise God.
Celtic
spirituality, which is at the root of our British heritage, had a
wonderful way of living that out. They
had a deep connection to God in their daily lives, a strong sense of
God’s presence with them. It
began with their thankfulness to God.
A woman began her day by lighting the fire.
"I will kindle my fire this morning in the presence of the
holy angels of heaven," she prayed.
She washed her face. "The
palmful of
the God of life, the palmful of the Christ of love, the palmful of the
Spirit of peace." As
she made her bed she prayed, "in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost. In
the name of the night we were conceived, in the name of the night that
we were born, in the name of the day we were baptized, in the name of
each night, each day, each angel that is in the heavens."
As she began her day, so she moved through her whole day,
praising God for all of the simple things of life.
Every aspect of life was sacred.
All of life was part of God's creative work in the world.
Life was lived under the shadow of God's protective arms. Awe and dread of God was balanced by trust in God's love and
mercy. For her, this was
God's world, a world to be claimed, affirmed, and honoured. Our
Aboriginal people have no particular time to give thanks.
Every aspect of life is an opportunity to give thanks to the
creator. We have somehow
lost that sense of God’s graciousness in providing for our needs.
We think that it has something to do with how hard we work or how
lucky we are. Harvest
Festival reminds us that we are to cast aside our worries and celebrate
the things that God has provided. William
Temple, a great theologian of the church, once said that the most
effective thing that Christians could do in the world is to lift up
their voices in thanksgiving to God.
Do we really believe that prayer has anything to do with what
happens in the world? Do we
pray for the leaders of our country really expecting that something
powerful can happen? Do we see the signs around us of God's presence in our lives?
Do we care for this world in a way that expresses our gratitude?
We
read and experience climatic change.
In all probability Canada will face more floods, droughts and
tornadoes with the increasing levels of ozone in the atmosphere.
Yet we continue to use up far more than our share of the
world’s goods. We are
avid consumers. We think
that by re-cycling some of our garbage we will somehow make up for the
damage that we are doing. We
worry far more about the financial stresses that result from climatic
change than the good of the world.
Change will come about because each one of us begins to take
seriously our obligation to God and to this wonderful creation.
It will come about through our thankful hearts.
There
is an episode of Frasier that always brings it home to me.
He and his brother Niles are in the coffee shop as usual.
Niles said to him, “Are you happy!” Frasier
turns the question back to Niles, “Why do you ask?” Niles
responds, “It’s just that I saw an orphan receive a pair of cheap
shoes. And there was such
an expression of gratitude on his face.
He was so happy. Why was he so happy? Here
I am wearing a pair of $400.00 shoes.
I look at them and wonder if I even really like them. Do you like them? They
have tassels. I don’t
really like tassels. What
do you think?” And
Frasier spends the rest of the show trying to decide what it is that
makes him happy or if he is happy at all. Think
of a desert place. It may seem to us to be nothing but sand.
How can anything survive in such a climate,” we ponder.
Yet if we look beneath the surface of that desert, excavate the
sand, we will see a vast ecosystem at work.
It is cool underground; the plants harbour moisture; all the
needs of those desert dwellers are there.
Like
Niles we wonder sometimes how people who lack the luxurious lifestyle
that we take for granted can be happy.
How can children living in misery in Iraq or Peru or The Sudan
ever laugh? How can they
play and sing when we can’t with all that we have?
How can they play and sing and hold hands, and fall down on the
ground and rejoice? But
they can. And they know
enough to thank God for it. On this Harvest festival, can we reflect that what we have may be a hindrance not only to God, but to one another? Can we lift thankful hearts to a loving God who cares for each of us, and provides for our needs? Can we learn to share our bounty, and in that sharing find the happiness that God would have us know? |
