Are We Truly Thankful?

^{Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC on November 16th and 17th, 2019}

^NRS Matthew 6:19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰ but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ²² "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; ²³ but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! ²⁴ "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

Have you ever asked yourself the question, what have I to be thankful for? In this world we live in today, we are bombarded with so much stuff that we often struggle to keep from being deeply depressed. I spent the week last week playing golf, which in today’s terms meaning I am spending time with my lovely wife trying to help her become proficient at the game. I have to keep reminding her and me that she is just beginning and that I need to cut her some slack and she needs to do the same with herself. She on the other hand likes to get under my skin. The other morning I was doing my medical assistant role that, she requires at least every five days and I remembered all the stuff we have gone through to get to this point. That she is playing golf is an incredible journey of doctors, nurses, hospitals and operations. So yes, there is much to be thankful for in the Jamison house these days.

I find that I am serving a wonderful loving savior who pushes me in ways that are sometimes euphoric and sometimes downright depressing and painful. Each day I start anew with a reminder that we are to be thankful for all that God is giving us, even the pruning that each of us must endure from time to time. I listened to a good sermon at a very nice church but I want to tell you, no one talked with us as we sat in the pew and no one invited us to the hospitality time between services, even though their announcements said they had one. Now maybe it is because they have so many visitors that they have become immune to how to reach out to them. Or maybe they, like most churches, have become so inner focused they have forgotten what it is like to be a stranger in the land. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the service and left to go explore more golf. It was not our original intention on that day, but the Outer Banks in November is more closed than open and the temperature was in the 60’s, outdoors seemed to be the place to be. We got to finish eighteen holes of golf just as the sun went down and saw the glory of God in a beautiful sunset. We have much to be thankful for in the Jamison house these days.

So what about you? I invited you to make a list of things you are thankful for. How are you doing with that? Why do I ask, glad that you asked me that question. Because the truth is that, we can be so bogged down in the world around us that we forget to look up, smell the flowers and be thankful. God is shining the light of salvation upon us and we have a future in a place where pain and suffering will be lost in our memories forever. That is not what Jesus wants us to know. Jesus said the Kingdom of God is nearby, close at hand, available for the reaching out and taking hold of it kind of understanding. Surprisingly, the term Kingdom or Kingdom of God/ Heaven is found 63 times in the Old and New Testament. Jesus talks about almost constantly in His teachings and I believe that He wants us to understand what it means. The Kingdom of God is all around us, every moment of every day. The Kingdom of God is not just the promise of eternal paradise, but the promise of salvation that is offered to everyone every moment from the moment you are conceived. We talk about grace, but that grace is the greatest gift that God has to offer us. We are moving rapidly, sometimes faster than I want to go, into the Advent and Christmas season when the Kingdom seems ever closer than any other time of the year.

Can’t you feel it? We seem to be nicer to each other, seem to reach out in mission more rapidly and with open arms unlike any other time of the year. We hear Christmas music, yes, Virginia, Christmas music is real and it comes to you earlier and earlier each year. But when you hear it do you imitate the Grinch or do you have that wicked little hidden smile start to form within you? Come on now, fess up. It opens up that memory place, you start to think about Christmas long past when time was simpler, and life seemed easier. I do, how about you? Or we remember loved ones that are no longer here and begin to think about how much fun they were to be around. Christmas I think, is a glimpse into the promised place. We get to experience the mystery and even some might say magic of the power of love, given by a God of grace, mercy and love.

I wonder though, have you considered how thankful you are and then because you begin to be thankful, how fortunate you are and how beautiful the world really is? Jesus talks about the Kingdom because He wants us to experience the Kingdom every day of our lives. He wants us to find the joy in life that is missing from most of us. I read the other day the 12 things that lead to depression in Pastors. Oh my. What it did not say is the immeasurable number of things that bring a pastor joy. The baptism of a baby, the profession of a new believer, the love of a congregation, all of these things keep us going each day. At Sydenstricker, we have great love and I know that a visitor in our doors is going to be greeted not just at the door but also in the pews and welcomed. If they are at the 8:30 AM service, they are going to be invited to come to the hospitality time or to visit your Sunday school class. Why do I know that? Because we have been working hard to be a loving, welcoming church and it would crush me to hear otherwise.

I listened intently as the Pastor of the church talked with us about sin. Now I thought for a moment he wanted us to hear that we are saved and beyond sin, but that was not his message. What he did say was that Jesus wants us all to know how much we are loved and then to become Jesus to the world. That resonates with me because it is my message, today, tomorrow and forever. If we really want to be thankful, then we must learn to love one another regardless. We cannot say that we love this person but not that one. I hear a lot of hate, anger, fear and non-love in the world around us every moment. We have to love our enemies, isn’t that what Jesus taught us? We have to love the alien in our land, isn’t that the message God tells us in the Old Testament? We have to learn to love one another.

What I want you to get out of this message today is this. Each of us has much to be thankful for. Each of us has an abundance. Now maybe you have much more debt than you want, right there with you. Maybe you have more illness than you want to deal with, been there too. Maybe you feel like the world is against you at times, yep, that one too. But I promise you with all that I am if you will go to the Bible, if you will read it every day, you will find that there are plenty of stories of folks just like us. And yet, when we worship a loving, caring and nurturing God who loves us back unconditionally, nothing is impossible. There will always be enough; there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel. That is what the Kingdom is. It is not something to hope for at the end of your life, but something to strive to enjoy and experience in the time of your life. Right now, right here. But it requires some effort on your part to look, to listen, to taste and to feel the love of God that is all around you.

Today we celebrate life. Today we celebrate the abundance of it that we have within us. Even though we cannot know how many hours we have left, we can have an attitude to enjoy them. That is what Jesus wants us to experience. When we learn to love one another, life becomes different. Jesus is calling us to discipleship. That means that He is calling us to become students of His teachings, to learn to imitate Him in our everyday lives and to change the world around us through that love. We may not stop the insanity that is our world today, but we can create a pocket of love, a safe haven for those who are broken and healing for those who are sick. That is what Jesus is calling you and me to do and to be. Jesus did not say we would be perfect, rather that in our imperfection we can be instruments of healing for those who are broken. I am thankful every day for what God has given me. Somedays I need to be reminded of that. We have much to be thankful for in the Jamison household today. How about you?