Hand Me Downs

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 11/19/17

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^NIV Matthew 6:25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?  ²⁸ "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you-- you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

We live in a hand me down world. Everything in life in some sense is hand me downs. Now I was the oldest of four growing up, three boys and one girl. So my clothes were always new and purchased. I was a skinny kid weighing so little that the wind usually blew me around the neighborhood, at least that is what my mother said. But my brothers received things I wore or discarded as they grew up. I remember my next youngest brother and I would often fight, he wanted to be first but I was. He hated following me in school, not that I was smart mind you, I struggled in school. But he always had to hear the teachers say, why can’t you be like your brother and he bristled every time. Back in those days in small areas you always got the same teachers in school that your older brothers and sisters had. In fact, it carried over to my son who had an English teacher who I happened to go to High School with. Hand me downs!

Our language, our math, our philosophy, and all of our formal and informal education is a hand me down. We owe allegiance if you will to those scholars who developed math like Pascal, Aristotle in philosophy, Euclid for geometry and Shakespeare for literature. Even the Bible is hand me down. The first five books from the oral traditions of creation and life handed down to Moses who had them written down. The prophets whose writings we love or struggle with today were handed down from generation to generation. The New Testament was handed down from the Disciples to written form so that their stories could be told over the generations. All we know about Jesus, about God, and about the Holy Spirit are pretty much handed down to us through the generations. Hand me Downs!

Today we sit in this beautiful place, a building that was built many years ago. Some of you may have been here when the new building was built so I guess you can argue that you are handing down. But even you came from the older building and none of us were around in 1909. So we are handed down our traditions, our discipleship training and the legacies from those who went before us. Several weeks ago we remembered those who left legacies in the last year. Churches are places that get handed down, passing the baton each year to a new generation. Changes constantly taking place as the church grows, declines and hopefully grows again. Hand me Downs!

Someone was telling me the other day about all the problems in their world. I prayed with them and then asked them what they were thankful for? They looked at me like I had suddenly sprouted horns on my forehead. I would love to say that they suddenly began to smile in the midst of their trials and tribulations but they did not. But isn’t that what sets us apart from the world? Shouldn’t we as Christians realize that life is never easy, but we are always forgiven and we have eternal life in the presence of a loving caring God to look forward to? I am told that the secret to having a better Thanksgiving and Christmas is the ancient practice of blessing God. There are so many blessings that we share this time of year. Tomorrow we are helping to serve a dinner for our community. Anyone who wants to show up can and they will be served with great food, great fellowship and smiling faces who will remind them that God loves them. As we become do more and more ministry in our community I am thankful for the opportunity that God gives us to be the face of God. We were after all created in God’s image, each and every one of us, so why shouldn’t we find ways to be thankful for the bounty that we have been given and share that bounty with the world. God created us in God’s image, an image of love and we should be thankful for that. Hand me downs!

We come to this place and this hour in Thanksgiving. I remember many years back being thankful just to be in a place where there was no war, no pain and suffering even if it was for a small piece of time. Now for those of us that serve we are thankful for those times when we have peace, when most if not all of the congregation is stable and at least for a while, health issues are not center stage. But even in the worst of times, God is with us and for that I am ever thankful. In the past I have felt the call of God to change direction and visit a member of my church who was suffering greatly and on death’s door. Bonnie and I had been out all day and I really wanted to go home and relax a bit, but God nudged me that day as God often does so I immediately turned the car towards Cliff’s house. As it turned out, we arrived at the moment when he was passing. We spent that time with the family and it was a day of grace and mercy that I have felt since then each time I think of it. God is faithful to us! God is constantly working in our lives to bring us to be the creation that God intended in the Garden. A creation at harmony with one another and at harmony with the world around us. Can you imagine what this world would be like if we could find ways to focus on the things we are thankful for, rather than the things we are anxious about? We are truly a hand me down world, aren’t we?

I think that all these hand me downs that we receive are actually blessings to be thankful for. For each book I read, for each story I hear, for each life I share there is a blessing that comes from being a part of something greater, something longer than my own life and something special that is given often without regard to the cost of giving. If the world continues today because of what occurred yesterday, then that hand me down should be appreciated for its value in our lives. Everything we receive is the result of something else that has already occurred and changed the world around us, maybe just a little. God sent us Jesus so that we could truly see and appreciate what God intended in creation. That love is the answer to all of life’s questions. That love can overcome anything that we have to face. And through it all we are reminded that the things handed down in life can often be the best things life has to offer. Hand me downs! 

Jack’s mother called him and told him Mr. Belser had died. Jack thought back to his time with Mr. Belser when he was growing up. Jack’s dad had died and Mr. Belser had taken him under his wing. It was Mr. Belser who taught him carpentry that led to him having a company that built houses, buildings and structures. Jack took time and came home for the funeral. Jack was talking to his mother about his memories and he wondered about the little gold box that Mr. Belser had always kept on the top of his desk. He remembered asking what was in the box and Mr. Belser had told him the most valuable thing he owned was in that box. Jack forgot about the box following his return home from the funeral. Several weeks later a package arrived that Jack signed for. In it was the small gold box. With trembling hands, he opened the letter that accompanied the box and it said upon my death deliver this box to Jack, the most valuable thing I have. As he opened the box he found a beautiful gold pocket watch and when he opened the watch engraved inside it said, Thanks for your time. You see the most valuable thing Mr. Belser had was the time he spent with Jack. Jack told his secretary to clear his calendar that he was going to spend some time with his son. As he walked out the door he told her, thanks for your time. Maybe the most valuable thing we have truly is time and how we spend it becomes the thing we are most thankful for.