Thanksgiving: Philippians 4:4-7

Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

As you gather with friends or family (or football! 😀) this Thanksgiving day, you might find yourself in differing levels of peace.

Perhaps the state of your dinner table won't be peaceful.

Perhaps it will be stressful.

Maybe it will be too peaceful. Someone may be missing this year from it and their presence will be keenly missed.

One of the biggest things which I have to always remind myself and to challenge myself to remember is that God's peace does not always equal my comfort.

God's peace surpasses my understanding.

It is not always tranquility.

It is not always calm.

It is not always happiness.

It is not always safety.

And yet it is that which I am so supremely grateful for. It is that which guards my heart and mind.

It is that which gives me courage when I am not feeling comfortable or tranquil or calm or happy or safe.

This Thanksgiving, no matter your circumstances - whether you are feeling alone or feeling burdened.

Whether you are grieving or joyful.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus!

Amen.

Thanksgiving Week: Deuteronomy 26:8-11

Deuteronomy 26:8-11

The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.” You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.

I had to take a little time off - partially for vacation, and partially because the results of the election left me feeling a bit frayed. I needed to regroup.

I'm still regrouping of sorts, but I don't want to use this devotional as a place to air election politics. I'm pretty sure most people feel like that discussion is happening already in too many parts of their lives!

So it seemed fitting that this week is Thanksgiving week - because what I'm needing, and maybe you feel you are too - is a good dosage of gratitude.

Gratitude itself is know to be the thing that leads to joy and happiness. As I've shared here before: studies show that happiness doesn't lead to gratitude. Instead, gratitude leads to happiness.

That gratitude here among the Israelites, who have been brought out of slavery in Egypt, is the first thing, and that leads to celebration.

Celebration with each other and celebration with the aliens who live among them.

Aliens among us is a resonant issue for many of us, as immigration takes center stage in our political discourse. But aliens among us this time of year sometimes may even feel like those sitting around the Thanksgiving table with us.

This year especially I've heard worry among friends as they get ready to gather to share a Thanksgiving meal with family that may differ politically or ideologically from them. Some may be struggling to find the gratitude as they deal with real fears and pressures.

And yet God calls us to celebration. Calls us to give thanks. Calls us to sit with the aliens among us in joy. 

Calls us to set aside a time for gratitude that we might find joy.

So as this week unfolds, what things are you grateful for, even among the pressures you might be feeling this week?

Lord of all joy, let my heart feel gratitude for the abundance you provide. Amen.

2 John 3-5

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, in truth and love.

I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father. But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another.

It shows up everywhere, doesn't it?

Love one another.

Have compassion for one another.

And here, the epistle writer makes clear this is no new commandment. We've heard it before.

We'll hear it again.

And maybe eventually we'll get it.

It's a stark thing to think about this election day. It's been a grueling election cycle, and loving one another hasn't been really the thing that we've seen much of.

But this morning, when I was at the polls I was heartened. The Republican and Democratic tables were right next to each other and the workers from each shared their coffee and donuts. They smiled to each other. Laughed together. Helped hand out stickers together.

Maybe we will get it after all.

Loving Lord, teach me to have compassion always. Amen.

Exodus 3:13-14

But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

"I am Who I Am" also sometimes is translated to "I Will Be Who I will Be."

In Hebrew, the words are "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh," which in English, we write out to be "YHWH" or more commonly "Yahweh."

Say those words softly softly aloud: "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh" or "Y H W H."

Could you feel your breath as you said them?

God is I AM. 

It's as if God is our very breath.

We often get tangled up in knots with naming God.

Is God a king on a throne?

Is God a Good Shepherd?

Is God male or female?

Is God father?

Is God the ground of all being?

Is God in the very atoms that hold life together?

What does God say?

God says: "I Am what I am."

"I will be what I will be."

And we are limited by language that can never properly express who God is. We can only trust and have faith in God's nature and God's activity and God's love and God's justice.

Can we let God be God and trust in that which we can never properly or fully name?

God, Lord, King, Yahweh, Elohim, Ground of Being, Father, Mother, Creator, you who are more than I can ever envision: Spark my imagination so that even if I can not properly see you, I may know you. Amen.

Acts 22:22-23:11

Up to this point they listened to (Paul), but then they shouted, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.” And while they were shouting, throwing off their cloaks, and tossing dust into the air, the tribune directed that (Paul) was to be brought into the barracks, and ordered him to be examined by flogging, to find out the reason for this outcry against him. But when they had tied him up with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who is uncondemned?” When the centurion heard that, he went to the tribune and said to him, “What are you about to do? This man is a Roman citizen.” The tribune came and asked Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.” The tribune answered, “It cost me a large sum of money to get my citizenship.” Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.” Immediately those who were about to examine him drew back from him; and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.

Since he wanted to find out what Paul was being accused of by the Jews, the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and the entire council to meet. He brought Paul down and had him stand before them.

While Paul was looking intently at the council he said, “Brothers, up to this day I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God.” Then the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near him to strike him on the mouth. At this Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting there to judge me according to the law, and yet in violation of the law you order me to be struck?” Those standing nearby said, “Do you dare to insult God’s high priest?” And Paul said, “I did not realize, brothers, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a leader of your people.’”

When Paul noticed that some were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he called out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead.” When he said this, a dissension began between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, or angel, or spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge all three.) Then a great clamor arose, and certain scribes of the Pharisees’ group stood up and contended, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” When the dissension became violent, the tribune, fearing that they would tear Paul to pieces, ordered the soldiers to go down, take him by force, and bring him into the barracks.

That night the Lord stood near him and said, “Keep up your courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome.”

We learn a lot about the Apostle Paul in this text.

He's courageous.

And he's savvy.

Savvy being shrewd or wise in the ways of the world.

He basically plays the Sadducees against the Pharisees to win his freedom.

It seems rather ironic coming from the man who lifted up God's wisdom and seemed to condemn worldly wisdom.

Yet he knew how to work it.

Knew because he also knew his job wasn't done yet.

It's a tough battle he's fighting here. Can you imagine this scene playing out? He is flogged and beaten and accused. He is nearly torn to pieces.

And then - at the end, when it seems that all has passed, God tells him to keep his courage because everything he just went through...well, he was to expect it again in Rome. 

And in Rome ultimately he would die.

Hopefully most of us do not go through the same kind of sufferings as Paul. Yet we will suffer.

And sometimes those sufferings seem to come in waves.

Yet each one prepares us for the next. Each one makes us stronger. Gives us courage for the next wave.

It may not seem like Good News, knowing that suffering is going to come our way.

But it is good news that we have a God who is there with us in the suffering. 

Who strengthens us and gives us courage.

Who helps us find tools to get us through the suffering.

And prepares us to help others through their suffering.

May you be strengthened today with any trials that come your way. And may you be of good courage, knowing that the God of Paul is with you, beside you, preparing you.

Loving you.

Lord, prepare me and give me courage today as I face those things that I wish I could avoid. Amen.

Amos 5:21-24

I hate, I despise your festivals,
    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them;
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
    I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
    I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like waters,
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

There is a generation who is watching those of us who go to church.

They are watching as we worship God in the sanctuary, and then move into the world, forgetting to take the sanctuary with us.

There is a world of non-churchgoers who call us on our hypocrisy and say, "you worship God with your lips, but then what?"

You've likely been there yourself. As a young person, I can remember looking with glaring eyes at all the hypocrites in my church. I knew they weren't perfect. I knew their lives didn't show God's glory.

Of course, I forgot that mine didn't either.

We've all had our moments of noticing the hypocrites. Including our self hypocrisy, I'm sure.

It's a lifelong battle, this one against our own hypocrisy. It comes from being, as Luther told us, both "saint and sinner."

Perhaps the first step to squaring who we truly are in Christ is remembering that the worship does not begin and end in the church building.

Perhaps it is remembering that it is not simply the sanctuary that is sacred, but the entire creation.

Our homes. Our workplaces. Our neighborhoods.

Our lives.

Although worship has it's place, we do well to remember that Jesus' call to his disciples was not "worship me."

It was "follow me."

From the sanctuary to the sacred space of creation.

From the temple into the world.

We are being watched by a world that is hurting for the sacred in every part of their lives. Let's show them what love outside of worship can do!

Lord of creation, help me to worship you with my whole self and whole life by following your example of love. Amen.

Luke 6:27-31

“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

A women's group I am part of meets each week for prayer, meditation, and discussion on common (and uncommon) spiritual themes. Most weeks we take turns leading - each person leading choosing the topic. Often it is from an article or book or podcast that we get inspired by.

This week our topic was forgiveness, and the discussion was started by an article by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, based on his book, The Book of Forgiving, which he wrote with his daughter.

I have read and loved the book and was already feeling inspired when I saw the text for today.

This is from Jesus' Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke. It follows the Four Beatitudes in that Gospel (as well as the four woes). And it ends with that thing we all learned even before kindergarten: the Golden Rule.

And there - right at the beginning in this part of the text - is that phrase that gets to the heart of what we just keep practicing and not getting right over and over and over: loving our enemies.

For Desmond Tutu, forgiveness was the key for him in real, tangible ways. Think of the Truth and Reconciliation commission in South Africa. Love your enemies played out in practical ways there.

As we move forward to the election next week, it occurs to me that loving one's enemies, forgiving, and doing unto others as we'd have done to us, are going to all be things many of us are going to need to wrestle with. We are going to have to find practical ways for them to play out ourselves.

Maybe you don't have any enemies, but I'm guessing there's a person in your life right now you are struggling to forgive. And it can be a struggle. And it is a process.

Loving your enemies, as well as forgiveness, takes patience, practice, and hope. Sometimes it has to be done from a distance. Sometimes it may need to be tried again and again. 

You may not be ready.

Maybe not yet. But hopefully eventually.

And if you are looking for practical ways to get started, Tutu's book is a wonderful place to go.

Holy one, free me from the pain of anger and resentment. Help me to love those in my life who I find it most difficult to love. Amen.