Gratitude

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition 1 Thessalonians 5

12 But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; 13 esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, to admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. 15 See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil.

23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.

This is the Way Introduction

Star Wars Nerd

I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m a bit of a Star Wars nerd.

As soon as the doctor said last weekend that my best course of action was to lay on the couch and watch TV, I understood the assignment.

And one of my favorite Star Wars shows is The Mandalorian.

The Mandalorians are a race of warriors, whose home world has been destroyed, so they spread out through the galaxy to use their skills.

Some are mercenaries, some are bounty hunters, some are armorers for the rest of the community.

And on the show, there’s a line that sticks out to me every time.

This is the Way

The Mandalorians are part people group, and part (admittedly violent) religion.

Part of their religion, much like ours, doesn’t make sense to the world.

Part of their code is that every bounty they collect has a part set aside for the younglings in their group.

Part of their code is that when one is attacked, all come to their defense.

Part of their code is that they look after the least, and take care of the young ones in their midst, even if it leads them on TV worthy adventures.

When they bump up against one of these traditions that won’t make sense to the rest of the world, they remind each other.

This is the way.

When you give away something that you’ve earned…this is the way

When you protect your brother even at your own expense…this is the way.

When you have to travel across the galaxy to give a baby yoda back to its people…this is the way.

It turns out, that actually might be a bit of a parallel to our faith as Christians.

Richard Rohr Quote

“Christians” was not a word used in the first part of the early church.

That language doesn’t show up until about half way through Acts.

Instead, we get verses like this in Acts 9:1–2 “Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”

Did you catch that?

The Way…capital W.

The very beginning of the Jesus movement was just that, a movement.

It wasn’t originally designed to be it’s own religion.

It was more meant as a way of life within the Jewish religion.

And lots of theologians and thinkers have wondered if we’ve lost our way a little bit, choosing to be a religion more than a way of life.

Father Richard Rohr put it this way:

Christianity is a lifestyle - a way of being in the world that is simple, non-violent, shared, and loving. However, we made it into an established "religion" (and all that goes with that) and avoided the lifestyle change itself. One could be warlike, greedy, racist, selfish, and vain in most of Christian history, and still believe that Jesus is one's "personal Lord and Savior" . . . The world has no time for such silliness anymore. The suffering on Earth is too great.

Christianity is a lifestyle.

Christianity is the Way.

This is the Way.

This isn’t such a big leap

Last week- Grace

Last week, Ann did a marvelous job setting up this series by reminding us what the first marker of such a lifestyle is.

It’s grace.

It’s the grace that God pours out over us.

It’s the grace that we accept from God, even when it doesn’t totally make sense to us.

It’s the grace that flows out of us and to our neighbors, giving us the ability to forgive others the way Christ has forgiven us.

And truth be told, this doesn’t exactly make sense!

Most followers of a religion, including some lesser versions of ours, think that God is vengeful and out to get us.

Most people think that it’s look out for number one.

Most people think that it’s a dog eat dog world out there, and to offer forgiveness is weak.

So when we practice Grace, we remember that this is the Way.

The way of Jesus is forgiveness.

The way of Jesus is mercy.

The way of Jesus is healing.

The way of Jesus is grace.

This is the Way.

And this of course sets us up for what I think is the second marker of the Way:

Thessalonians.

This passage we read this morning from Thessalonians is fascinating on a number of levels.

Most scholars think that it is the earliest writing in the New Testament.

It even predates the writing of the Gospels.

So what we have is the early Church trying to make sense of things, including what it means to walk in the Way.

At the end here, Paul is laying it out. These are the actual lifestyle changes that come with being a part of the Jesus community.

Rejoice Always

I wrote this before a few events came to pass this weekend.

Let’s summarize the last 3 weeks:

The kids were throwing up on Christmas.

Then I got sick with a little cold, that was no big deal.

But the little cold turned into a nasty infection, which turned in to bronchitis.

So I had to cancel both the getaway, and last week’s services.

And again, thanks to Ann and Alex and the team for putting together everything!

Then I got two days in the office.

And the gas was shut off.

And won’t be on for a few more days.

Summary: The last three weeks have been kind of miserable, eh?

And I’m supposed to rejoice…in this?

What it doesn’t say:

Because this passage doesn’t set conditions on rejoicing.

It doesn’t say “Wait until conditions are perfect, and then rejoice.”

It doesn’t say “get your ducks in a row, and then rejoice.”

It doesn’t say “Wait till you get that instagram perfect sunset, and then rejoice.”

It says “rejoice always.”

Rejoice when things are great, and rejoice when they’re not.

Rejoice when you are healthy, and rejoice even when you’re sick.

Rejoice when you are together, and rejoice, yes let me say it again, rejoice even when circumstances force you to be home.

But a word of caution here:

Happy Campers

Some people suggest that this means we should always be happy camper, cheery people.

They kind of use this verse to suggest that we should ignore the bad stuff of life and always be happy.

The verse doesn’t say be happy always.

And it certainly doesn’t say ignore the darkness.

It says rejoice.

Recognize the darkness, but rejoice in the midst of it anyway.

Pray without ceasing

This feels like a lot!

Some of us have a hard time clearing out 10 or 15 minutes every day for our daily devotions.

We’re suppose to pray without ceasing?

Is that to mean we’re monks, kind of locking ourselves in our room and dedicating our lives to prayer?

Isn’t that kind of lame?

Or what if Paul’s talking about something else all together?

What if rejoicing always leads us to a constant state of recognizing God’s goodness?

What if when we rejoice, even in the darkness, we’re more able to see God’s light shining?

What if all that rejoicing leads us to know and notice God more?

What if all of that turns our lives in to one big prayer, where every action we take is in response to God’s goodness?

Wouldn’t that be praying without ceasing?

Wouldn’t that be a beautiful way to live?

But it doesn’t stop there!

Give thanks in all circumstances

When you’re able to rejoice, and your life becomes a ceaseless prayer toward God, then something beautiful happens.

You start to practice Gratitude.

You start to appreciate what God has given you to rejoice over.

You start to appreciate that God is always there to hear our prayers and our lives of prayer.

You start to list things for which your grateful.

You start to be able to find things to be grateful for, even in the darkest of situations.

Because to practice gratitude, even when things aren’t all lined up just right, well…this is the way.

Walking the Way of Gratitude

Good times and bad can actually make gratitude hard.

When things are bad, it’s hard to find gratitude.

When you are in the hurt locker, it’s hard to find ways to say Thank you.

When suffering is your companion, it’s easy to focus on suffering alone.

When things aren’t going your way, bitterness and anger and frustration are easier to find pathways than gratitude.

But that’s just the problem, it’s not just when things are bad.

When things are good, we take the credit.

When things are going my way, I tend to make sure that I get the kudos, rather than offering the kudos to God.

When I’m out ahead, I tend to pat myself on the back rather than making a joyful noise to the Lord.

When success is my companion, I tend to leave gratitude behind.

Whether things are good or bad, I think (at least for me) my sinful spirit tends to make Gratitude a hard thing.

Attention Span

I once heard someone say that Pastors were a lot like stand up comedians.

And while I really want to believe it’s because everyone thinks we’re super funny all the time and always laughs at my jokes…

What they meant was that both professions involve noticing what no one else notices.

Comedians notice little things about the world to make us laugh.

Pastors notice little things about the world to point to God.

I wonder if that same attention span could be applied to all of us when it comes to gratitude?

What if we could notice at a granular level the things were grateful for?

I mean, just from where I’m sitting:

I’m sitting in this chair that my father in law gave me, which is outrageously comfortable.

I’m at home, in my studio, which is small but is the space where I get to work and do creative things, both of which God has given me.

I have this phone, which will record this sermon.

Then I’ll send this video off to our incredible team who has stitched it all together for us to enjoy worship together.

Not only that, but there’s YouTube, which probably doesn’t exist for this purpose, but they allow us to worship.

Somewhere in the world there are programers and coders and technicians who have worked together to make sure that you and I can share this moment together.

And of course, there’s the cup of coffee in my hand.

Some farmer grew the beans.

Some factory workers at Starbucks roasted those beans.

Someone sold it to me.

A bunch of someones work diligently so that when I turn a knob in my kitchen, water comes out of a faucet and fills the machine to make the coffee.

Someone crafted this coffee mug to hold the coffee for me to enjoy.

If I’m aware, if I’m paying attention, it turns out that even today, even in far less than ideal circumstances for my Sunday morning, there’s a lot to be grateful for, isn’t there?

Never Ending

The beautiful part of this practice is that it’s never ending.

If you’re really paying attention, you can find something to be grateful in every situation in life.

One of my favorite people to watch on YouTube is a bike packer named Ryan Van Duzer.

Ryan travels all over the world and camps while he’s riding his bike, which is half the reason I watch!

But the other half is that Ryan has mastered this.

Ryan, just about every morning he wakes up, waves at the patch of grass that his tent had previously occupied, and thanks the flat piece of earth that he slept on.

You can have gratitude for a sliver of grass.

The only limit to our practice of gratitude is our attention span.

Because while the rest of the world might get greedy…

While the rest of the world might be anxious…

While the rest of the world might be resentful…

While the rest of the world might be bitter…

We practice gratitude, because This is the Way of Jesus.

Practicing the Way

Heads up!

On Tuesday, I had the occasion to ride the T downtown early in the morning.

I was impressed at how many different ways everyone on the train had to distract themselves.

A few folks had their phones open to their social media pages.

One person had a laptop open.

One person was reading a full on novel.

And almost everyone, myself included, had earphones in.

It was like we wanted to do anything but pay attention to what is around us.

But if we’re going to practice the way of Gratitude, we have to keep our eyes open and our heads up.

We have to be present in whatever reality we’re in, no matter how unpleasant it might be.

We have to rejoice always, even in the dark times.

We have to expose ourselves to everything, so that we can experience as much as we can.

Maybe it’s time to set aside some of our bigger distractions to be present to everything, and everyone, that’s around us?

Write it down

Every morning I sit down with my bible and my journal.

I read four passages of scripture that are outlined in my journal,

And then I write down three things I’m grateful for.

It’s amazing what the practice of writing down my gratitude can do for me.

It makes it more concrete.

It makes it easier to look back at it when things aren’t going as well.

It connects me with the Spirit of God in a real way.

Take a moment every morning this week, and write down what you’re grateful for.

Even if it takes a while to search for it, that’s ok.

Try to come up with three every day.

I think you’ll be shocked at what it does to your spirit if you engage in that habit.

But there’s even one more step you can take.

Share it!

Call someone up and share with them what you’re grateful for.

Bonus points if it’s someone for whom your grateful, like a friend or a family member.

But seriously, especially if it’s someone in our church family that understands that we are trying to live in the Way of Jesus, practice by sending them a text or an e-mail, what are you grateful for this week?

And then of course, make sure to share with God your Gratitude.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord

Come in to his presence with singing.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving.

Give thanks to him.

Rejoice always.

Pray without ceasing.

And give thanks in all circumstances.

Because of course, this is the way!

Looking Ahead: What do we do when someone’s always walking in the darkness?