A new monk arrived and immediately dedicated himself to the vow of silence. He didn't speak a single word for one whole year. At the end of that first year, they brought him into the Abbot's office to speak his two words. The two words he chose to speak were, "Food bad!" He then got up from his chair and left.
At the end of the second year, he returned to speak two more words to the Abbot. This time he said, "Room small!"
At the end of the third year of silence, he came back to the Abbot again, and this time he said, "Bed uncomfortable!"
At last, after four years of silence, he said to the Abbot, "Want out!"
"Well, I'm not surprised," said the Abbot. "All you've done since you've been here is complain!"
This morning we come to the final message in our 3-part sermon series, "When You're A Christian, The Whole World Lives in Missouri: Living Our Faith in a 'Show Me' World." In part one, we heard about the world's need to see us, as Christians, display our perseverance. Last week, we said that we, as Christians, need to have a "bigness of spirit" that will show Christ to the world. Today, we add to those qualities one more characteristic that the world desperately needs to see in us...and that is GRATITUDE.
Many of us can appreciate that little story about the man in the monastery. The world in which we now live is indeed full of complaints. Everywhere we look, people are complaining, and to be honest, some of it is understandable. There are troubles in the job market, troubles among the nations, troubles in schools, troubles on our streets. There are drug problems, crime problems, gang problems, hate problems, economic problems, and political problems. Labor is complaining about management and management is complaining about labor. The Democrats are complaining about the Republicans and the Republicans are complaining, well, about everything!
And everybody is complaining about the stressful, busy, harried, hectic pace of life these days. Someone has called it, "Trivial Pursuit." Many of us spend our days and nights chasing frantically after what the world calls "success." Somehow we have conceived the notion that there is only so much of the success pie left, and we'd better get ours while the getting is good. So everybody is in a frantic rush. Consequently, complaints and protests, gripes and grumbles, criticisms and laments, are running high these days.
That's what makes the last verse in our Lesson reading (I Thessalonians 5:12-22) this morning both ironic and timely. St. Paul said, "Rejoice always, pray constantly, and give thanks for everything--for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." A slightly different rendering of those words gets more to the point: "...give thanks in all circumstances--for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
That wording is more accurate for Paul's meaning because of the preposition in. Notice, Paul does not say, "Give thanks for all circumstances." No! He says, "Give thanks in all circumstances." There's a big difference between those two words. Obviously, we don't give thanks for cancer or heart attacks or unemployment or tragedy or costly and painful accidents, or violence or war; but in all those things--in everything--we can give thanks.
You know why, don't you? Because God is with us! God is always with us, in every circumstance. Ant if we will open our hearts to God and hold on to God in faith and hope and love, God will see us through the circumstances of the moment.
Someone expressed it beautifully: "Rich is not what we have; it's who we have beside us." It's not material things, nice as they may be, but God's presence with us--and our acknowledgment of God's watchful care in our lives--that are the real source of thanksgiving.
On another occasion, Paul put it like this: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." In other words, "Bring it on! I'm ready because, in Jesus Christ, God is beside me!"
Rich is not what we have; it's who we have beside us! When we have God beside us and within us, we can indeed give thanks in all circumstances. When we have God beside us and within us, gratitude becomes the theme, the motif, the watchword, the overriding spirit of our lives. And that's what the world desperately needs to see by our example: a faith that allows us to give thanks in all things!
I once saw a cartoon that showed a tough-looking dog running angrily toward a small cat. When the little cat saw this huge dog approaching, obviously looking for a fight, the cat began to bark--not meow--and snarl ferociously. The cat's barking and snarling so startled and frightened the dog that it tucked its tail between its legs and ran away. Then the cat turned and said, "Sometimes it sure helps to know a second language!"
Gratitude should be like a well-learned second language to us as Christians...something we can call upon and use at a moment's notice. We should give thanks continually, not because God needs our flattery, but because we need to be thankful people...for our sake's--and for the world's.
I once read about a woman who does an interesting thing as a spiritual discipline. As she pays her bills, she writes, "Thank you" in the lower left-hand corner of every check. When she pays the electricity bill, she expressed gratitude for electricity. When she pays the telephone bill, she expresses gratitude for the miracle of communication. When she pays the mortgage, she expressed gratitude that she has a roof over her head and a comfortable place to live. That woman's constant expression of gratitude reminds us that we cannot be truly grateful for the blessings that come our way without being grateful to God. Every sincere "Thank you" is an implied "Thank you, God!"
Let me ask you to try something. Think back over your life and remember the great Christians you may have known, the ones who have touched you and moved you and influenced you for the good. My guess is that all of them possessed the same great quality--not arrogance, puffed-up pride, or boastfulness, but a deep spirit of thanksgiving and an ability to express the language of gratitude. Gratitude is a language all Christians need to know--and use--well.
The world needs, though, to do more than hear words of gratitude from us. Gratitude should be a sense we give people...an air about us...a fragrance, if you will, that we give off to those around us. Back in the early days of the church, a rather strong-smelling incense was burned in the worship services, and the aroma of that incense would saturate the clothing of all those present. When the people left the church, they literally smelled like incense. Wherever they went, people could tell by their fragrance that they had been to church...that they had been in the presence of God. For us today, the "fragrance" of Christians should be our gratitude...unconditional gratitude in all circumstances. This Thursday, people will be able to "smell" Thanksgiving when they walk into houses where the turkey and stuffing are cooking...but can people sense the aroma of thanksgiving on you?
It's fascinating to note that so many of the greatest expressions of thanksgiving in history came form people who didn't have a lot of material blessing to count: Jesus, who had no place to lay his head; Martin Luther, in hiding for his life; Francis of Assisi, who was voluntarily poor; the Pilgrims, cold, hungry and scared at Plymouth Rock; Helen Keller, blind and deaf; Mother Teresa, who lived her life in a leper colony.
Unconditional gratitude--gratitude with no string attached--was the fragrance of their lives, because they knew that God was with them. Life was hard and times were tough, but God was with them, and that's all that mattered. Gratitude is the language and the fragrance...indeed, it is the essence of a Christian.
That's what the world needs to see.
With the Thanksgiving holiday coming up this week, this is the obvious time to review those things for which we are grateful. Here in this church, we have so much to be grateful for. Our journeys have been merged together over the course of this year...we all hit the ground running, together, this summer and we kept up the pace into the fall and our 25th Anniversary celebrations and events. And along the way, already, we have begun to see and experience the fruits of our labor and our faithfulness. Now...as we begin the season of Advent next Sunday...that time of preparation and expectation for the coming of Christ at Christmas, I want us to slow down...no big meeting..no new special projects...no huge goals for the next month or so. I want us to spend some time basking in our gratitude. Gratitude to God for all that we have been blessed with...gratitude for and to each other for all that we share...gratitude in knowing that when we gear up again in the New Year with activities and plans and training and growing...we will do so having been spiritually fed by this holiday season. We will go into the next burst of energy use, having rested in the knowledge that God is always with us. Let us live and breathe and express and find joy in our gratitude. More than anything we could do this holiday season, if we can show the world how grateful we are for the difference that Christ has made in our lives and in the life of this church, we will have given the world a wonderful gift. The gift of seeing and believing in the truth of what God can do!
The idea and some content of this series (particularly part 3) were taken from: James W. Moore, from his book: When You're A Christian, the Whole World is from Missouri: Living the Life of Faith in a "Show Me" World, Dimensions for Living Press, 1997.
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