Tonight we are worshiping in the spirit of Thanksgiving Day and
the beginning of the
Advent Season - the onset of the new liturgical year.
THE THANKSGIVING DAY PORTION OF THE READING
The first section of the combined Reading (see below)
is a segment from the Sermon on the Mount. The entire Sermon is designed
to open our
eyes
to what practical love can mean when God’s Will is fully lived. It
represents symbolically the way faithful people will think, feel and behave
in a future, perfected world - the ever-emerging “Kingdom of God.” As
such, the great Sermon is meant to shatter conventional images of a truly
satisfying existence. It is intended to stir us to seek God’s mercy
and forgiveness while we live our imperfect lives and to move
forward along the path toward truly decent living.
In this fragment of the magnificent Sermon we hear Jesus commanding
his hearers not to worry unduly, not to be anxious, that God will provide
necessities.
I realize that these words can be misunderstood as an excuse
for taking little or no responsibility for one’s life, that we should trust
God to provide everything we need. Yet, as one commentator notes, the challenge
to trust in God does “not exclude working and having property. The
words are directed to people involved with sowing, reaping, storing in
barns, toiling, and spinning, but who are called to see that their life
is not based on these things.” (from The New Interpreter’s
Bible) Moreover, those living in the dawning Kingdom of God
are assured that their most basic needs in the Kingdom yet
to come will be met by God
with no need to fret. What a wonderful existence is depicted
for faithful disciples living in that yet unrealized Kingdom!
Jesus’ guidance runs counter to common perceptions both then and
now. Our own culture propels rich and poor alike toward high anxieties
-- to keep people consuming, to keep us too busy, to keep us competitive
in everything we do, and to sustain in our imaginations that the best possible
life is for those who have the most stuff. With this weighing on our hearts
and minds, our ordinary priorities can lead to extraordinary anxieties
about whether we will have enough. It follows that the more worried
we are, the less loving we can be; the less loving we are, the less thankful
we’ll be. The Lord’s teachings are designed to help you and
me move away from obsessions that create and sustain worry;
his declarations inspire us toward a state of maturing love with priorities
set on our fundamental
relationships with God, our neighbors and ourselves. Then,
to the extent that we actually love, we will radiate a thankful spirit.
At Thanksgiving each year, however we might spend the day, you
and I are encouraged not only to be grateful for everyday
things unique to our
individual lives, but also to step back from cultural obsessions
and move a bit forward toward God’s ideal for us, an ideal
not measurable by our holdings or our busyness. We have another
year to anticipate, and
we are invited to look at the reality of our lives and to know
that despite the tensions, disappointments, and struggles
of the year now ending, we
can be thankful here and now in this flawed world – at
least for cups half filled. Most importantly, we can be aware
of God’s
love, mercy and forgiveness and that as children of God we
are accepted and cared for in this sacred place on this holy
occasion.
I want to add a personal note that with all my misgivings about
contemporary Churches, I am particularly thankful that you and I can
gather here on
Saturdays for worship and that our monthly Integrity fellowship
is an activity of this parish. Were it not for the courage of Fr. Hamilton
and the vestry,
Bob and I might still be traveling to Fort Lauderdale once
a month for corporate worship at the Integrity chapter there, and, as
we did for two
years, worship at home in a much too small a congregation of
just the two of us. I am profoundly thankful for fifty years of companionship,
which
I do not take for granted and which I well recognize is culturally
irregular among all sorts and conditions of caring people. I am grateful
for surviving
medical difficulties – even though last year I suspected that Thanksgiving
2004 would be my last. And, so on. As it’s said, “count your
blessings,” but first we have to realize what they are and that godly
blessings may have concerns, but not chronic anxieties.
THE GOSPEL FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Our second theme tonight concerns the beginning of the Advent
Season, a new year of the Church’s life. This is a period of preparation
and expectation for the coming celebration of Jesus’ birth, and for
the eventual final coming of Christ “in power and glory.” In
his Gospel (see below), Matthew emphasizes the need for
the disciples to be aware and keep awake so that they do not
miss the decisive moment of
Christ’s Second Coming. In Matthew’s days Christians expected
Jesus to return at any moment for the final judgment and establishment
of God’s visible Kingdom. All disciples would be held accountable
for their faithfulness. In time, however, they realized they
were mistaken; Christ did not return in their own lifetimes
as they had expected.
Although I believe that at some
point the Creator will establish a full and perceptible reign
over all Creation, I certainly
do not inspect daily cloud
formations to see whether Jesus is riding in on one, nor do I live in fearful
anticipation. It will happen when God wants it to happen, which could be
tonight or thousands of years from now. In any case, you
and I are always accountable
to God for our faithfulness to God’s Word, whether tonight
or any other time. The whole idea here is that we should beware of
spiritual lethargy, indifferently living without a care in the world. Rather,
we should prepare ourselves inwardly
and live faithfully as if that Day of Judgment is already upon us. While
we can hopefully and joyfully anticipate the establishment of God’s
empire of justice, in the meantime there is no room for complacency. We disciples
must live in such a way that we are always prepared for accountability and
divine justice.
THANKSGIVING AND ADVENT FAITHFULNESS
A connection between Thanksgiving Day and the opening of the
Advent Season is the call for us to progress gracefully toward lives
of steadfast faithfulness
to God. Fidelity to God’s Word is characterized by an energetic life
of a maturing love that radiates both our continual thanksgiving to God
and a constant readiness to be held accountable for our decisions as well
as our indecisiveness. Certainly this call to faithfulness is worthy of
our attention as we give thanks this year and as we prepare our hearts
and minds for the annual celebration of Jesus’ birth.
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[READ AS ONE LESSON AT EVENING PRAYER - EUCHARIST]
A READING FROM MATTHEW (6:25-33) FOR THANKSGIVING DAY
Jesus said, “I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will
eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is
not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds
of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can
any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why
do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they
grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his
glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass
of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,
will he not much more clothe you-- you of little faith? Therefore do not
worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What
will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these
things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you
need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and
his righteousness,
and all these
things will be given to you as well. ”
A READING FROM MATTHEW (24: 36-44) FOR ADVENT I
Jesus said to the disciples, “But about that day and hour no
one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only
the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the
coming of the Son of Man.
For as in those days before the flood they were eating
and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day
Noah entered the ark, and they knew
nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so
too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be
in the field; one
will be taken
and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together;
one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore,
for you do not know
on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if
the owner of the house had known in what part of the night
the thief was coming,
he would
have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken
into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of
Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”