Thanks for the Tragedy

Isaiah 64:1-9
Sermon given at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Advent 1, 11-27-11

It is the first Sunday of Advent and we have our new Advent wreath to announce it, as well as the color purple on the altar, on my back and on the pulpit. For these four weeks we prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ at Christmas. It is the time in the church year when we put ourselves in the mindset of the Old Testament, those long centuries when the Jewish people were being prepared for the coming of the Messiah. We hear an echo from that period in today’s reading from the Prophet Isaiah:

From ages past no one has heard, nor ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him.

I think it appropriate that we return to Rite I in our prayer book for these four weeks, because, with its emphasis on the commandments and its use of old English it is reminiscent of the Old Testament period. Rite one was kept in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer because it very closely resembles the Holy Communion service from the 1928 prayer book. And it is the special request of those attending Adult Sunday School, where we have been studying the BCP, its history and its culture. As I recall, the request by that group to use Rite I for Advent was near unanimous.

Having said all that, I must admit to a reluctance to start Advent with this the first Sunday of the new church year. For goodness sake, it isn’t even Dec. yet. I’m still back with Thanksgiving, our great American holiday, or is it a holyday? Even the advertising feeding frenzy of black Friday hasn’t blotted Thanksgiving out. So, with your forbearance I’m going to preach about thankfulness; I don’t think it is the least bit incompatible with a penitential season like Advent.

Remember the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme? Mr. Madoff constructed this elaborate financial pyramid, all built on a lie. Many people, lured by the unbelievably high return on their money, invested with him and lost their life savings because they believed his lie. Bernie, who bilked people out of billions of dollars, is now doing about a million years in prison. One of those he cheated, Kim Rosen, was wiped out financially. In their book entitled “The Grateful Heart” Wilkie and Noreen Au tell Kim’s amazing story of gratitude for the tragedy. These are her words:

“When I lost my life savings I found myself opened to life’s simple wonders in a way I had never experienced before. It is not conditional, not based on having something, money or security or health, as opposed to not having it.”

In other word, she is saying, I used to think I would be happy if I had so much money put away, was totally secure and had perfect health. Now I realize my happiness was and is not dependent on those things. I have found happiness in life’s simple wonders. She developed an attitude of gratitude.

I think most of us think of gratitude in the context of being thankful for something concrete we have been given. The scriptures, in fact, sometimes encourage that view. When Jesus healed people many of them, but not all, expressed gratitude for the return to health. That was something concrete. Others, though, went further. They expressed gratitude for his acceptance of them, His gift of salvation to them. Often these were people who society was not likely to accept. There was Zacchaeus, the short little tax collector up in the tree. Jesus spotted him and told him he wanted to dine in his home that night. Zacchaeus was so excited he fell out of the tree and so grateful he said he would give half his possessions to the poor and anyone he had defrauded he would give it back to them four times over. Obviously, he hadn’t involved himself in a Ponzi scheme like Madoff or he wouldn’t have had the funds to do that.

Then there was the Samaritan woman at the well with the shady past. Jesus let her know He knew of the many men in her life, but accepted her by speaking to her and asking for a drink. She became so enthused by this gift of salvation that she announced to all who would listen that she had met the Messiah.

These are impressive stories but they don’t quite show the spiritual depth of Kim Rosen who appreciated what the loss of her investments did for her. The closest I can come from biblical stories is the good thief on the cross next to Jesus. He is the only one that Jesus said anything like what he heard: “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” Why did he get that kind of response? Because he asked for forgiveness. I wonder if he had time to appreciate that this situation would not have occurred if he had not been sentenced to death.

God is able to bring victory out of apparent defeat, but we have to cooperate. The way we cooperate is to be mindful, to try to be aware of what is going on in our lives and of those around us. To realize that wealth or a certain relationship or all those things being pushed on Black Friday do not bring happiness. One does not have to lose all of one’s retirement like Kim Rosen or be at the point of death like Dismas the Good Thief to have this attitude of gratitude. We can develop it now.

Are the kind of situations of which I speak very rare? I think not. I challenge you to go out of here today and think about times in your own lives when you lost what you cherished, what you thought was the only thing that would make you happy. Maybe it was someone you thought you would marry or did marry. Maybe it was a job or a business investment. Maybe it was getting into a certain college or buying a big new home or getting to stay in that home. Think about that loss and ask yourself “Am I better off or worse off spiritually as a result of that loss? The answer might surprise you and turn your life around.

A Thanksgiving Message

I write this before Thanksgiving; you will read it after Thanksgiving. When you read it we will already be in Advent with our new Advent Wreath glowing beside the altar as we prepare with renewed hope for the coming of Christ at Christmas. We will also be bringing our Stewardship campaign to what we hope is a successful completion.

For these reasons and many more I wish to linger on the subject of thanksgiving. When we were growing up our parents taught us to say thanks when someone gave us something or did something for us. In turn, we have taught our own children and maybe grandchildren to do the same. Jesus was referring to this when he healed the twelve lepers and only one returned to thank Him. “Where are the other eleven?” He said. (Luke 17: 11-19)

There is a deeper and broader gratitude than simply saying thanks for individual acts of kindness, however. It is a pervasive and spiritual appreciation of the world around, of one’s own existence, of loved ones and of fellow human beings. A good word for it is “gratefulness.” A way of life. A way of relating to God. Meister Eckhart, the German mystic, has commented “If the only prayer you say is thank you, that would be enough.

Bella Brown has said it this way: “All our senses are given to us to enjoy and to praise God. The smell of the sea, the blossom borne on the wind, the soft touch of a little baby, the taste of ripe plum or bread fresh from the oven, the feel of warm cat’s fur or the body of a lover—these are all forms of thanksgiving prayer.

This gratefulness may extend not only to successes and joys but to failures, challenges and trauma. I was grateful to see my barber last week. He is suffering from a chronic and life-threatening condition. Before he near scalped me, I asked him how he was and he said, “I am vertical and for this I am grateful.” Then I realized he had greater reason to be grateful than even I and my reasons are legion.

Give thanks to him, bless his name,
For the Lord is good.
His steadfast love endures forever
And his faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 100 100 John+