Dr. Michael B. Brown

What NOT To Give Up For Lent: THANKFULNESS

Colossians 3:16-17; John 16:16-22Sermon Vol. 3/13

MARBLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH

1 West 29th Street New York, NY 10001

Dear Friends, There is a difference between being “happy” and being “thankful.” Happiness can be momentary. Thankfulness is more of an ongoing world-view. But, as mentioned in this sermon, one cannot find true happiness if one is fundamentally unthankful.

So, what does a spirit of thankfulness look like? How do we experience it? What does the Bible say about it? Those questions formed the corpus of this Lenten sermon. I share it with you now in the hopes that it will stimulate your deeper reflection and, maybe, will help you identify more of the blessings in your own life.

I am thankful for you!

Dr. Michael B. Brown, Senior Minister

Dr. Brown’s sermon is published by Marble Collegiate Church1 West 29th Street New York, NY 10001

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Throughout this season, we have been thinking about What NOT To Give Up For Lent, remembering how Paul said to the Colossians that whatever else we choose to let go of, there are a handful of things we have to hang onto if we want to be Christian. And though last week’s topic, a spirit of Love, is obviously at the top of that list, arguably this morning’s topic runs a close second.

Fred Craddock’s wife came to him as both their son and daughter moved ever closer toward college graduation. She said: “I don’t want to give them perfunctory graduation gifts. I think we should give them something special, something that will make a difference in their lives. Can you think of anything?” Dr. Craddock answered: “If I could give my children something very special that will make a difference in the rest of their lives, I would give each of them a thankful heart.”

Paul would’ve said “Amen” to that. So would the entire Bible. Did you know that in the Old and New Testaments, “thankfulness” is mentioned more times than “goodness,” more times than “victory,” more times than “forgive,” and exactly the same number of times as the word “Israel”? It’s hard to turn a page in the

What NOT To Give Up For Lent:

THANKFULNESSColossians 3:16-17; John 16:16-22

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Bible without reading some reference to the importance of a thankful heart.

The Director of the Counseling Center in the church I served prior to coming here said to me: “Everyone who comes to my office wants to be happy. But many of them do not know how to be thankful. And without thankfulness, happiness is impossible to find.”

There’s a lot of wisdom in that.

The truth is, there will always be blessings in our lives, and there will always be problems. Life is neither “perfect” nor “perfectly awful.” It’s always a mix of the two. And what we choose to focus on will determine how we experience life. Emphasize the blessings, they will increase. Emphasize the problems, they will grow.

And so Paul said, if you want to give up something for Lent or any other time, give up chocolate or caffeine or golf or bridge or give up a negative spirit – but we can never afford to give up or give away a thankful, positive heart. “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed,” he wrote to the Colossians, “do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God through Him!”

Okay, just briefly, based on the two lessons we read this morning, I want to share with you three things that happy people know about being thankful... because, as my friend

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put it, “without thankfulness, happiness is impossible to find.”

(I.) Sometimes Thanksgiving Is About WHAT WE HAVE.

The Colossians passage is a praise passage. Paul tells those people to take stock of all the things God has given to and done for them, and when they do, they will: “sing praises to God with gratitude in your heart... and focusing on Christ you will offer thanks to God through Him!”

This is a real “life is good” passage – a Snoopy dancing with his head thrown back passage – a “I just won the Lottery” or “the Yankees just won the series” or “Duke just won the Final Four” passage. This is a passage that says most of the time, most of us have a lot to be thankful for! The problem is that too often we take for granted or overlook or even misinterpret our blessings. It really is a matter of perspective.

Clovis Chappell told of a man who worked in the county morgue. All day long he only worked with dead bodies, tagging them and storing them. One winter the man caught a cold which developed into bronchitis. A friend of his said: “You sound awful. You have a terrible cough.” The man answered: “I guess it is a terrible cough, but most of the people I work with would love to have it!”

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Perspective. Focus. Do we look for and see the blessings that are ours?

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield in Eight Ways To Be Happy says: “Always remember there is a difference between wealth and value.” A lack of wealth, a lack of stuff, he says, cannot undo the presence of value. Whatever your bank account may say at any given moment, you still may be rich in friends – in family – in having a church like this where we can feel welcome, wanted, and loved – in living in a land of freedom (for all its faults and flaws, this is not Darfur, not Syria, not North Korea, not Somalia). Whether or not we possess a plethora of things, we still have the same access to the beauty of sunsets as does the richest person on earth – the same access to the sounds of music, to hugs and handshakes, to art, to literature, to life!

Most of us have a lot to be thankful for if, as Jesus put it, we simply “have eyes to see.” There are some things I cannot afford to do. There are some places I cannot afford to go. There are many things I cannot afford to buy. But, this morning I still know I have the Grace and acceptance of God, free of charge. I have life, and simply being alive is a wonderful gift. I have a family who loves me in spite of myself. I have a city like this one. I have you! Whatever else I may not have, I do have an awful lot to be thankful for. And that’s the case for most of us, most of the time. “Whatever you do,” said Paul, “remember to give thanks to God!”

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(II.) Sometimes Thanksgiving Is In Spite Of WHAT WE LACK.

Jesus told the disciples in the Upper Room, just before going to the Cross, if you keep your eyes open, even through this terrible time, “your grief will turn into joy.”

At the corner of 57th and 5th, about a month ago I saw a man with no legs, seated in a wheelchair, asking for assistance. He had a hand-painted sign. You’ve seen them: “Homeless, please help.” “Hungry, please help.” “Injured veteran, please help.” They are all over the city, people who have suffered to the point they cannot overcome the pain alone and have to ask for assistance from strangers. It is not unusual to see, but what caught my eye about him were the words on his sign. They were a little different than most. The sign said: “Please help. Life is good because I met you!” Wow! What a statement. Obviously there was a lot of tragedy for that man. Maybe he was a veteran of the military who lost his legs in Iraq or Afghanistan. Maybe he was a victim of a horrible accident on the highway or at work. Maybe it was the result of a debilitating disease. I do not know. But I do know this: He was certainly not in an enviable position – bound to a wheelchair, sitting on a street corner on a cold, windy February day, dependent on the handouts of people he doesn’t know. And yet, he made a statement with his sign – the statement that even in his suffering, he had found blessings.

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And even, as strange as it sounded, because of his pain, he said he had met people with compassion and kindness who were willing to pass that compassion and kindness along. “Life is good because I met you!”

I do not believe that God creates suffering or sends it upon us. I think suffering is simply part of living in this natural world where good and evil exist side-by-side. But, our Faith does teach that when suffering comes, God comes, too. And like the old cliché puts it, when God stands with us in our pain, sometimes “lemons are turned into lemonade.” In other words, even when life is bad, God can help us find something good. And sometimes we learn lessons from pain or sadness that we could learn in no other way. Think back over your own bad moments and some of the good things you learned because of them. Some of you have told me that when you could no longer help yourselves, you learned how to accept help from somebody else. That’s a powerful lesson to learn. Some of you have told me that when you really needed a friend, you learned how many friends you actually had. I’ve had people tell me about dark, bleak moments when you learned what it feels like to be forgiven by someone. Someone told me recently that when their legs were cut out from beneath them and others treated them with kindness, they learned how to treat other people once they were back on their feet. Sometimes when something is taken away, we learn that we didn’t really need it after all.

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Or sometimes when someone walks away, we learn that someone better was out there, and we would never have found their love had the other person not first broken our heart.

You have heard me quote this poem before, but it bears repeating:

I walked a mile with gladness, she chattered all the way,But I was none the wiser for all she had to say.I walked a mile with sadness, and not a word said she,But, oh, the things I learned that day when sadness walked with me.

Sometimes thanksgiving is about what we HAVE; Sometimes thanksgiving is in spite of what we LACK, and...

(III.) Sometimes Thanksgiving Is About WHO WE ARE.

At the end of the passage from John, Jesus talks about His sacrifice on the Cross for the benefit of others and about His resurrection as a symbol of hope and deliverance for the benefit of others. He says: “Now is your time of grief (that’s the Cross), but I will see you again (that’s the Resurrection) and you will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away.”

The passage says clearly that Jesus’ life (whether in suffering or victory) was always a source

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of blessing and joy to others. Those disciples were thankful for who He was. “When I see you again, you will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away.”

On a headstone in a cemetery near a church I served years ago is an inscription. It is the final resting place of a husband and father who died during the flu epidemic of 1918. His family chose the words, which simply say: “The world is better because he passed through.”

Hopefully people feel that way about us.

My friend Don Ellis used to say: “There are only two kinds of people, and each of them makes us want to run. Some make you want to run to them; others make you want to run in the opposite direction!” That’s probably true. So, wouldn’t you like to be one of those people whom others want to meet, to greet, to run to and embrace?

“The world is better because he passed through.” Hopefully the world is better – and some people are happier – and life is richer – because we are here. Hopefully things are different than they would be without us. Hopefully at night when at least a handful of people say their prayers, they will offer thanks for us.

The disciples were thankful for who Jesus was. And, if we are His disciples, then people will be thankful for who we are, too.

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To be thankful for WHAT we have... To be thankful in spite of what we LACK... And to make others thankful for WHO we are... Whatever else we give up or give away for Lent, Jesus and Paul and Fred Craddock were correct: We must always hold onto a thankful heart.

Prayer:

Dear God, life is not always easy. There are hills to climb and crosses to bear. Please remind us as we try to make it from one day to the next, that amid the struggles are also blessings. Teach us the wisdom of focusing on the gifts You provide, of learning from the pains we experience, and of becoming sources of thanks for others. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

MARBLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH

Dr. Michael B. Brown is the minister of New York City’s historic Marble Collegiate Church. This publication is an edited sermon, originally delivered by Dr. Brown from the pulpit. We believe you will find his message one of encouragement and challenge for growth in your daily life.

The Collegiate Church, a Reformed Church in America founded in 1628, is the oldest Protestant congregation with a continuing ministry in North America. Marble Church is located on Fifth Avenue and West Twenty-Ninth Street, a few blocks south of the Empire State Building in New York City.

Known for its warm and supportive atmosphere, Marble is alive with the spirit of God’s love and spiritual renewal. The unique dynamic of this church is the rich diversity of its people who share a common faith. Marble has a vibrant vision that always seeks a deeper insight and a higher ground. People’s lives are changed at Marble.

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We invite you to write us. Tell us your story and how we might enhance your spiritual search. Thank you for being a part of Marble Collegiate Church.

“What NOT To Give Up For Lent: THANKFULNESS” (3/10/2013) in its original form, is available on CD for $10 (includes shipping and handling). Please make your check payable, and mail, to: MarbleVision, 3 W. 29th Street, New York, NY 10001.

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