A Thanksgiving Read

 

Based on: Philippians 4: 4-9 (NRSV)

 

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

How do you read? When you pick up a book – whether novel, biography, poetry- how do you approach it?

I am a reader who is a gatherer with a positive bias. This means that when I read, I approach the text with a positive attitude expecting to find something, hopefully an abundance of somethings, nuggets - that can be taken, imagined, learned, thought about, built on, and applied. I anticipate that the book will challenge and change me -that a truth will unveil itself.

When I read the Bible, I come to it with the same style and attitude. Passages like the one from Philippians  -Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice, are the nuggets I gather – to remember, reflect on, quote, and apply. In my experience as pastor, and people sharing with me their take on the Bible, many of us read the Bible as gatherers, pulling out the passages that have meaning for us; passages that are comforting, pithy, joy-filled; those that help us understand the world and how to live in the world.

 

When I began teaching and mentoring seminary students, course work included the writing of papers, and so for me the marking of papers. I learned to read differently. I come to a paper with an attitude of scarcity. I read critically to find what is missing:  be it key themes, a misunderstanding of the project, a lack of theological reflection, not enough explanation or carry through of thought, or a good proof-read. I read this way to be able to direct students how to improve and continue their work and learning. This kind of reading is important, but I find it takes time, and is brain exhausting.

 

How do you read? Do you gather from what is present, or read looking for what is missing? Do you read as a starting point for new discovery and growing ideas, or to deconstruct what is present? Do you read with an expectation of abundance or scarcity?

 

Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.

It is not only words on paper that we read. Daily we ‘read’ the world around us. There are those who approach reading the world via Twitter scroll, hopping down rabbit trails that descend into tweets that point fingers, find the worst, harp on what is wrong, disrespect different voices, and focus on negativity. There are those who begin a day in the newsreel where 10 to 1 the stories highlighted are about violence, disruption, and crisis. There are those who read the world through the eyes of their immediate and personal inconveniences. When I read the world, I often feel discouraged, interpreting that too many readers approach life wearing negative reading glasses.

How do you read the world?  With what attitude  - abundance, scarcity-? Throughout a day do you actively anticipate finding ‘good,’ the positive, joy, God? 

Today’s scripture commends, letting one’s gentleness be known to everyone; as if there are people who read the world looking for gentleness; or perhaps it is authors – a person like you or me- who can write gentleness into the world for others to read. The more gentleness being written – the more it is like a book becoming a number one bestseller. Approaching life as an author of gentleness, in doing so, God is near. God is written into the world.

 

The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God.

When reading the text from Philippians, it is hard to tell if the statement, The Lord is near, goes with letting one’s gentleness be known, or if it is connected to, do not worry about anything. It depends on how the reader chooses to read it.

The idea of reading the world as the Lord is near, has me ponder where God is. This morning I look out at a gathered community - I read your faces and see that the Lord is near, I read the emojis and comments from the people online and see that God is near.  I smell coffee and sense cookies and warm hospitality and conversation to come after worship, I read: God is near.  I anticipate reading response emails from email church; God is near. As I go into the world, do I, will I, continue to read with the attitude, God is near?

 

Earlier the text commended letting gentleness be known; here the text continues by commending prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.  Once again it is about reading the world and writing a response. Listeners are invited to approach the world with the intended response being prayer and thanksgiving. For instance – one reads/hears sirens and gives thanks for paramedics, for ambulances, for health care. One reads a rainy day, giving thanks for raincoats, buildings with roofs, and hot drinks.

 

We can all practice reading the world with the attitude ‘God is near.’ We can all practice writing into the world gentleness and thanksgiving prayer.

And in this we might finally come to the chapter of the book – the chapter of life where:

the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 

At this point of writing the sermon – I realized that in early September I had purchased a Thanksgiving card for my father-in-law and his wife; I had set it away in a safe place and had forgotten about it. It is now in the mail.  I remember picking it out when Thanksgiving cards appeared – the images were beautiful in their orange and red hues and the words were perfect. The receiver of the card will read a blessing from my household to theirs. They will read that they are loved, that we give thanks for them, that our prayer is one of continued blessing and health.  I sometimes find it difficult to find a card that ‘reads’ the way I feel about the person I am sending the card too. I find it hard too to articulate and write everything I want a say in a Thanksgiving blessing for a card.

 

The letter to the Philippians has helped me today. I have read a Thanksgiving card blessing that is perfect for all of you – I suppose it is a Thanksgiving card blessing for me too. Accept this Thanksgiving blessing as a reader who is a gatherer with a positive attitude, to you I read:

 

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say rejoice!
Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Love and blessings, Pr. Kimber