RCL
Thanksgiving A
9 October
2011
Saint
Faith's Anglican Parish
Vancouver BC
+ All good gifts around us have been sent from
heaven above. So thank the Lord; thank
the Lord for all his love. Amen.
Last
week I broke the office shredder. I
tried to shred what I thought was some pretty light cardboard, but the shredder
protested and ceased to function. I
tried to clear it, but despite all my efforts the machine was well and truly
fried. This posed a bit of a dilemma for
me.
Christine
will tell you that I do a fair amount of shredding. I do so for two reasons. The first is that I find shredding more
satisfying that just tearing up paper for recycling. I don't know why, but I do. The other reason is actually theological.
Some
of you know that I have been involved in Jewish-Christian dialogue for almost
ten years now. During those years I have
learned three values that have lodged themselves deep into my being.
1) All of creation is holy. It is only how we use or misuse God's gifts
that makes those gifts blessings or banes.
2) Because all of creation is holy, we cannot
make something more holy by blessing it.
When we bless something or someone, we actually are giving thanks to God
for that person or object. When we do
this, the person or object is released into our midst to do what God intended
that person or object to do and to be.
3) Because all of creation is holy, how we
dispose of things that have been means of God's presence in our lives
matters. For that reason I find simply
tearing up paper that has been printed with a scriptural text or prayer less
than satisfactory. I do not want someone
to discover a scrap of paper on the floor or in the trash that contains words
that are bearers of sacred meaning.
Shredders are a gift and I am grateful for the
minds that invented such helpful devices.
By means of them I can express my gratitude for the gift of sacred words
by exercising care when I no longer need to use the paper upon which they are printed. I am learning that a life lived in holiness
is a life lived in gratitude at all times and in all places.
One
of the challenges that religious people face is living a life of gratitude in
the midst of abundance. While I have no
desire to recommend a life of scarcity for any human being, I have to
acknowledge the dangers of abundance.
In
Deuteronomy we hear words directed to the people of Israel during such a time
of abundance. Although the text is set
in the context of the exodus journey through the wilderness, it is more likely
that this version of the text was composed at a much later period when the
people of Israel were tempted by their circumstances to forget how they came
into the land and who was the source of all that they possessed.
Corporate
amnesia is one of the afflictions that abundance can inflict even upon
religious people. As important as our
sweat and toil are in shaping our well-being, we cannot allow that sweat and
toil to cause forgetfulness. Many of the
privileges and advantages I enjoy as a Canadian have come to me without my
labour. While my stewardship of those
gifts and advantages is crucial to my life of faith, I dare not lose sight of
their source: the generosity of God who
giving knows no ending.
Corporate
amnesia is not the only hazard of abundance.
When Paul writes to the Christians in Corinth, he is begging them to
participate in an effort to provide financial support for the Christian
community in Jerusalem who are suffering from drought, poverty and social
exclusion. In contrast to their sisters
and brothers in Jerusalem, the Corinthians are living in relative security and
abundance.
Their
abundance has led them to become tight-fisted, an attitude that you and I have
seen as well. In my travels to Asia and
the Pacific, I have always found those who have little are the most generous in
sharing what they have. It is the
wealthy who often, but not always, must be coaxed and curried into opening
their wallets. In our Diocese it was
smaller congregations such as Saint Faith's whose contributions to the
residential school settlement fund exceeded the asking.
Corporate
amnesia and tight-fistedness are the shadow side of the blessing of
abundance. What I have learned from the
Jewish tradition is to give thanks to God for the abundance I have and, in the
process, to seek the grace to release the gifts of which I have been given
stewardship for God's purposes in my immediate community and beyond.
Every
year at this time we gather here to give thanks to God for the abundance of
this fair land. We decorate our church
with symbols of our land's abundance and we offer our prayers of
thanksgiving. But there are greater
things at work here.
1) Our thanksgiving celebration is a remedy for
the corporate amnesia that can afflict even thoughtful and caring people. By gathering here we are reminded that the
source of all that we have, especially the knowledge and skills we use to
steward the bounty we have, come from a generous God.
2) This remedy to amnesia may even ease the
fears that can come upon us in challenging circumstances such as the
circumstances in which we presently live.
When we are reminded and remember who is the source of all that we have
and are, then we may find it easier to allow generosity to 'our better angel'.
Dear
friends in Christ, God has called us here to participate in a public work
intended for the common good of all people.
Our prayers and praises are meant to equip us for the work God has given
us to do here in our neighbourhoods and in the wider community.
All
good things around us have come from heaven above. So let us thank the Lord for all that we are
and all that we have. Let us never
become so focused on our own efforts that we forget from whom all good things
come. Let us never be so fearful that we
cannot respond as generously as our circumstances allow. Let us rebuke the spectre of scarcity and
embrace the abundance of God's love for us and for all creation so that we and
all God's children may be free. Amen.
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