Thanksgiving Nov 22 2007

Some years taking time for Thanksgiving makes sense and other years its tough to see what there is to give thanks for at all. If you're in a tough spot, maybe out of a job and having trouble making ends meet its real tough to be full of praise and thanks and you might just want to scream at somebody who tells you that its time to be thankful. But in other years its real easy to know what your thankful for and what you've got in your life that matters. I've been blessed in the past week by some very insightful emails that have given me a good sense of what I and some others have to be thankful for this year.

I give thanks for life...

One email reminded me that the first thing to be thankful for, this year, is life itself. An email came on Sunday night from Kim a member of the church I served in Wisconsin. Kim plays guitar in the band every Sunday and helps out picking the music. Her 20 year old son, Matt, is in a Military Police unit deployed in Iraq. He told her, in a conversation they had through instant messenger one night last week that an IED had popped up between his Humvee and another right in line after his. It was small bomb, he said, by Baghdad standards, but it was pretty big for their section in Iraq. He said, it had been a little while since they'd seen one so close.

Matt told his mom that the bomb must have been kicked up by one of the vehicles in the line and exploded in the space between his and the next. His Battle buddy was in the next vehicle and he was grateful to see his friend again. Matt is Kim's closest family and for her this year she says she gives thanks for her life and his life and every chance that she has to know that he is alive and well.

Another email came from a member who had a cancer diagnosis and then got great results last week from tests after treatment. The family isn't saying much, they don't want people to make a big fuss, but the news was worth cheering about. So I'll give thanks for life this year.

I give thanks for the chance to laugh...

Another email, from a member who's recovering from surgery, reminded me to be thankful for the chance to laugh. Her note read...

A young man received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. The young man tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to "clean up" the bird's vocabulary. Finally, he was so fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. He shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder.

In desperation, he threw up his hands, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, he quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto his outstretched arms and said, "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions.

I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."

He was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. He was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, when the bird continued, "May I ask what the turkey did?"

Two more emails this week reminded me of two things: to be thankful for my blessings and to be thankful for the chance to serve.

The first email came to our office manager on Monday. It was from a couple in our church who have been blessed in their life together and are now looking for some way to share their blessings with others. They wrote that were looking for the name of some family we at the church knew of who they could help out at Christmas. I didn't have to think to hard before I gave them a name of a family who've had a real tough year.

This email reminded me that when we are blessed we have the opportunity to share our blessings. This is an ancient theme that comes from our Jewish roots and reaches out for all of us now in the 21^st century. Its there in the first 5 books of the Bible; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy all carry this theme forward that God has blessed us in order that we might be a blessing to our families, our neighbors and the strangers who live right next to us.

The last email came this afternoon it reads

Friend of Camp Victor,

The following appeared in the Biloxi Sun-Herald newspaper on Tuesday, November 20, 2007. It is a letter to the editor from a grateful Gulf Coast resident. We believe it expresses the unspoken thoughts of so many people here. Happy Thanksgiving.

They came, and we are humbly thankful

When the wind died and the water receded, we were on our knees in prayer and despair — broken people with broken lives but thankful to be here still. Would we ever be able to rise again? So much work; too much work; where to begin?

Then they came out of their broken homes. Hand in hand, they came with chainsaws and trucks and chains and removed the barriers to our streets. Maybe we could, we thought, with help.

Then darkness fell again, so dark, so quiet, only questions and the sound of generators and helicopters. Sounds of life. Did anyone know of our plight? Would help come? They came.

They came by the hundreds, then the thousands. God had heard and we were thankful. They came — firefighters, military, police officers, doctors and nurses, linemen and engineers, truck drivers and preachers. They knew. They came. They all came.

The whole world came and we were thankful. They came and suffered with us. They came and lived in tents, slept on the ground, but they came and we were thankful. They clothed us and fed us. They sheltered us and tended our wounds.

They lifted our hearts and we were thankful. They came with full hearts and open hands. They sweated and cried with us, not knowing where tears ended and sweat began, and we were thankful. They lifted our spirits and helped us to our feet, and we were thankful.

They came — teachers and students and lawyers, craftsmen and laborers with strong backs and hammers and saws and brick and mortar. They came. They built our homes, our schools, our churches, our lives. Praise God, they came. They became us and we became them, as one.

With our wounds deep, our fears and memories fresh, they came. And as we heal, they come, still . . . still. With a full heart, I am thankful, we are thankful. Still. They came.

RITA DUFFUS Gulfport

Psalm 100:4 reads boldly,

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

Let us all say, AMEN.

Resurrection People

There's a good reason to be here today: to hear the promise of the resurrection.

The first reading today is from the ancient book of Job and it holds this incredible hope of the resurrection out for us to hear and hold onto in this life.

Job 19:25-26 (NRSV) Please read this out loud with me.

²⁵ For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; ²⁶ and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God,

This is the promise that we need to tell. This is the hope of Christmas and Easter. This is the promise that we cling to everyday in Jesus. And if you only heard this little part of the promise you've heard enough; “²⁵ For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; ²⁶ and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God...”

This promise of life after death means everything, but there's a story behind these words of faith that needs to be told. The man who said these words was called Job. He was a righteous man who feared God. Job, throughout his whole life, had been blessed by God. One day Satan approached God asking for permission to test Job. God agreed but told Satan not to touch Job's body.

Job lost many of the things that matter in this life: His kids, his home, his wealth were all gone. But he still believed in God. So Satan came to God again. The evil one asked permission again to try and separate Job from God. He inflicted Job with sores from head to toe. Job was in pain in body and spirit. Job's own wife said that he should curse God and beg to die. But he refused; he refused to let go of his faith. 3 of his friends came to visit him and they barely recognized him sitting there covered from head to toe in sores. He ended up sitting with these 3 friends in silence for 7 days and night. Finally after waiting for 7 days and night with his friends Job broke the silence cursing the day he was born. Job's friends weren't sure what to do next. He was a patient honorable man who seemed to everyone to be faithful and now he knew suffering and grief.

His friends looked for a reason why. Job looked for hope. His friends wanted to investigate. They wanted to find some fault with Job deep in his character that would explain his pain. But Job didn't want there advice. He was holding onto something even bigger. He was holding onto the promise of eternity. He was holding onto the hope of the resurrection. He was holding onto hope a thousand years before Jesus rose. He clung to it because in the end it was all that he had and in the end it is all that any of us have. He clung to the hope he shared that have been said over and over as families gather at a grave side. Job 19:25-26 “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; ²⁶ and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God...”

The resurrection story is the one story that Christians all love to tell and hear. Truth is its the one story that we all need to hear over and over. Resurrection is the promise that's kept people of faith alert and full of hope for 2 thousand years. The resurrection promise is good even in times when everything else around you is going down fast. Resurrection doesn't exempt any of us from today's struggles; but it gives all of us hope beyond today's problems. Its a that you will know joy in the company of heaven along with everyone else who believes.

The resurrection is the promise that even after death God still wants you around. But some people don't believe it. They laugh at the Good News as if it was just a crazy idea. 2000 years ago a group called the Sadducee's were very powerful in ancient Israel. They were wealthy. They were key members of the temple and society. They came to Jesus to poke fun at the idea of the resurrection. They made it a joke. They called him “Teacher” and then they launched into this great twisted story before asking a question.

A few years ago I shared the Sadducee's story from Luke 20:27-38 with a woman in her early 90's. She listened carefully as we shared coffee and this story at her kitchen table looking over a neatly kept yard in the middle of a once active farm. The building stood as reminders of a once lively farm that was now home only to Alva and a friendly on German Shepherd.

As the line of husbands unfolded in the Sadducee's story Alva responded almost like this was the juiciest piece of gossip that she'd ever heard. Her imagination ran with the thought of a woman marrying 7 brothers. "Oh my how can that be.." she asked. Alva had caught on to how ridiculous the scene in heaven would have been. 7 brothers sharing one wife. That was the point that the Sadducee's wanted to make. Their imaginations had run wild pressing against the idea of eternal life. And they came up with a story that was too juicy to be credible; but was just realistic enough to illustrate their belief that there was no eternal life.

Then came their question, "Who's husband would she be after death?" The Sadducee's were looking to have some fun with Jesus and all of us who believe in the resurrection of the dead. They wanted him and all of us stumped. And he replied to their story with a answer that stretches beyond our imaginations.

36Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” Luke 20:36-38

Jesus invites us to start thinking beyond today to start realizing that eternity is only glimpsed from here. The Sadducee's questioned what it could be like and Jesus offered them a glimpse. They didn't ask what it would be like; only what it could maybe possibly be like, because they didn't want to hear anything about it. Jesus offered a promise not of what could maybe be but what will really be in the life to come. And this promise is what we can bring into every situation. This promise is a gift reveal in a cross and an empty tomb. The promise is the resurrection of the body to life everlasting. The promise that everyone who dies believing in God is not lost to eternity but is alive in God.

When we leave this church as resurrection people we go out into the world to make a real difference. The Sadducee's, and many like them in our time, are convinced that God is incapable of bringing anything dead back to life. But as resurrection people we know different. As resurrection people we've seen it already.

We've seen the sick restored to health; and its no accident. Its a sign of the power of God who will raise all of us from the dead. Resurrection people will even step into some of the worst places and situation because they know that's the point where God is working. Resurrection's there if you look just down the road in places like Rushford and Stockton. When you work in a place like that first hand you glimpse see the power of the resurrection. Look around and you might catch God at work making all things new. God's at work all around us making all things new. God's at work in your homes and in your marriages and in every relationship that matters. God is in the business of making everything new. The Sadducee's believed that the world is and that's what matters. And we Resurrection people believe that God is and that's what matters.