Christ Episcopal Church
September 2, 2012
17 Proper B
Several years ago, I was invited to serve as a volunteer chaplain for Clark County Mental Health. The time commitment was minimal-just one or two hours a month. The assignment was a bit tricky, though. The chaplains were to lead a discussion group that would be meaningful to people of any faith or no faith at all. The staff wanted to care for the spiritual needs of their clients, but they wanted the chaplains to be clear that those needs were many and varied and that whatever we did, however we used the hour, had to be accessible to all people.
So, when I go to Mental Health and meet with the clients there, we do two things that are on the one hand accessible to people of almost any faith, or no faith, and yet come from my utterly Episcopalian heart. We share homemade chocolate chip cookies and we talk about the things in life that we are thankful for.
I am sure someday, someone will tell me that they have absolutely nothing to be thankful for, but as yet that has never happened. When a room full of people begin to share the things they are thankful for, the gratitude becomes contagious and typically over the course of the hour, everyone thinks of more and more things for which they are thankful. And that gratitude is transformative. When we think of all the things for which we are thankful, somehow life’s challenges seem a little less daunting and a little easier to bear.
Our readings this morning all have something to do with gratitude. In the poetic words from the Song of Solomon, we can hear the gratitude that the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The dark times are over and spring has arrived, bringing with it the new life of flowers and singing. The winter and rain are metaphors for the absence the people have felt from God, and the flowers and singing are metaphors for their renewed awareness of God’s presence. There is beauty and there is singing, and there is gratitude.
The reading from James begins with the words "Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights." Every good gift, says James, comes from God, and James goes on to talk about how we should live in response to God’s gifts. We are to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger so that we can live as people who have received God’s generous gifts. We are to live as people who are grateful for all God has given us.
At first glance, the gospel reading appears to have nothing whatsoever to do with gratitude. Some of the Pharisees have noticed that Jesus’ disciples do not wash their hands in accordance with the laws of God before they eat. In response to this very reasonable query, Jesus refers to the prophets and says "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts and doctrines." To be very clear here, Jesus is not condemning Judaism. Jesus, himself, was a faithful Jew. Jesus was pointing a finger at anyone who, as the cliche says, talks the talk but does not walk the walk, whether in the first or the twenty-first century. The prophets and Jesus called the people to live in response to the God who brought them out of Egypt, though the wilderness and into the Land of Promise. The gratitude that comes from knowing all the God has done for them and for us, transforms hearts so that what emerges from our hearts is not the laundry list of sins Jesus names, but actions that give glory to the God who releases us from bondage.
"But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves," says the writer of James. This morning, we have the privilege of baptizing Mac Sparks. At every baptism, we renew our baptismal covenant. The first part of that covenant affirms our belief in God, using the words of the ancient baptismal creed of the Church, the Apostles Creed. We are asked "Do you believe in God the Father?" "Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?" and "Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?" In each case, we give the answer found in the ancient baptismal creed of the church. But once we have affirmed our belief in God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Baptismal Covenant goes on to ask how we will live in response to that statement of faith. "Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?" Will you persevere in resisting evil, and whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?" "Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?" "Will you seek and serve Christ in all people?" And "Will you strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being?"
These are not actions we take in order to earn anything from God or to keep God from taking his love from us. This is the way God calls us to live simply because God loves us. In baptism, God makes us Christ’s own forever and raises us to the new life of grace. Baptism is all God’s action. We just show up. In response to the gracious love of God, we promise to live lives that reflect that same gracious love to the world.
The great prayer of the church over the bread and wine that brings the presence of Christ to dwell within them is called the Great Thanksgiving, and the Greek word for Thanksgiving is Eucharist. Our principal act of worship is giving thanks. The first words of that prayer, the Eucharistic prayer, are "It is right and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere, to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth." The Christian life, the life into which little Mac is initiated today, calls us to live lives that reflect our gratitude, in all times and in all places.
Amen.
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