I wonder how people managed their thanksgiving
celebrations during the Spanish Flu epidemic, when for 3 years, the virus
decimated the world’s population in the worst pandemic since the Bubonic Plague. The Spanish Flu happened in the midst of a world
war as well, and it killed more young people than the war did. And guess when the Anti-mask League of San
Francisco was established? 1919! History is repeating itself.
In the midst of such challenging times, I am hearing
more and more stories of anxiety and discomfort. But not, surprisingly enough, from
everyone. Even here, we have quiet
saints in our congregation who are staying calm and centered as people around
them worry, debate and fret. There are
folks raising babies or opening new restaurants, there are people exploring
bible verses with word search puzzles from the dollar store (who knew there
were bible word search books?), there are people sending checks to help the
garage sale out and people packing up garage sale items to go from the church
to Riddles and Lollypop.
One secret I am noticing with our quiet saints, and
you who are those quiet saints probably don’t even recognize that you are one,
is that they practice gratitude quite regularly. In fact, one of my mentors recently
challenged my group of ministers to keep track of the times when we are not
thinking grateful thoughts and do our best to turn them around. When we are thinking about our neighbor’s
negativity, or our politicians and their latest foibles, or agonizing over what
that person really meant when they said that thing at coffee time last week, we
are not thinking about God. And the
mentors and saints are thinking about God or gratitude or blessings rather than
or as much as they think about their pains and their fears. One saint comes through the office door so
cheerfully you would think that their life is a bed of roses. But they are not
hiding the fact that arthritis is frustrating or that their body is not as
agile and healthy as it used to be. They
are not denying reality, they are just accepting reality then focussing on the
positives they see.
This is not the magical thinking I see that some folks
are using – if only they have the right crystals in the right order or have the
right herbal tea or the perfect mantra, their lives will become a steady state
of bliss. This is a different kind of
thinking, a Christian kind of thinking.
That kind of thinking, known as “the Way” has had
powerful effects over the centuries. My
favorite book describes it this way:
“People converted
initially, not because they found Christianity philosophically persuasive but
because… it worked. During the… Plague of Galen in 165-180 in which hundreds of
thousands of people died in the streets, Christians proved their spiritual
mettle by tending to the sick… Because
they did not fear death, Christians stayed behind in plague-ravaged cities
while others fled. Their acts of mercy
extended to all the suffering regardless of class, tribe, or religion and
created the conditions in which others accepted their faith… on the basis of
Jesus’ Great Command to love God and to love one’s neighbor, a quality
that was … often missing in Roman pagan religions.” (Diana Butler Bass, A
People’s History of Christianity, p 59-60).
Dare I suggest that quality is often missing today in
contemporary pagan religions? Missing in
some varieties of current Atheism as well?
And when we are living in times where anxiety is rampant, that quality
is always needed.
In 1920, in this very pulpit, a new minister stood
here and looked at his congregation who had survived the Great Fire, the
resulting near bankruptcy of the town, the exodus of residents, the end of the
Great War and Spanish Flu, to speak these words to your ancestors in the faith:
“The world in general is now at probably the most critical period it has ever
known; unrest and change are the order of the day. This spirit of unrest, however , is a good
omen and not a bad one, … caused by a spiritual yearning, and a looking forward
to something higher and better…” (Athabasca Archives, retrieved October 7,
2021)
Every generation struggles with its spiritual unrest,
but there is hope. The scriptures today
remind us that anxiety is not the great commandment Jesus told us to obey. Quite the contrary! Worry, fretting, obsessing about what other
people might think, none of these lead to the life Jesus is calling us to.
Jesus said, “But strive first for the kingdom of God and God’s justice,
and all these things will be given to you as well.” What does that look like? What does a healthy, thriving community of
God look like? It has spiritual markers
such as vision, radical hospitality, joy, accountability, humbleness,
open-heartedness, risk-taking, prayerful, missional, generous, witnessing and
innovative. One might even dare sum it
up with PIE – Public, Intentional and Explicit, from our affirming education,
or even one step further, Public, Intentional, Prayerful and Explicit. Whether it’s thriving churches or quiet
saints, they all take prayer very seriously. They take Paul’s teaching “in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be
made known to God” and they do their best to do just that. Think realistically but act prayerfully. Focus on God, and we can weather any storm,
survive any plague, endure any challenge, face down any fear. Even if all we can do is remember the prayer,
“Be Still and Know that I am God” or the other centering prayers we have been
using in our worship, we will grow in our faith.
So cook up some prayer.
Cook up some peacefulness practices.
Cook up some moments of random generosity. Cook up a big pot of gratefulness and
gratitude, and sip on it as often as possible.
It’s what grows us in our faith and helps our community and our town
thrive. It’s what has been working for
two thousand years, and will continue to work long into the future. May it be so for us all. Amen!
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