PROPERS: PENTECOST, YEAR C
TEXT: PHILIPPIANS 4:4-7 (Not the lectionary lesson)
PREACHED AT ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL, MAGNOLIA SPRINGS, ON SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2022.
ONE SENTENCE: Life may throw us curves, but if we look, we can see the blessings.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.[c] 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
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I am doing something very different today. I am not preaching on the lessons for today, but on a different passage – the one I just read. And I do it for an important reason – and a timely reason.
The passage I just read is from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. Biblical scholars have said that the letter (as we now have it) is a combination of letters Paul sent to the church in Philippi – in modern-day Greece – over a 10-year period.
The scholars believe that Paul, at his last writing, was imprisoned in Rome, and soon to be executed. Yet, one element comes through: Paul’s utter joy.
His joy was not grounded in some trench of denial, but in a very profound faith – and a sense of God’s providence working through all things.
His joy is an amazing witness.
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Just nine days ago, I was sitting in Bo and Helen Soule’s home, visiting with them and Frank Martin – our long-time and beloved parishioner. Frank’s wife of nearly 57 years had died just an hour before. It would have been a difficult time for anyone.
Bereft of his wife’s death, one would have expected words of bitterness or profound questioning (not unlike Job’s). Yet, I heard something unexpected.
“I have been so blessed,” said Frank. “I have so much to be thankful for.”
Even in loss, he was grateful.
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Paul could certainly identify. The grief, the trial, were palpable. But there was something which went much deeper – for both Frank and Paul. It was knowledge of blessings.
I like to believe that I have the same attitude. Perhaps you do, too.
The sense I have was hard-won. I look back on my early years and see a great deal of difficulty. I would no more go back to my high school years than fly to the moon. My early adult years were painful, too, as I sorted through developmental issues that were intensely personal.
There were many deep, dark nights of the soul. Though at one stage I blamed others, I came to know it was my life. Only I could move through it.
Over a period of years, and with the help of Nora, two wonderful children, the grace and mercy of God, and a vocation that made my heart sing, I came to a different place.
Now, I can see God’s hand in it all. I see the blessings. They form a rock on which I stand. Every moment, every experience, even the painful ones, have led me to this day. “Rejoice in the Lord always: Again, I will say Rejoice.”
Those blessings seem so appropriate today – Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. Over the years… over two millennia of church history… the church has -- like a human life – had highs and lows. Sometimes it has moved forward on its mission splendidly. At other times, it has been a flawed, broken human institution.
But throughout those years, the Holy Spirit has moved and guided us along the trajectory of hope. Blessings abound.
That is the reason we gather here. Eucharist means thanksgiving. It is the reason A General Thanksgivingwas included in our prayers this morning.
Frank Martin reminded me. The General Thanksgiving we prayed this morning was written by the Reverend Charles Price, longtime professor at Virginia Seminary and priest of the church. It expresses so well the bountiful gratitude we bring to this altar.
Our faith teaches us to look over the horizon of life. It is the reason we exclaim at the end of the Burial Office: “yet even at the grave we make our song: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.”
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