A few years ago, The San Francisco Chronicle carried a story of a fifty foot whale that got entangled in crab nets just off the coast. The more the whale struggled, the more entangled she became. When it became clear to some nearby witnesses that she was close to drowning, they called the coast guard. Five divers came out and started cutting the lines. Once the divers started their work, the whale stopped struggling and thrashing about and became very still. It took over three hours to untangle the whale. When she was finally freed, she swam out about for a bit and then started swimming in wide circles. After this, she headed back toward her rescuers who were still in the water watching. She swam up to each one of them separately, and nudged her nose gently into their sides, before swimming away. Each of the rescuers talked about how it changed their lives, because they each experienced this creature communicating with them in an intuitive language, and what she was saying was "thank you."
The feast day and festival of Thanksgiving is an occasion and an invitation to each one of us to stop our struggling and thrashing about in our frantic attempts to try and free ourselves from all that binds and burdens us and threatens to squeeze the life out of us.
Thanksgiving is an invitation to pause and to be still long enough to give God the opportunity to untangle the knots that bind up our hearts and minds. Thanksgiving is an invitation to step onto the threshold of a new way of living and to live with thankful and grateful hearts.
Jesus knew what tied people up in knots - worry. Who doesn’t worry? I am a very skilled worrier. I have had more than my share of sleepless nights and preoccupied days worrying about family and friends, worrying about my future and the future of this congregation and the larger church, worrying about money and health, worrying about decisions I’ve already made and worrying about decisions that lie before me, worrying about pollution, conflicts, and other dangers to the planet.
What do you worry about?
What is your experience of life when you worry? Perhaps you have experienced some of the following: Food doesn’t taste good, sleep is interrupted, and breathing is shallow and more rapid. It is hard to think clearly and to be creative. Your energy is low and you may have the feeling of simply walking in circles, getting more and more entangled. When you worry, are you on edge, more impatient and distrustful of others, more inclined to lash and be critical, discontent and unhappy?
In the face of worry, Jesus asks us, ‘Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?’ I think that we all know the answer to Jesus’ question, and truth to tell, we know that worrying is more likely to shorten the span of our lives.
So how can we stop tossing and turning and thrashing about, getting more and more tangled up in our worries?
Conventional wisdom would have us believe that the way to put an end to worry is to shore up and safeguard our lives with increased security - circling the wagons around our lives with more material assets and larger bank accounts. Perhaps some worries could be alleviated by living in gated communities, installing alarm systems in our homes, associating with only the ‘right’ kind of people. We could end other worries by limiting the risk factor in our lives - never rocking the boat, playing it safe with what we say and do even if it means sacrificing our own integrity and creativity.
But if we try to put an end to worry with these strategies, do we instead put an end the life that God intends for us? Do we turn away from the treasures of life that God offers to us in abundance?
For where is the celebration in such a life? where is the laughter and joy? where is the wonder and passion? where is the transforming love? where are the sacred connections that touch our soul?
Jesus says that the true antidote to worry is open our eyes and look around at God’s creative activity in the world, and to trust that God knows full well what we need to live and to thrive.
For when we worry, we are like that whale entangled in the crab line. Like her we need to be still, and know that God is working among us to untangle us so that we can be free to live as God intends, free to live a life of thanksgiving.
Sometimes a crisis in our own lives can be a turning point that draws us into that depth of trust and thanksgiving. David Saucier had a crisis that became that turning point for him.
In 1984, NASA engineer David Saucier, had a severe heart attack and was the fourth patient at the Methodist Hospital in Houston to receive a heart transplant. On the tenth anniversary of his transplant, David wrote an essay entitled "Number Four is Still Alive." Here is what he wrote:
Ten years ago in the wee hours of the morning, God performed a miracle in me. It was not the first miracle God had performed in my life, nor was it to be the last, but it was perhaps the most dramatic.
The transplant team at Methodist Hospital under the leadership of Dr. Michael DeBakey performed their fourth heart transplant, replacing my damaged, doomed heart with one from a young man whose own life had tragically ended.
Now, some may call this a miracle of modern science, but life itself is a miracle of God, and for another person's heart to grow to my severed aorta and become a part of the living "me," is a miracle of God in my book!
Many people have asked me if I feel any different, or if I act any different, if the transplant has changed my life in any way. I can answer that in three ways:
First, David says:
There's urgency. I live with a renewed sense of urgency, and that has changed my priorities because I realize that if I'm to stop and smell the roses, I had best do it now.
Second, he says:
There is gratitude. I don't understand this miracle that has happened within me with my new heart. All I can do is accept and feel grateful for each additional day I live.
He goes on to say:
A third change is that I now walk a little closer to God because when you've been through a harrowing experience with someone you form a special bond with them. Recovering from the transplant was at times a harrowing experience, and I guarantee you I clung to God for dear life during those times. God was the good friend who saw me through, sometimes the only one who thoroughly understood. I'm grateful that God was there for me.
Then David Saucier concludes his essay with these powerful words:
Deep down inside I know that God will always take care of me. I also know that no one lives forever… but until that time, Number Four is still alive and enjoying every minute of it.
We may not need the heart transplant that David did in order to gain a new lease on life, but we are in need of hearts free of worry and hearts that are open to God if we are to receive the new lease on life that only God can give. And in the words of David Saucier, this is a life that is lived with a new urgency, and gratitude; a life deeply connected to God.
Jesus reminds us of what is most urgent in life; he reminds us that first and foremost, with all of our heart mind and strength we are called to live lives that reflect God’s promised kingdom, God’s way of making the world right.
The prophet Joel paints a vivid picture of a world that God makes right. Imagine these words spoken not only to you and me, but to God’s peoples and nations all around this world, "You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of God, who has richly blessed you. And you shall never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the midst of the nations, and that I am your God and there is no other."
I understand the words of Joel to mean this:
God does not want us to live hungry grasping lives, but rather lives of plenty and praise.
God does not want us to live lives of shame and regret, but rather lives where we stand tall, knowing we are the cherished and the beloved children of God.
God does not want us to live lives disoriented and apart from God’s grace, but rather to live lives where God’s grace is at the centre of everything.
This year, on this Thanksgiving Sunday, I invite you to accept with grateful and thankful hearts, this gift of life that God gives to us.
Stop your twisting and turning and thrashing about. Take time to be still. Remember that you are not alone, remember that you live in God’s world, and remember that no matter what, you are a beloved child of God.
In your stillness, look around and look within. Offer up to God a prayer of thanks - even if you can only muster a thank you for the breath you are breathing that very moment. That is enough for now. Let go of your illusion that somehow you can be self sufficient and that somehow you can control your life and your future. Instead, make a commitment to live each day attentive to at least one of the gifts and graces of God. Each day give thanks for that gift and grace. And each day, whether it be in prayer, in times of personal reflection or in honest conversation with others I invite you to seek one thing that you can do with your life to reflect the gratitude you have for such a gift and grace of God.
Folks, for me, thanksgiving is about -
- living moment by moment, and day by day with an inner stillness that opens our hearts to receive freedom of God’s love;
- living for each moment and for each day, trusting that God gives us life as a blessing;
- living in each moment and in each day, trusting that we have a unique opportunity to be a blessing for others
- living each moment and each day with urgency that now is the time to express our thanks.
So thanks be to God. Amen.
