Church of the Holy City

All These Things Will Be Given

All These Things Will Be Given
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
October 13, 2013
Thanksgiving Day

Joel 2:21-27 Matthew 6:25-33 Psalm 126

Using agricultural imagery, the prophet Joel tells us that God gives us enough. He says, “He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains” (2:23). It is my belief that God does send us abundant showers; God gives us good things abundantly. The trick is, we have to know where to look. We need to realize that we have enough, despite our appetites for more and more and more.
When we break down our gifts to the basic things we have, we will see that God gives us good things abundantly. Consider this line from Walt Whitman,
It seems to me that everything in the light and air ought to be happy;
Whoever is not in his coffin and in the dark grave, let him know he has enough (The Sleepers, ll.79-80)
How often are we thankful for life itself? How often are our prayers of thanksgiving prayers that thank God for another day, for this day, for the fact that God gives us our daily bread?
I once attended an AA meeting in a rather rough part of town. There were homeless people there, people struggling direly with substance abuse, people who didn’t know where their next meal would come from. We were asked to think of what we had to be grateful for. At first I thought of my usual things: I am grateful I have food to eat, I am grateful I have a job, I am grateful that I have a roof over my head, I am grateful that I have reliable transportation, I have a lot, indeed. But then I remembered where I was. Many of the people in this room had none of these things, and I certainly didn’t want to make them feel bad. I had to get more basic. And I saw that I am even more blessed. I am thankful that I can see, and look at all the beautiful fall colors–the golden leaves, the russet bushes, the bright red leaves, the somber evergreens–what a beautiful and vivid painting God creates for us in the fall and I can see this display of Divine artwork. I think about the beautiful music I can hear. I can hear the wind rushing through the trees. I can hear the strains of a Bach mass from my iPod. I can hear the voices of those I love around me. I feel the brisk fall air against my skin and it refreshes me. When I was in Florida, I used to like to feel the warm, moist gulf wind coming off the ocean waft against my skin. Here in Edmonton, it is that crisp cool dry air that invigorates me. How often are we thankful for these basic gifts of life?
This brings to my mind a way of being thankful that I am suspicious of. Some have told me that when they consider the plight those less fortunate, they are thankful for what they have. In fact, there is a song that I like very much that has this idea in it. The lines in question go like this:
If you’re feeling down
Just take a good look around
Everywhere you look
Look through the clouds and see what’s true
There’s always somebody else so much worse off than you
I’m not sure that we should feel better about ourselves by seeing others that are worse off. Aren’t we called instead to a feeling of compassion, and the desire to give aid to those worse off than we? In fact, the whole notion of comparing ourselves to others is suspect to me. For we will always see others who are better off than we are and we will always see others who are worse off than we are. If we compare ourselves to others, we will feel that we have it bad when we look at those who are better off; and we will feel superior when we see those who are worse off.
Jesus tells us not to worry about our clothes or about what we will eat. He points to the birds who have all the food they need. And he points to the splendor of the grass and how beautifully it is clothed in lilies. Jesus concludes his little sermon by saying, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you” (Matthew 6:33). I used to be suspicious of this passage, too. I knew that God doesn’t give us material things except as they relate to eternal things. God only gives us the things of this world if they conduce to our eternal welfare. There is a passage in Divine Providence that says just that.
Divine Providence focuses on eternal matters, and focuses on temporal matters only as they coincide with eternal ones. . . . Temporal matters involve position and wealth, and therefore rank and money, in this world. Eternal matters involve spiritual rank and wealth, which have to do with love and wisdom, in heaven (DP 214-215).
To me, this passage says that God only cares about the good things on earth if they make us spiritually better. This leads me to look with suspicion on those who pray for money and material things. There are today, or were much more common about five years ago, movements that talked about visualizing wealth. They thought that if you focused your thinking on, say, a new yacht, that somehow the powers of the universe would conspire to magically drop one in your lap one day. I say magically, because trying to manipulate the physical world by means of religiosity is what sympathetic magic is. So I didn’t really understand Jesus’ saying about not worrying about clothes and food. It seemed to me that I needed to put a lot of worry and thought into getting my food, clothing, and shelter.
I have a way of understanding this passage, now. It all has to do with contentment. If we are content with what we have, we have all that we need. First of all, if our hearts are set on the things of God, God will give us them. God will show us the way into His heaven of happiness and delights, and love. These are the eternal things that the passage above refers to. And then, if we are content with our place in life, then we have all that we need. Trust in God is what gives us contentment with what we have. In the Arcana Coelestia, Swedenborg writes,
The ”blessing of Jehovah“ in the genuine sense signifies love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor; for they who are gifted with these are called the ”blessed of Jehovah,“ being then gifted with heaven and eternal salvation. Hence the ”blessing of Jehovah,“ in the external sense or in the sense which relates to the state of man in the world, is to be content in God, and thence to be content with the state of honor and wealth in which one is, whether it be among the honored and rich, or among the less honored and poor (AC 4981).
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”–that refers to love to the Lord and good will to the neighbor. Then trust in God. This trust that God gives us what we need is what gives us contentment with what we have. Not only contentment, but heartfelt thanks and gratitude.
I have good things in life–good things abundantly. I have food, and I have the ability sometimes to go out to eat. It is only when my appetite for more and more gets out of hand–only then do I think that I do not have enough. I have debts. But they are not too much for me to pay down over time. And back to basics–I have the beautiful fall colors, the music of the wind and human voices, the touch of the ground under my feet and the feel of the crisp air against my face, and the taste of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with milk at night. I am among God’s blessed, if I only pause to see and reflect on it.

PRAYER

Lord, we are so grateful for the countless blessings you shower our lives with. We thank you for the natural blessings you give us: the splendor of the night sky, the beauty of sunrise and sunset, the change of the seasons and the lovely fall leaves. We thank you for the gift of friends, loved ones, and family. We thank you for the food we eat, be it spare or lavish. We thank you for the air that we breathe. Lord, in countless ways you give us your gifts of love. Help us always to be aware of them, and let these gifts remind us that we are cared for by You. May we seek to return your love, and to care for one another as You care for us.

And lord, we ask that you watch over those who are struggling and enduring hardship, be it sickness, poverty, or national unrest. Send your peaceful spirit to turmoil. Send the power of your healing love to those who are sick. Watch over Linda, and Irma, and Andy. We know on faith that in every trying situation, good can come. May we find the good in trouble, and healing where there is sickness.

Thank you, Lord, for your gift of life. Thank you for another day. May we treasure this day and this moment as the heavenly gift that it is. We are taught that in heaven there is no time. May we learn to see this life as the one continuous moment that it is, now and forever. May we look only for your will for us, and may we find the power to carry out that will.