wholly dependent and publicly grateful
September 30, 2018
Psalms 124
How many of you give thanks, at least once a day, for something? Now, before you tell yourself the answer to that question pause and really think about it. For those of you who truly do give thanks at least once every day, do any of you write down what you are thankful for? I believe these are typically called Gratitude lists. So, for those who do make gratitude lists, do you share them with anyone, or are they for your eyes only?
This is a little unfair I think, but I do know we have at least one person here today who creates a daily Gratitude List and shares them with a group of people. I only know this because back in June of this year, Thursday June 28, 2018 at 6:54 AM to be exact, my Mom mistakenly sent her daily Gratitude List, via text message, to me, my sister Kim and Amy. Less than a minute later, she sent us all another text message that read “Sorry. Sent to wrong people” and maybe that explains why none of us responded to those text messages, but just discovering this daily occurrence to be part of her spiritual practices has intrigued me ever since.
Now, I didn’t ask her beforehand if I could share what she wrote that day, so I don’t know if I should, but if she gives me some indication now that I can share in general I will.
Listen to what she wrote:
“A good nights sleep
The courage to send a letter of complaint to my representative
My marriage to Tom Smith.”
Isn’t that great. The fact that she set aside time to think about, name and then share with others the things she named for which she was grateful on that day. Even though this is not a current spiritual practice of mine, it has been in the past and I know there is something so profoundly important about naming those things for which you are grateful. But at least equally important, and maybe more important than naming them is sharing them with others. Not in some narcissistic egocentric way as that would actually change the experience in a destructive self-centered way. Rather than that kind of sharing, sharing your gratitude, at its best, helps build and/or strengthen community, for you are sharing something deeply personal with others. You are in essence sharing something of yourself with other people and when healthy, they return the favor and share something of themselves with the group too.
What an incredible spiritual practice. One I envy actually, but even more than that one I believe I should emulate.
**************************************
I do wonder something about this practice, though – I wonder if the people who do it have always been grateful. Have their lives always been wonderful. Always full of positive experiences and happiness. Or, could it be that the very reason they’ve incorporated such a spiritual practice into their daily lives was because they had actually experienced some difficulties… some dark days full of anxiety… some tragedies and in working through those times found the courage to share, and in sharing discovered a whole new way of living together in community. You see, there is something quite magical about discovering you’re not alone. Even in your pain. You are not alone. Even when you are down. You are not alone. Even, and especially when you think you are alone. You are not alone.
The communal aspect of life, of sharing one’s life with others, is oftentimes one of the hardest parts of living it seems. For one reason, or another, society has taught that self-sufficiency is a worthy pursuit. If you get knocked down, you just pick yourself up by your bootstraps and get moving again. And while getting back up is in fact a worthy pursuit, there are times when the only way the person can get back up is with the helping hand of someone else that is extending down. And there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, I believe this communal way of living is how we were all created.
Friends there is something quite special about coming to this realization about who we are as a community and whose we are in this world, and it seems the psalmist of today’s text knew it. Right from the beginning of today’s psalm it is clear community is front and center. The words of this psalm appear to be something the community would have said and shared together. Why else would the one voice call on all voices to speak together? Unlike others psalms that focused on one person’s life and talk about the building of one’s personal trust and confidence in the Lord, this psalm is spoken by an entire community. Instead of hearing the voice of one person’s gratitude for God’s grace, in this psalm we should hear everyone’s voice of gratitude. Instead of hearing one person’s voice proclaiming dependence on God, this psalm calls us to hear everyone’s voice of dependence. Instead of hearing one person’s voice proclaim faith, this psalm calls us to hear everyone’s voice of faith.
This move from personal to corporate faith is such a challenge for us because we live in a me focused part of the world. You see, it is so easy for us to sit in our comfortable bubbles and say Jesus loves ME. It is something else entirely to experience the world and proclaim that God loves US! As one theologian writes, “This psalm articulates what it is like for a community to go through an ordeal and come out on the other side, not as a collection of isolated individuals, but as a community of faith.”[1]
***************************************
It seems we are experiencing ordeal after ordeal after ordeal these days. All around us, everywhere we look, we are face to face with some ordeal. This daily onslaught is leaving us weary, but worse than that, all of these ordeals are widening a divide that is doing so much more harm than good because community is what is being divided. Division is killing us and sadly we can’t even stop long enough to realize we are the ones holding the knives. We are the ones doing the cutting. You see, “one of the real challenges in our polarized world is that it has become more difficult to imagine shared tragedies that function to bring us together as one people.”[2]
What an amazing thing to think about… tragedies that function to bring a community together. The reason I find it so amazing is because we struggle to allow people to share their tragedies in the first place. And when they do, good grief, we demonize them, which only really serves to discourage others in the community. This is killing us and we are both perpetrators and victims.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. The sharing of tragedies can bring a community together. This is what the psalmist is telling us happened to his community, so I trust it can happen again. In fact, I know it can happen again because it happens every day all across the world. People setting aside their differences of race, nationality, gender, etc., who realize they are more alike than they are different. People who let the sharing of their tragedies and difficulties bring them together as one. It’s not easy work and for some it’s the most difficult work they’ve ever done, and yet they are grateful. And when these communities get together they collectively claim out loud their dependence upon God – and they are grateful. When these communities come together they share their tragedies – and they are grateful. Never once have I ever seen these communities demonize or further victimize anyone else. It’s as though these communities know the killing effect such demonization has on them and they choose another way. They choose a way of gratitude for the Grace they’ve received, and they choose to extend that Grace to others. They choose a way that is less about themselves and more about the community. And even though alcoholics in recovery are the ones experiencing such a community every day, the rest of us can experience it too. That is the good news. We can all experience community in that way and the sooner we realize that we are all wholly dependent on God’s Grace, the sooner we can publicly say thanks to something other than ourselves.
****************************************
Yes, the spiritual practice of creating gratitude lists is special. Part of Psalm 124 is just that – a gratitude list. This gratitude list was born out of shared difficulties – shared anxieties – shared experiences. And instead of being broken further apart, these shared tragedies served to unite. Instead of creating division, these shared tragedies took a group of individuals and brought them together as a community and in turn they were grateful. I pray we learn this lesson. Our ability to come together as a community may actually depend on it.
Amen!
[1] Simpson, Richard M., Feasting on the Word Commentary, Psalm 124, Homiletical Perspective
[2] Id.
Psalms 124
How many of you give thanks, at least once a day, for something? Now, before you tell yourself the answer to that question pause and really think about it. For those of you who truly do give thanks at least once every day, do any of you write down what you are thankful for? I believe these are typically called Gratitude lists. So, for those who do make gratitude lists, do you share them with anyone, or are they for your eyes only?
This is a little unfair I think, but I do know we have at least one person here today who creates a daily Gratitude List and shares them with a group of people. I only know this because back in June of this year, Thursday June 28, 2018 at 6:54 AM to be exact, my Mom mistakenly sent her daily Gratitude List, via text message, to me, my sister Kim and Amy. Less than a minute later, she sent us all another text message that read “Sorry. Sent to wrong people” and maybe that explains why none of us responded to those text messages, but just discovering this daily occurrence to be part of her spiritual practices has intrigued me ever since.
Now, I didn’t ask her beforehand if I could share what she wrote that day, so I don’t know if I should, but if she gives me some indication now that I can share in general I will.
Listen to what she wrote:
“A good nights sleep
The courage to send a letter of complaint to my representative
My marriage to Tom Smith.”
Isn’t that great. The fact that she set aside time to think about, name and then share with others the things she named for which she was grateful on that day. Even though this is not a current spiritual practice of mine, it has been in the past and I know there is something so profoundly important about naming those things for which you are grateful. But at least equally important, and maybe more important than naming them is sharing them with others. Not in some narcissistic egocentric way as that would actually change the experience in a destructive self-centered way. Rather than that kind of sharing, sharing your gratitude, at its best, helps build and/or strengthen community, for you are sharing something deeply personal with others. You are in essence sharing something of yourself with other people and when healthy, they return the favor and share something of themselves with the group too.
What an incredible spiritual practice. One I envy actually, but even more than that one I believe I should emulate.
**************************************
I do wonder something about this practice, though – I wonder if the people who do it have always been grateful. Have their lives always been wonderful. Always full of positive experiences and happiness. Or, could it be that the very reason they’ve incorporated such a spiritual practice into their daily lives was because they had actually experienced some difficulties… some dark days full of anxiety… some tragedies and in working through those times found the courage to share, and in sharing discovered a whole new way of living together in community. You see, there is something quite magical about discovering you’re not alone. Even in your pain. You are not alone. Even when you are down. You are not alone. Even, and especially when you think you are alone. You are not alone.
The communal aspect of life, of sharing one’s life with others, is oftentimes one of the hardest parts of living it seems. For one reason, or another, society has taught that self-sufficiency is a worthy pursuit. If you get knocked down, you just pick yourself up by your bootstraps and get moving again. And while getting back up is in fact a worthy pursuit, there are times when the only way the person can get back up is with the helping hand of someone else that is extending down. And there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, I believe this communal way of living is how we were all created.
Friends there is something quite special about coming to this realization about who we are as a community and whose we are in this world, and it seems the psalmist of today’s text knew it. Right from the beginning of today’s psalm it is clear community is front and center. The words of this psalm appear to be something the community would have said and shared together. Why else would the one voice call on all voices to speak together? Unlike others psalms that focused on one person’s life and talk about the building of one’s personal trust and confidence in the Lord, this psalm is spoken by an entire community. Instead of hearing the voice of one person’s gratitude for God’s grace, in this psalm we should hear everyone’s voice of gratitude. Instead of hearing one person’s voice proclaiming dependence on God, this psalm calls us to hear everyone’s voice of dependence. Instead of hearing one person’s voice proclaim faith, this psalm calls us to hear everyone’s voice of faith.
This move from personal to corporate faith is such a challenge for us because we live in a me focused part of the world. You see, it is so easy for us to sit in our comfortable bubbles and say Jesus loves ME. It is something else entirely to experience the world and proclaim that God loves US! As one theologian writes, “This psalm articulates what it is like for a community to go through an ordeal and come out on the other side, not as a collection of isolated individuals, but as a community of faith.”[1]
***************************************
It seems we are experiencing ordeal after ordeal after ordeal these days. All around us, everywhere we look, we are face to face with some ordeal. This daily onslaught is leaving us weary, but worse than that, all of these ordeals are widening a divide that is doing so much more harm than good because community is what is being divided. Division is killing us and sadly we can’t even stop long enough to realize we are the ones holding the knives. We are the ones doing the cutting. You see, “one of the real challenges in our polarized world is that it has become more difficult to imagine shared tragedies that function to bring us together as one people.”[2]
What an amazing thing to think about… tragedies that function to bring a community together. The reason I find it so amazing is because we struggle to allow people to share their tragedies in the first place. And when they do, good grief, we demonize them, which only really serves to discourage others in the community. This is killing us and we are both perpetrators and victims.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. The sharing of tragedies can bring a community together. This is what the psalmist is telling us happened to his community, so I trust it can happen again. In fact, I know it can happen again because it happens every day all across the world. People setting aside their differences of race, nationality, gender, etc., who realize they are more alike than they are different. People who let the sharing of their tragedies and difficulties bring them together as one. It’s not easy work and for some it’s the most difficult work they’ve ever done, and yet they are grateful. And when these communities get together they collectively claim out loud their dependence upon God – and they are grateful. When these communities come together they share their tragedies – and they are grateful. Never once have I ever seen these communities demonize or further victimize anyone else. It’s as though these communities know the killing effect such demonization has on them and they choose another way. They choose a way of gratitude for the Grace they’ve received, and they choose to extend that Grace to others. They choose a way that is less about themselves and more about the community. And even though alcoholics in recovery are the ones experiencing such a community every day, the rest of us can experience it too. That is the good news. We can all experience community in that way and the sooner we realize that we are all wholly dependent on God’s Grace, the sooner we can publicly say thanks to something other than ourselves.
****************************************
Yes, the spiritual practice of creating gratitude lists is special. Part of Psalm 124 is just that – a gratitude list. This gratitude list was born out of shared difficulties – shared anxieties – shared experiences. And instead of being broken further apart, these shared tragedies served to unite. Instead of creating division, these shared tragedies took a group of individuals and brought them together as a community and in turn they were grateful. I pray we learn this lesson. Our ability to come together as a community may actually depend on it.
Amen!
[1] Simpson, Richard M., Feasting on the Word Commentary, Psalm 124, Homiletical Perspective
[2] Id.
