Sermon delivered by David Burrow March 10, 2024 - First Congregational Church, Algona, Iowa
Click here for an audio version of this sermon (23 MB - .mp3)
You were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you
once lived following the age of this world, following the ruler of the power of
the air, the spirit that is now at work in the disobedient.
All of us once lived among them in the desires of our flesh, following the
wishes of the flesh and the impulses, and we were by nature children of wrath,
like the rest. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had
for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with
Christ, raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ
Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his
grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is
the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast. For we are his
handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in
advance, that we should live in them.
Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in
him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who
believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the
world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has
already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son
of God.
And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people
preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the
light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes
to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
“Give thanks to the LORD for he is good,
his mercy endures forever!”
Let that be the prayer of the LORD’s redeemed,
those redeemed from the hand of the foe,
Those gathered from foreign lands,
from east and west, from north and south.
Some had lost their way in a barren desert;
found no path toward a city to live in.
They were hungry and thirsty;
their life was ebbing away.
In their distress they cried to the LORD,
who rescued them in their peril,
Guided them by a direct path
so they reached a city to live in.
Let them thank the LORD for his mercy,
such wondrous deeds for the children of Adam.
For he satisfied the thirsty,
filled the hungry with good things.
Some lived in darkness and gloom,
imprisoned in misery and chains.
Because they rebelled against God’s word,
and scorned the counsel of the Most High,
He humbled their hearts through hardship;
they stumbled with no one to help.
In their distress they cried to the LORD,
who saved them in their peril;
He brought them forth from darkness and the shadow of death
and broke their chains asunder.
Let them thank the LORD for his mercy,
such wondrous deeds for the children of Adam.
For he broke down the gates of bronze
and snapped the bars of iron.
Some fell sick from their wicked ways,
afflicted because of their sins.
They loathed all manner of food;
they were at the gates of death.
In their distress they cried to the LORD,
who saved them in their peril,
Sent forth his word to heal them,
and snatched them from the grave.
Let them thank the LORD for his mercy,
such wondrous deeds for the children of Adam.
Let them offer a sacrifice in thanks,
recount his works with shouts of joy.
The upright saw this and rejoiced;
all wickedness shut its mouth.
Whoever is wise will take note of these things,
and ponder the merciful deeds of the LORD.
Most of you know that I'm a teacher. When I’m standing by the door of my room at school, there’s a couple of freshmen boys who invariably come by and say “Good morning, Mr. Burrow.” Those guys say “Good morning” no matter what time is on the clock. It started when one of them didn’t realize it was early afternoon and said “Good morning” by mistake, and then it just morphed into a running joke.
My response to that joke is to say, “Well, it’s morning somewhere” in the same way that a bar might have a sign saying “it’s five o’clock somewhere”.
Those guys came to mind today because of the switch to Daylight Savings Time. There's always a debate about whether or not we should change our clocks, but personally I really like Daylight Time. While I do have to put up with a few weeks of dark mornings on my way to work, I like having more sunshine in the late afternoon and evening.
Changing the clocks makes us more aware of the time, but just how arbitrary time is was driven home to me last summer when I flew across the International Date Line. Flying westward I skipped an entire day. I left Sunday night and arrived Wednesday morning. I was in the air on Monday, but there was no Tuesday on that trip. Returning east, if I looked at the clock, I landed before I took off. I left Auckland at 9pm and was back in Chicago at about 6pm the same day—even though I’d been in the air for fifteen hours.
Time is strange, but it’s also a wonderful gift God gives us. As the days get longer, let’s remember that gift and make a commitment to use the time we have in the best way we can.
I’ve spoken in our church several times now. I’ve spoken in Advent, Epiphany, and the “ordinary time” after Pentecost, but this is the first time I’ve ever been asked to speak during Lent. I was a bit hesitant to accept this invitation. Many people see Lent as a time of spiritual purification, the Christian equivalent of Ramadan, and it seems a little bit odd to have a lay person up front in that special season.
When I was a kid, while my family was fairly religious, Lent was not really anything special for us. We never celebrated Ash Wednesday, and we didn’t make a point of giving up things for Lent. The one thing I do remember were the special communion services we went to on Maundy Thursday, which we always thought of as the anniversary of Christ celebrating the first communion. I always liked those Maundy Thursday services. They were different, and they always seemed more important than a usual church service.
Most of my childhood memories of Lent, though, were not particularly good ones. When I was a kid what mostly struck me about Lent was that it was boring. The hymns were always slow and dull, and the minister would drone on about topics like sin. While some people find Lent to be a very inspirational time, when I was a teenager, I dreaded it. My parents gave us no choice but to go to church, so I’d entertain myself by counting the tiles on the ceiling or the panes in the stained glass windows. I’d do pretty much anything to make time pass doing those long, dreary sermons.
When I agreed to speak during Lent, the main thing I hoped was that I could be slightly less boring than those ministers I remembered from my childhood. I guess we’ll see if I can pull that off.
The first thing I did was to check the Revised Common Lectionary readings for today, and I was honestly surprised at what I found. I was expecting a call for penitence, and while that was there, it’s not really the main thing I found. I discovered that today’s readings include the heart of the “good news” in John 3:16, a reading from Paul that reminds us of God’s grace, and a psalm that sounds like we should be reading it at Thanksgiving.
That Thanksgiving theme seemed to tie everything together. Here in the United States—and especially in a church that traces its origins to the Pilgrims—we think of Thanksgiving as a fall holiday, the time when we celebrate the harvest and start preparing for winter. What these readings remind us, though, is that Thanksgiving isn’t just a time we eat turkey and pumpkin pie. For us every day should be a time that we give thanks. Whether it’s November or March, it’s always the right time for Thanksgiving.
That sounds nice, but unfortunately it’s not always easy to be thankful. Every day there seems to be far more bad news than good. We hear of have school shootings, doors falling off of airplanes, drug abuse, homelessness, corporate greed, and the evil uses of artificial intelligence. We hear of wars abroad and political division in our own country. There’s natural disasters of every sort—tornados, droughts, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, earthquakes, and volcanos. We survived a global pandemic, yet we all fear what other plagues might be around the corner.
On top of all the bad news, there are issues facing each of us personally. Many of us have lost family members and friends, and a lot of us endure suffering in our everyday lives. Inflation can make it hard to pay the bills, and we’re forever struggling to keep up with all the perfect lives we see from people on social media.
It’s far too easy to dwell on the negative things in our lives than to cultivate a feeling of thankfulness. I’m sure we’ve all known people over the years who seem to go out of their way to let others know their challenges and who treat any good they encounter as an accident. We need to stop ourselves from becoming those people—to show our joy and thankfulness rather than gloom and despair.
At least once a week I get a reminder of the need to be thankful. For many years I’ve followed an internet blog called “The Frugal Girl” written by a woman who mostly gives tips on getting by with less. Back during the pandemic she started a series of “Thankful Thursday” posts, where each week she’d take time out to count her blessings. At the time the idea was trending all over social media. Most of the “influencers” went away from that after a few months, but she’s kept the trend going for four years now. She’s regularly recorded her thankfulness in spite of a number of challenges—like a divorce and going back to school in middle age.
Even when things aren’t going great, she always manages to find things to be thankful for. Sometimes those are big things—like being accepted into nursing school or her daughter getting a job. Other times she’ll offer thanks for the leaves starting to turn green, a kind greeting she had from a store clerk, or the simple fact that her basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter are taken care of. I’m always reminded that if she can find things to be thankful for, I should be able to do that too.
Our readings today remind us that we should express our thankfulness every day of our lives. The psalm rejoices because the Hebrew people were provided with food and drink, healing, guidance, and protection. They thanked God for those things, and so should we. In the best-known verse of the Bible John reminds us that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. Then in Ephesians Paul reminds us that we show our thanks for God’s saving grace by doing the good works for which he created us.
While preparing this message, I came across an interesting passage from an 18th Century theologian named William Law. He writes, “Who is the greatest saint in the world? It is not he who prays the most or fasts the most; but it is he who is always thankful to God, who receives everything as an instance of God’s goodness and has a heart always ready to praise God for it. This thankful spirit turns all it touches into happiness.”
Let’s remember that as we continue through this season of Lent. Instead of thinking of this as a sad time, let’s make every day a “thankful Thursday”. Let’s turn our sadness to joy and show our gratitude for the wonderful work God does—in the world and in our lives.
(C) 2024 davidmburrow@yahoo.com