"Grateful Hearts" - Matthew 6:25-34

Matthew 6:25-34

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin and yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith?”

“Therefore, do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ for it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all of these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.”

My thoughts for tonight fall under the category of “Practical and Holy,” something you hear me say often around here, I hope. I was reminded again this week about how giving thanks – experiencing and expressing gratitude – is a holy, spiritual discipline for our day-to-day lives that has practical consequences, for us and for others when we get it right and when we do it well.

This “practical and holy” reminder came in the form of a news story about how gratitude is literally good for the heart. (Gratitude is Good for the Soul and Helps the Heart, NPR News) And I’m talking about the heart – not the spiritual, touchy-feely, heart-shaped part of your soul, whatever that is – but good for the muscle of your heart that beats beneath your rib-cage, tucked somewhere behind or between your lungs, doing what it does to keep your blood moving and your life, living.

The short version of the story is that Paul Mills, a neurophysiologist, at the University of California at San Diego, recruited patients with heart damage from things like high blood pressure, heart attacks, infections, even to part of a study. 186 men and women, with an average age of 66, played along. They filled out questionnaires, reporting their levels of gratitude for the stuff of their life like people, places, and things.

And the results showed that those who considered themselves to be more grateful, also proved to be less depressed, to sleep better, and to have more energy than those who landed on the lower end of the grateful scale. Even blood work on these subjects showed lower levels of indicators like inflammation and plaque for those who identified themselves as more grateful than others.

And, since these subjects already had problems with damage to their hearts, the researcher took all of this a step further and asked his people to keep a daily journal of gratitude where they were to write – sentences, paragraphs, pages, whatever – about whatever it was that made them feel grateful in their daily lives. Of course, they wrote about things like children, spouses, pets, travel, jobs, and more.

And after 2 months of this deliberate, gratitude journaling, results showed that writing about gratitude – engaging a daily practice of thanksgiving – actually lowered their heart disease risks. Inflammation decreased, heart rhythm improved, and so on.

The research doesn’t try to explain why any of this happens, exactly, but the researchers suggest all of this “thanks-giving” reduces stress for people by helping them to focus on the things they can be grateful for which, in some way, helps us cope in the face of struggles; it puts our struggles into perspective, maybe; it allows us to see a balance, at least, between those things in our lives and in the world that threaten or sadden us and those things in our lives and in the world that bless us and bring us joy or comfort or hope or peace. (You can listen to the brief, two-and-a-half minute piece from Morning Edition, here.)

“Do not worry about your life. What you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?” Jesus asks, in the Gospel.

What I like about this little ditty from Jesus in the context of this research, and as we gather to celebrate Thanksgiving, is that it puts the spiritual practice of gratitude into the context of something that is as good for me as it is for the ones – and for The One – to whom I am grateful. By being… by experiencing… by expressing…thanksgiving, I get holier, and healthier, and happier along the way. How great is that? And I’ll take it as just one of many signs of God’s abundance, in my life and for the sake of the world.

See, God doesn’t want us to give thanks and to be generous and to practice gratitude because we need another thing to add to our lists or schedules or spiritual disciplines. But isn’t that how we sell gratitude and thanksgiving in our lives? Think about the way we teach our kids to “say please and thank you.” As often as not, it’s all about being polite…as something we should do…as something we ought to do…as something that seems to be all about the other person/people to whom we’re being grateful.

But I wonder if Jesus didn’t know something the scientist in San Diego learned from his research: that being and expressing gratitude – experiencing thankfulness, like any good gift – is as good for the one who offers it up as it is for the one who receives it.

When we hear the Psalmist sing, “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations,” imagine the implications that has for a soul and a spirit in a world like the one we live in today. (Psalm 57:9)

We're hearing about the art of giving thanks in the face of struggle and hardship, not just around a table full of family and friends and turkey and pumpkin pie. And that's the kind of lifestyle, the sort of Kingdom living, Jesus us calls us toward.

In Matthew 6 – with all those words about worry – Jesus is speaking as someone who loves his people – his friends and his family and his followers – and as someone who wants the best for them.

So the thanksgiving we’re called to as followers of Jesus is meant to be more than just a discipline or a chore – certainly not just an annual extravaganza around a table overflowing with our favorite food and crowded with some of our favorite people, or not-so favorite people, as the case may be.

The thanksgiving Jesus calls us to is meant to be a daily blessing for our lives – one that does a good work through us and for us, just the same, by putting our struggles into perspective; by putting our lives into balance; by helping us to see what is good and righteous in our midst, even if we are surrounded by so much to the contrary, too.

Because our Thanksgiving, in Jesus, reminds us that we are blessed in the face of our struggles. We are made strong through our weakness. We are rich when we are poor. We are promised new life, even, in the face of death. And for that – and so much more – we are called to give thanks, with grateful hearts, that are changed for the better, when we do.

Amen

"The Pope, The Planet, and the Blessing of Pets" – Matthew 6:25-33

Matthew 6:25-33

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

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Pope Francis Fever isn’t lost on me, I have to say. And I feel like we should talk about the Pope today, since he’s on tour and all, and since his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, often gets the credit for blessing the animals and for services like what we’re up to here. So, knowing some of what it’s all about, I decided to look more into Pope Francis’s recently published encyclical, Laudato Si’. (1)

I imagine most of us haven’t read the whole of that encyclical, and I’m not pretending I’ve read it word-for-word. It’s beautiful in lots of ways and places, believe me, but it’s not exactly a page-turner. Still, I hope you’ve at least heard the sound bites and seen the headlines about the pot the Pope has stirred with his words.

In what I have read, it’s clear that the pope’s encyclical acknowledges – from a faith’s perspective – what scientists have been teaching and warning about for quite some time, when it comes to global warming and climate change and ecological crises and care of creation. Where the Pope preaches and where scientists teach, of course, politicians and pundits argue and debate and deny and throw stones. But I don’t think we have to go there today.

What I read in the Pope’s Laudato Si’ isn’t hard for me to swallow, from the perspective of a fellow Christian. I believe it’s true…that he’s correct…that the earth – “our common home,” as he calls it – and all of its creatures – are in trouble.  That is hard to swallow. But, unlike some people, I think he has every right and calling and authority as a man of God and as a follower of Jesus to write about and teach about and preach about all of this from his position of leadership and authority in the Church, for the sake of the world.

The reason people are upset about his suggestions and criticisms and warnings and calls to action, is because too many of those politicians and pundits have co-opted climate change, minimizing it into an “issue.” For Christian people, like the Pope and you and me, though, what he’s getting at isn’t new. And it’s not a political issue. It’s nothing more and nothing less than a call upon our lives that’s as ancient and holy as that creation story from Genesis, we just heard.

I’m under the impression that our connection to this call to care for creation is a direct reflection of the spiritual state of our souls, as individuals, and it’s a direct reflection of the spiritual state of our collective soul as a sea of humanity on the planet. In other words, if you ask me, the reason the planet is in the pickle it is…the reason we aren’t taking care of it as we should…is because we aren’t taking care of our own souls – or taking care of each other – as God wishes we would.

So, thinking about today’s Gospel, I couldn’t help but wonder if things have changed for the birds of the air and for the lilies of the field, since Jesus was around. I mean, I kind of wonder if the birds and the lilies have more to worry about in 2015, than they did back in Jesus’ day. I’m being facetious, of course. I know that’s not what Jesus meant and I’m not sure that lilies can worry, anyway.

But I can. And, like the Pope, I am worried. And I looked up some numbers and statistics so that you all might worry along with me, some.

I saw on National Geographic, that 90% of the oceans’ fish populations that were around in 1950 are no longer, and that the world’s stock of fish may very well run out by 2048. (That’s within my lifetime, if I’m lucky. I’ll only be 75 years old. My son, Jackson will be 44. Max will only be 41, younger than I am now.) That was a new kind of perspective for me. (2)

And it’s not just the fishes in the deep blue sea, either. According to the World Wildlife Fund, there was a 52% decline in wildlife populations between 1970 and 2010. In just 40 years, more than half of something like 3,000 species of not just fish, but mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and “birds of the air” have been decimated thanks to global warming, pollution, and disease. (3)

And then there are the “lilies of the field,” if you will. There were once 6 million square miles of tropical rainforest in the world. Now, thanks to deforestation and other human dis-interest, there are only 2.4 million square miles left. Between 2000 and 2012 – in just 12 years – 888,000 square miles of forests around the world were cut down. That's roughly the size of all of the states in the U.S. east of the Mississippi River. (4)

And we can let these statistics scare us, I suppose. I can be afraid for the future of the planet and for the safety and well being of it all for the sake of my kids and grandkids, and I guess that’s something – if it causes me to make a change for the sake of it. We can even buy into the politics of this – or not – and address it, or ignore it based on our political persuasion if that’s all it is to us.

But that’s not all it is or all it should be for children of God. Pope Francis says, “We lack an awareness of our common origin, of our mutual belonging, and of a future to be shared with everyone. This basic awareness would enable the development of new convictions, attitudes and forms of life. A great cultural, spiritual and educational challenge stands before us, and it will demand that we set out on the long path of renewal.”

And this has been God’s call for us and God’s claim upon us since our days in Eden’s garden, at the beginning of time – to recognize ourselves as the stewards, the care-givers, the babysitters, the custodians, the crown of God’s creation – and to live differently because of it.

So let’s do that as much as we’re able. Let’s do the “earth-day-every-day” thing. Let’s plant a tree. Let’s recycle our paper and our plastic and our cans and our bottles. Let’s find out what a difference one day a week without eating meat stands to make for the environment. Let’s stop drinking bottled water and pretending it’s any better than what comes from our kitchen faucet. Let’s be honest – a couple days out of the summer – about the fact that central air conditioning is a luxury we really can do without. Let’s walk instead of drive every once in awhile. Let’s support and vote for policy and legislation and leaders that consider the planet’s future and well-being in responsible, faithful, loving ways.

And let’s do these things, not because the Pope or the Politicians or Pastor Mark say so. Let’s do these things because the planet – “our common home” – is groaning under the weight of our selfishness and apathy. Let’s do these things because it is the poorest of the poor on the planet who suffer first – and most – when the earth struggles. And let’s do these things – let’s strive for righteousness on behalf of the planet – because we are grateful for God’s charge to care for this gift that is ours to defend and preserve and enjoy with grace and gratitude; and because God’s kingdom will thrive through and among us, in every way, when we do.

Amen

1 http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/06/18/read-the-encyclical-for-yourself-laudato-si/

2 http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/declining-fish (“Big-Fish Stocks Fall 90 Percent Since 1950, Study Says” National Geographic News. May 15, 2003)

3 “Humans To Blame For Major Decline In Wildlife Populations, WWF Report Finds.” By JOHN HEILPRIN. AP. HuffPost. 09/30/2014

4 http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/urgentissues/rainforests/rainforests-facts.xml