An Attitude of Gratitude

Reformation Sunday – Jeremiah 31 and Luke 19

Children’s Time – God is continually working to re-form us into people who know we belong to each other. 

“I will put my law (my torah) within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people… they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest… I will remember their sin no more.”

 

We walk around with stories inside us and we are constant storytellers.

The first books of the Bible, the Torah, are full of stories. Over and over, people try to communicate God’s deep love, God’s presence, God’s way through all kinds of diverse stories, but there are lots of other stories going on in our heads at the very same time.

I wonder what ours are?

 

What are the dominant stories running through our heads about these days?

This week, I was at a meeting where one of our members said several times that we are part of an aging congregation. It was said with that concerned tone of voice, and repeated several times as if I wasn’t taking in the gravity of the comment, and I couldn’t help but think two things at once.. and one thing later. I thought in response… well, I don’t know for sure but I can think of a significant number of young families and young adults who continue to participate regularly here and at least half of our Council leadership is in their 50s or younger. Do we see them? Do we allow them to be the leaders in our minds and in our midst?

And at the very same time, I thought of everyone who is 65+ in this congregation and I thought, yes, we’re aging… and aren’t we blessed to be aging because the alternative is being dead.

 

Maybe that sounds like a strong defensive reaction to this comment, but lately, I’m convinced that the stories we tell ourselves are incredibly powerful and they matter. Are we as we age going to dismiss the importance of the gifts that we bring? Are we going to fixate on what we have lost? I hope not. We live in a demographically aging city and state, so those who come to be a part of this ministry are likely to be retired/visibly aging. How do we keep centered in and give thanks for all the gifts that are present here even as we experience significant change and transition?

 

Reformation Sunday is a day to look backward in thanksgiving for how God has led and guided. It’s a day to notice God’s constant re-forming work on us in the present. It’s a day when we look to the future letting go of our fearful stories and remembering who goes with us into the future—who goes along with us each step into the unknown. And Jeremiah reassures us that we have a deep and good vision about where we’re headed. I don’t know how Jeremiah did this since he wrote these words from the depths of exile. He was left behind, but somehow he could express the truth that we’re headed into a future where we can expect to be in deeper relationship with a deeply loving God, where we’ll know God even better and no broken thinking or actions will be in the way of having a beautiful and good relationship. It will be joyful.

 

I did some reading on joy this week from the new encyclopedia on emotions by Brené Brown called Atlas of the Heart. Turns out, “joy” is the most vulnerable emotion and humans aren’t too comfortable generally with vulnerability and so we are quick to move into something called “Foreboding Joy.” Here’s what Brené writes about that… “If you’re afraid to lean into good news, wonderful moments, and joy—if you find yourself waiting for the other shoe to drop—you are not alone. It’s called “foreboding joy” and most of us experience it…

 

Foreboding joy is one of those practically universal experiences that everyone thinks of as something only they do… when we lose tolerance for vulnerability, joy becomes foreboding… We are terrified of being blindsided by pain, so we practice tragedy and trauma. But there’s a huge cost. 

When we push away joy, we squander the goodness that we need to build resilience, strength and courage.

The good news? In our research we found that everyone who showed a deep capacity for joy had one thing in common: They practiced gratitude. In the midst of joy, there’s often a quiver, a shudder of vulnerability. Rather than using that as a warning sign to practice imagining the worst-case scenario, the people who lean into joy use the quiver as a reminder to practice gratitude.                                    Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart, p. 215

 

What a beautiful and powerful reminder.

 

And that leads me to Zacchaeus who wanted to get a look at Jesus. No one was making space for Zacchaeus to see. They had already labeled him as “not one of us” long ago. After all, he was a tax collector, becoming rich and you know what that means (--off the backs of the poor).

Who knows why he caught Jesus’ eye but maybe it was the sycamore or maybe it was something Jesus saw in him—after all, Zacchaeus’ name means “Pure in Heart.”

So Jesus says to Zacchaeus, “Come down because I’m going to be your guest.” And Zacchaeus was filled with joy to welcome Jesus.

 

Everyone else was not filled with joy.

They had long ago labeled Zacchaeus as a sinner and said as much to his face, and in front of all those critics, Zacchaeus said who he really was—pure in heart, generous to a fault. 

“If I have defrauded anyone of anything, I’ll pay back four times as much.”

You know, it makes you wonder if he had ever defrauded anyone of anything? But if he did, he was going to return it extravagantly.

 

And this moment of knowing that to Jesus, he belonged, was salvation for Zacchaeus. No longer considered an outcast, no longer lost, grounded in relationship with Jesus who saw him and centered him, Zacchaeus was saved.. and I would imagine, many others were saved too—through the sharing, through the joy of this story told for ages and ages.

 

There are two county commissioners who are also women of color in the state of Minnesota. Just two. They are Angela Conley and Irene Fernando who both serve districts of Hennepin County. They were two of the speakers in a five-person panel who spoke to rostered leaders of the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Area Synods this week, and here is what Commissioner Fernando said to us—this is a difficult, divisive political time but you, people of faith, you have such a bigger vision to draw on. You have deeper grounding as you go about your daily lives. You, of all people, who come together across differences for a deeper sense of the shared values we all bring, you have this gift and you need to use it. We are planted in a time and place, in daily lives, where we are with those who desperately need to see us living out whatever faith, hope and joy we can remember to share. We can absolutely practice gratitude, not only for our own sakes but for those of our neighbors. We have this capacity because it is written on our hearts, because Jesus visits our own homes and regularly reminds us, you belong. May it fill us with joy that no one can take away.