Past Sermon

Sermon Title: "The Lord Has Done Great Things For Us "
Date: November 19, 2006
Minister: Rev. Charles E. Ensley, Jr.

Lesson:  Psalm 126

“THANKSGIVING.”  Say the word and I am certain it conjures up a myriad of images in your mind:  a succulent turkey and pumpkin pie, family and friends sitting around a table, memories of Thanksgivings past, a football game, a four-day holiday weekend before the advent of Christmas, the busiest travel weekend of the year, canned food collection here at church, having the brass ensemble in worship, hearing the choir sing their traditional anthem.

I personally enjoy Thanksgiving, for, other than this worship service on a Sunday, it requires little else of me as a minister.  There is no huge ramp-up as there is through the coming season of Advent as it leads toward Christmas.  There are no frantic gift-shopping and wrapping days.  Other than a few cards sent to relatives and close friends, there is no long list of Christmas cards and letters and personal notes to include.  Decorating is at a minimum, perhaps utilizing some fall arrangements that we’ve used since mid-October.

In this myriad of images that might come to your mind when you hear the word Thanksgiving, did giving thanks to God appear anywhere near the top of the list?  I wonder how prevalent that will be in the minds of many Americans this Thursday on our annual national holiday?

Some years you’ve been through a difficult time, and being thankful to God may not seem at the top of your list.  But the ancient Psalmist encourages us to draw on the strength of God’s blessings from the past to get us through at all times.

In Psalm 126, the Israelites are back in their homeland after their long exile in Babylon.  How happy they were: 

“Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy;

then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’”

The people have experienced God’s deliverance in the past, and they were joyously thankful, but now they are confronted by another crisis in the present—the specifics unknown to us.  They petition God for help once again and profess their trust in God’s help.

Verse 3, after which I titled my sermon, sits between the remembrances of past deliverance and the plea in verses 4 through 6 for help in the present situation.  “The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.”  I wonder if we might use this as a response to any number of situations we face in life?

Our church’s general budget is presently financially tight.  We are not getting enough income to pay our expenses.  Is this the first time this has happened in our church’s 81 year history?  When Milton Gabrielson came as pastor in 1936, the church had 17 members, the roof leaked and the building mortgage was in foreclosure.  Look around at what we have today.  Not only this building complex which fills the entire block, but the Youth Center across the street and a retreat cabin near Lake Arrowhead.  All paid for—no mortgages, no foreclosures. 

All that is left for us to do is to be good stewards of what has been given to us.

“The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.”

A month ago, Peggy and I flew into Detroit.  We got into our rental car about 8 p.m. just as it started to rain.  “Look,” Peggy exclaimed as she pointed to the outside temperature on the dashboard:  32 degrees.  (This from a woman who spent the first 36 years of her life in upstate New York!)  The next morning, snowflakes the size of nickels floated down.  Driving to north Michigan, the temperature gauge stayed at 32 degrees all day.  I though it was broken!  Fifty degrees was the highest it got during that trip.  Last week, one month later, I walked down to Second Street.  It was 80 degrees.  Thursday night I drove across the bridges from San Pedro, through downtown Long Beach and along Ocean Boulevard, looking out at the oil islands shimmering offshore.  Look at where we are blessed to live:  eighty miles from ocean to mountains or desert.

“The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.”

Now I don’t want to be Pollyanna’s brother standing up here.  I’m well aware of—and deal both personally and professionally—with illness, pain and death.  These are the extreme human conditions that really dare us to count our blessings.  A prognosis of a dreaded disease.  Pain from rejection, misfortune or some irreparable damage.  Death in the family.  With such intolerable distress, how can you even start to count your blessings?

A writer, Ruby Bayan-Gagelonia, offers this response:  “Let me share my little secret.  When I feel that the world is caving in and my tears of hopelessness are just about to fall, I look down at my hands.  I stretch my fingers and I start to count ... my blessings.  I say to myself, “I have 10 fingers ... 1-2-3-4-5 ... I can move all of them.  My skin is clear.  I can see.  I can hear.  I can talk.  I can walk.  I have a family.  I have a home.  I have friends.  I have a job.  Not everyone has these.  I am a very lucky person.  I am whole and I can cope with this minor setback.”

“Try it.  In your darkest hour, at the height of a most unfortunate situation, count your blessings by starting with your fingers.”    ( Ruby Bayan-Gagelonia, “Count your blessings,” October 15, 1999, Suite101.com.)

“The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.”

The Psalmist acknowledges that bad times, painful and hurtful times, times of grieving and mourning pass.  We may be different people in a different place and with a different attitude. 

“May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.

Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.”

It is realization that for seeds to grow and flourish into trees, plants, fruits, vegetables, flowers, grain or grass, they must be placed into the soil, allowed to die so that the kernel inside can sprout forth and grow with water and sunlight.  So, too, are we called sometimes to go through times so difficult that it is unimaginable that in the midst of them we can ever be thankful on the other side.  Jesus never promised that, even with great faith in him, we would be exempt from life’s trials.

“The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.”

A recent Barna Research poll revealed that despite international tensions and domestic economic problems, nine out of 10 Americans are happy with their lives and say that their religious faith has a lot to do with it.  Nine out of 10 Americans are happy, and they credit their faith.  That’s an impressive statistic, but does it mean that nine out of 10 regularly turn to God and give thanks?  Probably not.  Remember the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus?  Nine ran off, no doubt overjoyed, to tell their relatives.  Just one returned to give thanks to Jesus.  We may feel good about our lives, but we don’t always give credit where credit is due.

If we can remember to be grateful, we’ll find ourselves even healthier in body, mind and spirit.  We’ll feel better about our lives, more optimistic about our prospects and more helpful toward people around us.  After all, Jesus proclaimed it, and modern research confirms it — a grateful faith can make us well.

“The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.”