Thanking God for worries as well as blessings
Commentary
Object:
As folks bow their heads in prayers of thanksgiving, both in worship and at home, there is the tendency to focus specifically on things that have brought joy, happiness, and satisfaction. Certainly these are things we should give thanks for. But in today’s three scriptures we are invited to give thanks to God while allowing ourselves to reflect on things that can bring us pain and that can seem out of our control.
In the case of Joel, while restoration is promised for the loss of crops to implacable forces of nature like an insect invasion, we’re called to reflect on that insect invasion! Paul invites Timothy and his congregation to give praise for those in leadership, which is not always easy to do. We may be told by Jesus to seek first the kingdom of God, but the very fact he has to bring up the lilies of the field is a reminder that we can’t help but reflect on life’s basic insecurities, of want instead of have. The reason we quilt little happy hymns like “Count your many blessings, count them one by one” is because we don’t.
I think these texts invite us to give thanks to God not out of a false sense of well-being, but in a spirit of shalom, wholeness, and in the midst of care and concern. Because it’s not in spite of danger and insecurity that we give thanks to God -- it’s because we live in a world of danger and insecurity that we give thanks to God for our many blessings and promises.
Joel 2:21-27
In the ancient world, drought, soil depletion, or an invasion of locusts could mean the difference between life and death. There was a basic insecurity to each year’s yield that made festivals like Pentecost, a celebration of the first fruits of the harvest, and the Feast of Booths, the fall harvest festival.
The first two chapters of Joel use the graphic depiction of a locust plague as an image for the Day of the Lord. Whereas many believers look forward to a day of judgment, they fail to consider that they may just be on the wrong side of history. Joel uses the occasion to call the people to repentance and reconciliation with God, so that there will be reason for thanksgiving when the Day of the Lord arrives.
You could do worse than to backtrack to the beginning of this chapter, or perhaps even dramatizing it. There are those on watch who spot the invaders from a distance, the blowing of futile horns in warning, a darkening of the skies, and then like horses, like war horses, the locusts leave devastation in their wake. There is nothing.
Joel ties this disaster to unfaithfulness on the part of God’s people. It is certainly possible to tie this to issues of climate change and responsible stewardship of the earth. But the prophet holds out hope -- there is forgiveness for those who repent.
It is against this backdrop of ecological disaster that the prophet announces that the clock can still be turned back. All of creation -- animals, plants, and people -- is called to rejoice in thanksgiving, because God is able to restore what we have lost over the years. Seen in this context, the scripture’s promises are all the more astounding.
And don’t forget -- if you want to go further, the lectionary passage is sandwiched between the invasion of the locusts and the promise of the universal gift of the Spirit to all, young and old, male and female, slave and free... and perhaps that is why this passage is so important to the writers of the New Testament. This is where we learn that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
1 Timothy 2:1-7
Give thanks and pray for those in leadership. Amen. That may be the sum and total of what you want to say about this passage. And certainly some interpret this text along with the often misinterpreted Romans 13:1-7 as proof that we must always obey the government (provided of course that the current president is a member of our political party).
It must be remembered that, unlike Martin Luther King Jr., the Freedom Riders, and other champions of liberty, Paul and first-century Christians had no say in who ruled them, nor could they change governments short of insurrection, which most likely would have ended in failure.
And early in his ministry the apostle could certainly point to how the Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome, had eliminated the many wars that would have erupted between rival little kingdoms. The uniformity of Roman law ensured justice on a scale unknown previously. But Jesus was executed under Roman law for an offense against the emperor, a fact noted by the historian Tacitus.
Paul recognizes that Christians live in a larger world, and they are not to retreat from it. Rather, they are “to be subject to rulers and authorities.” This provides an opportunity for good works not simply for those in the community of faith, but for everyone. Prayer is to be offered for all rulers in the hope that we may live peaceably in society at large -- especially because we are reminded by Paul that Jesus “gave himself a ransom for all,” and that is why Paul has chosen to be an apostle to the Gentiles (v. 7).
Matthew 6:25-33
Jesus may have told us to consider the lilies of the field the next time we get worried about our bank balance, but this same Jesus also once lamented the fact that “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head”
(Matthew 8:20). It’s hard not to be upset when we are insecure about the basics of living.
And yet these words are a reminder to us that we live in a secure, not a safe, universe. This is part of the promise of the first chapter of Genesis -- not that the word is created within the span of six 24-hour days, but that the stars don’t control our destinies... because God made the stars. The chaos of the waters will not dissolve the universe. God made the waters and set their boundaries. The universe is sensible, even if some of our actions and choices are senseless. People can get hurt out there, but a little good falls on everyone.
How can we come to see the world through the master’s eyes? How can we possibly take heart in the birds, or trust that our heavenly Father knows what we need? The key is in the last verse, to seek first the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness. Since we never have enough, since the richest among us worry about their finances as do the poorest, since there is always a way we do not measure up, what we can truly give thanks for is that Jesus offers us a totally different way of looking at the world -- a different lens in which we see that joy abounds and God’s will is merrily being done despite the evil that humans do, despite calamities and catastrophes that are only a part of the natural world as it is created. We will never be safe. We will always be secure. Thank heavens.
In the case of Joel, while restoration is promised for the loss of crops to implacable forces of nature like an insect invasion, we’re called to reflect on that insect invasion! Paul invites Timothy and his congregation to give praise for those in leadership, which is not always easy to do. We may be told by Jesus to seek first the kingdom of God, but the very fact he has to bring up the lilies of the field is a reminder that we can’t help but reflect on life’s basic insecurities, of want instead of have. The reason we quilt little happy hymns like “Count your many blessings, count them one by one” is because we don’t.
I think these texts invite us to give thanks to God not out of a false sense of well-being, but in a spirit of shalom, wholeness, and in the midst of care and concern. Because it’s not in spite of danger and insecurity that we give thanks to God -- it’s because we live in a world of danger and insecurity that we give thanks to God for our many blessings and promises.
Joel 2:21-27
In the ancient world, drought, soil depletion, or an invasion of locusts could mean the difference between life and death. There was a basic insecurity to each year’s yield that made festivals like Pentecost, a celebration of the first fruits of the harvest, and the Feast of Booths, the fall harvest festival.
The first two chapters of Joel use the graphic depiction of a locust plague as an image for the Day of the Lord. Whereas many believers look forward to a day of judgment, they fail to consider that they may just be on the wrong side of history. Joel uses the occasion to call the people to repentance and reconciliation with God, so that there will be reason for thanksgiving when the Day of the Lord arrives.
You could do worse than to backtrack to the beginning of this chapter, or perhaps even dramatizing it. There are those on watch who spot the invaders from a distance, the blowing of futile horns in warning, a darkening of the skies, and then like horses, like war horses, the locusts leave devastation in their wake. There is nothing.
Joel ties this disaster to unfaithfulness on the part of God’s people. It is certainly possible to tie this to issues of climate change and responsible stewardship of the earth. But the prophet holds out hope -- there is forgiveness for those who repent.
It is against this backdrop of ecological disaster that the prophet announces that the clock can still be turned back. All of creation -- animals, plants, and people -- is called to rejoice in thanksgiving, because God is able to restore what we have lost over the years. Seen in this context, the scripture’s promises are all the more astounding.
And don’t forget -- if you want to go further, the lectionary passage is sandwiched between the invasion of the locusts and the promise of the universal gift of the Spirit to all, young and old, male and female, slave and free... and perhaps that is why this passage is so important to the writers of the New Testament. This is where we learn that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
1 Timothy 2:1-7
Give thanks and pray for those in leadership. Amen. That may be the sum and total of what you want to say about this passage. And certainly some interpret this text along with the often misinterpreted Romans 13:1-7 as proof that we must always obey the government (provided of course that the current president is a member of our political party).
It must be remembered that, unlike Martin Luther King Jr., the Freedom Riders, and other champions of liberty, Paul and first-century Christians had no say in who ruled them, nor could they change governments short of insurrection, which most likely would have ended in failure.
And early in his ministry the apostle could certainly point to how the Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome, had eliminated the many wars that would have erupted between rival little kingdoms. The uniformity of Roman law ensured justice on a scale unknown previously. But Jesus was executed under Roman law for an offense against the emperor, a fact noted by the historian Tacitus.
Paul recognizes that Christians live in a larger world, and they are not to retreat from it. Rather, they are “to be subject to rulers and authorities.” This provides an opportunity for good works not simply for those in the community of faith, but for everyone. Prayer is to be offered for all rulers in the hope that we may live peaceably in society at large -- especially because we are reminded by Paul that Jesus “gave himself a ransom for all,” and that is why Paul has chosen to be an apostle to the Gentiles (v. 7).
Matthew 6:25-33
Jesus may have told us to consider the lilies of the field the next time we get worried about our bank balance, but this same Jesus also once lamented the fact that “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head”
(Matthew 8:20). It’s hard not to be upset when we are insecure about the basics of living.
And yet these words are a reminder to us that we live in a secure, not a safe, universe. This is part of the promise of the first chapter of Genesis -- not that the word is created within the span of six 24-hour days, but that the stars don’t control our destinies... because God made the stars. The chaos of the waters will not dissolve the universe. God made the waters and set their boundaries. The universe is sensible, even if some of our actions and choices are senseless. People can get hurt out there, but a little good falls on everyone.
How can we come to see the world through the master’s eyes? How can we possibly take heart in the birds, or trust that our heavenly Father knows what we need? The key is in the last verse, to seek first the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness. Since we never have enough, since the richest among us worry about their finances as do the poorest, since there is always a way we do not measure up, what we can truly give thanks for is that Jesus offers us a totally different way of looking at the world -- a different lens in which we see that joy abounds and God’s will is merrily being done despite the evil that humans do, despite calamities and catastrophes that are only a part of the natural world as it is created. We will never be safe. We will always be secure. Thank heavens.
