On the Way to Wonder

N is for Noses

         When I think of Thanksgiving, I think of smells and aromas wafting through the house.  Perhaps it is the smell of fresh bread baking.  The smell of turkey in the oven makes me salivate.  Often as we near Thanksgiving I will buy a new candle with scents of cedarwood, sandalwood, cinnamon, nutmeg or amber – woody aromas.  These smells activate memories of pumpkin pie.

      The Bible often associates aromas and smells with pleasure and displeasure.

“15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. ( 2 Corinthians 2:15)”

Our sacrificial actions are aromas to God and to others.

      Noses are important in respiration or breathing, as well as in the offactory system of smelling.  The shape of our nose impacts our sense of beauty.  Noses that we associate with smelling, are not considered  of the same importance as eyes and ears and touch but our noses are associated with smell and memories.  We sniff the baby’s diaper to see if the child needs help to clean up a mess.  We sniff the air to detect if the meal is burning.  The smell of our husband’s shirt or cologne is comforting to the widow.  The perfume on a date can be arousing.  Campfires burning arouse memories of fun times.

      Let’s take time right now to thank God for our noses, not only their shape, not only the memories they gift us with, but also for their dialy role in our lives that we often take for granted. May our lives be an aroma that reminds another of God’s love.  What smells do you associate with Thanksgiving?

“Are you nuts?” is an expression that developed in the middle of the 19^th century possibly because our heads have a shape similar to a nut or possibly because our head is hard on the outside and the important stuff is inside.  The phrase can be referring to crazy ideas, actions, and even an institution, “nut house,” for someone with mental illness.  

         So why focus on this phrase in relation to Thanksgiving?  Nuts are the special treats that are put out at occasions like weddings, Thanksgiving, and Christmas meals.  They are not the main course, the meat and potatoes, but are a special treat that bring variety and if still in the shell, a challenge to eat.  I suspect nuts were more important to the original pilgrims that lived closer to nature than they are to us today.

         “I’m nuts about…” can also be an expression of love in a positive way.  It can be used to refer to someone or something you really care about and are willing to go to extremes for.  It could refer to “falling in love” but equally can refer to a grandparent being nuts about their grandkids and doing all within their power to help them grow up. God was nuts about his creation.  In chapter one of Genesis, after each outburst of creativity, God sat back and said, “It is good!”  He is so crazy about us that he walked through death to redeem us. 

         In fact, we have many idioms using “nuts.  Merriam-Webster defines “nuts and bolts” as “the working parts or elements” of some gizmo.

         Some people may consider Thanksgiving “nuts”, crazy spending money on food for relatives we often do not see, while others go “nuts” preparing an extravagant meal for those they love. But what are the “nuts and bolts” of Thanksgiving?  I would propose that we take a moment and stop worrying about all that calls to us and spend time working on our attitude of gratitude for the God who holds our lives, for the people whom we dearly love and even those who are a bit crazy and test our patience – this God and these people are part of our safety net in life.  Stopping to say “thank you” is the “nuts and bolts” for facing tomorrow.

 1 Thessalonians 5:  “¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not despise the words of prophets,^[e] 21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good; ²² abstain from every form of evil.”

Maybe nuts are not your thing for celebrations but I pray you are blessed with joy as you prepare.  Blessings.

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filledto the measure of all the fullness of God.  (Ephesians 3: 14-19)

After an extremely difficult time in our ministry, we moved to Nairobi for my husband to work at the national church headquarters.  A friend and I met weekly to hold each other accountable for working on a passage of scripture.  She chose this prayer by Paul found in his letter to the Ephesians.  It starts with Paul’s appreciation that all peoples on earth derive their name.  The appreciation that all people are humans to be respected is core in this prayer and Thanksgiving whether we agree with the exact historical unfolding of facts, acknowledges the humanity and value of the Indian Nations we lived with in the colonies.  We pray for power in the inner being of “the other” with whom we live and who enriches our lives with diversity.  And may we pray at this Thanksgiving that we would all be rooted in love for our fellow citizens who may be different than us in their beliefs and customs but who share space with us.  Appreciation helps us extend forgiveness when we are irritated with another.  lord, help us to look with eyes that see past color and language and can affirm the good in others.

“Attitude of Gratitude”

Maya Angelou is famous for her iconic quote, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Another anonymous person wrote, “It is not happiness that makes us grateful, it is gratefulness that makes us happy.”

The apostle Paul writes from prison in his letter to the Philippians chapter 4, “10 I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned for me, but had no opportunity to show it. 11 Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 14 In any case, it was kind of you to share my distress.”

This Thanksgiving time let us monitor our attitudes.  Are we beginning to fret about Christmas and shopping?  Do personal burdens of losses cloud our ability to see blessings?  The purpose of this holiday is that we are to stop work and go to our places of worship and thank our deity for the harvest and for the blessings of this year.  Few people do stop and worship.  Our attitudes are a choice that reflects our values.  Perhaps now, as we enter the Thanksgiving season, it is a good time to check our attitudes.  Paul had learned to be content in jail, in hunger, and in plenty because he focused on God and not on self.  Write the word “attitude” down the side of your paper and try and think of words that start with those letters that you can have an attitude of gratitude about.  Never forget that people will never forget how you made them feel. They’ll forget if the meal is less than perfect but they will remember you!  May you be a blessings this Thanksgiving with your attitude of gratitude.

Today Americans celebrate Veterans Day, originally known as Armistice Day.  Veterans Day honors the ending of World War 1 and calls us to reconfirm our commitment to peace.  On the 11th day of the 11th month at the 11th hour major hostilities in World War 1 ended. Yesterday many churches read the names of the fallen, played the songs of each branch of military service and sang the hymn “God Bless America.”

The first book of the New Testament opens with a genealogy of Jesus, “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham.”  Jesus’ rank, Messiah, and branch of service is noted.  He fulfills prophesies given Abraham and David.  Most of the names in the genealogy are unknown to most people who groan when they come to a genealogy.  I try to note how many I recognize from reading scripture daily.  But ultimately it is not important if I recognize them.  God knows them and honors them.  Their names are in the Book of Life.

We stand on the shoulders of our ancestors, both military ones we honor today, and those unknown names God remembers and honors.  The stories behind each name whether precious or unknown make us who we are today.  Some were brave heroes like David and others ran the race but limped over the finish line.

Let us take time today to thank God for our ancestors, the good, the bad, and the unknown.  Lord, help us to be people who bless those who walk in our footsteps.  Thankyou for going to the cross so that we can have a future of peace.

Psalm 33:20-22

20 We wait in hope for the Lord;
    he is our help and our shield.
21 In him our hearts rejoice,
    for we trust in his holy name.
22 May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,
    even as we put our hope in you.

Thanksgiving is a time when we theoretically say thankyou to the deity who has given us a bountiful harvest.  We are encouraged to turn our hearts from our worries to our blessings. Unfortunately the stress associated with getting ready for the feast or for Black Friday shopping preoccupies us. Many are still recovering from the impact of two hurricanes in the Southeast.  Others are still reeling from an election that did not bring about the results they believed in.  It’s hard to wash our mouths from that disappointment.

  But I have to ask myself if I rejoice because I receive what I want or because a faithful God has my back.  Psalm 33, possibly written by King David, focuses our thinking on the blessings we have from God, hope, help, shielding and unfailing love.  Marty Haugen has put Psalm 33 to music.  Let’s listen this morning and place all the concerns of our heart into God’s heart. Blessings as you listen

Let Your Mercy Be on Us

One of the ways a child can make a memorable Thanksgiving turkey is to draw the child’s hand print on a piece of paper or make a clay hand print,  The thumb becomes the head of the turkey and the four fingers become its tail feathers sticking up.  You have a memory gift and Thanksgiving has been celebrated.  Cute!

  Also my memory of Thanksgiving is that it takes lots of hands to put on a big family meal.  One family brings this and another that and the host does the turkey and that does not count all the other contributions.  The men use their hands to clap for football teams.  Us cousins would do the dishes with our hands and then do a family puzzle.  We always played “Button, button, who has the button” as our hands passed a button around under the long dinning table and then guessed who had it. Sometimes hands held cards for bridge or hearts. Hands usually are part of prayer.

      We have many idioms involving hands..  “Many hands make light work.” “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” And then when we want to claim something is beyond us, we say, “My hands are tied.”  Hands are important parts of our body.  We use our hands all the time.

      I love Isaiah 49: 15,16:

Can a woman forget her nursing child,
    or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these may forget,
    yet I will not forget you.
16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls are continually before me.

God says we are inscribed on the palms of his hands.  That makes me think of Calvary and the scars of his death on the cross.  His hands are not just the handprints we detect in a sunrise or sunset.  His handprint is seen in the smile and love of that child who makes the Thanksgiving turkey on a piece of clay for us.  His presence is felt in the hands that reach out and love us when we feel unloved.  The ELCA uses as their motto, “God’s work, our hands.”  Hands are important.

      Take time to think of how you use your hands to prepare the Thanksgiving feast, or how you use them to reach out to another.  Remember, love never ties hands but uses them to help others.  Blessings.

A CARDINAL TRUTH

In Everything Give Thanks

A story shared with me at breakfast recently.

  ​Do you have any landmark verses – truths God taught you during your journey of faith? Let me tell you about one of mine. It was 1985; my husband and I had just retired from overseas service. 

  ​At dawn one morning, the sound of knocking woke me up. I said to my husband, “Something’s knocking on our window.”  “It’s a red bird, a cardinal,” he said.  I jumped up, opened the front door, and shooed the cardinal away. “Go back to your own house in the woods,” I called.   ​The bird flew to a nearby tree, squawking and scolding but returned when I went back indoors.  To my dismay, this routine continued.  

Meanwhile, we needed jobs and a place to live.  We were ten years short of qualifying for Social Security. Where should we settle? Did we have any marketable skills?  Who would hire retired missionaries in their fifties?  Thirst for guidance was growing.

  ​One morning after the cardinal’s reveille, I curled up on the couch with my Bible.  Verses I’d memorized as a teenager trickled into my mind. “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” ​The words of 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 convicted me. I sensed that God had sent the cardinal to remind me to say thanks. So I said, with a tinge of sarcasm, “Thanks, Lord, for that stupid bird.”  ​I replayed our recent months In my mind.  I remembered that we had had to flee two countries with nothing and start over.  God had always provided all we needed in the next place. The next time that cardinal tapped on my window, I thanked God for reminding me how he had provided.

Thanksgiving is a time when we are encouraged to take time to go to our house of worship and thank God for the many ways he meets us when we are thirsty.  Maybe we are not thirsty for water but we could be thirsty for love, for affirmation, for safety.  Thanksgiving is a time to bring those thirsts to God.  Maybe a cardinal won’t remind you but perhaps there is something else that reminds you that God hears your prayers. 

​ That sounds like the end of my story. But I have to add a tad. Age-related Macular Degeneration, has made it mighty hard to  read and write stories and play the piano – two of my favorite things to do.  Updating this story has reminded me again to say, “Thanks. Lord” for those pesky “cardinals of life” remindIng me to bring my thirsts to you.

Many people will be thinking of eating turkey for Thanksgiving.  We have strong family traditions surrounding this holiday.  Thanksgiving signals Black Friday and the beginning of Christmas shopping and parties.  The Christian church will enter the Advent season.  The Pilgrims probably did not eat turkey at that famous meal we talk about for Thanksgiving.  And contrary to popular opinion, Benjamin Franklin did not want the turkey to be the national bird.  He wrote a letter to his daughter saying the eagle on the national stamp looked like a turkey. I was surprised to learn both these facts.  Not only was Thanksgiving not originally a prayer day but turkey probably was not eaten.

      “Turkey” is also a title given to a person who is considered dull and uninteresting. A person is called a turkey  surprises you by coming up with a silly step in a dance entertaining everyone or if the person gobbles out a response to surprise the listener.  In bowling, three strikes in a row is called “a turkey.”  Pardoning a turkey at Thanksgiving by the President of the United States is a tradition that started with Abraham Lincoln when a turkey was sent to the White House.  Fun. 

      As we draw near to Thanksgiving, we are going to use the letters of the word to direct our thought – reflections built around an acrostic.  I suspect many of us have felt like a “turkey,” a person of little appeal, dull, perhaps misunderstood.  Few of us get three strikes in a row bowling.  But the idea of being pardoned from death inspires me.  In Mark 5 there is a story of a synagogue leader, Jairus,  who comes to Jesus to plead for the life of his daughter who is on the edge of death.  We do not know her name.  She might be “every person facing death.”  In route to the house another nameless woman who has suffered from bleeding for 12 years sneaks up and touches Jesus’ hem and is healed.  Jesus calls this woman into voice.  “Who touched me?”  She must confess and in the delay, the news comes that Jairus’ daughter  has died.  Jesus  tells Jairus to keep the faith and goes to Jairus’ home anyway and raises the little girl.

  “41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” 42 And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). (Mark 5:41)” The girl is pardoned from death just like the turkey of Thanksgiving.  Both the girl and the woman are no longer dull, uninteresting, invisible people.  They are pardoned from their plight and have a story to tell.  I’m guessing they were super thankful and feasts were prepared.

      As we pause at Thanksgiving and think over this last year, may we remember the times when we felt like a dull “turkey”, condemned for being who we are.  But perhaps we can identify the hand of God reaching into our lives and giving us a new lease on life.  I know many are sad because death claimed the lives of loved ones this ast year, are sad because of economic and educational challenges, and many fear election results tomorrow, but let us ask God to open our eyes to see and remember that Christ can turn a dull turkey into a feast.  Suddenly our day can become a “three strikes in a row” day.  As we pray for the election tomorrow, let us remember to say “Thank You Lord!!  Blessings.

So how does belief become faith?  I may believe that someone is the President of the United States, but that does not mean I have faith in all the proposed policies debated over news broadcasts each evening.  Believing is not having faith.  Ephesians 2:8 shares, “By grace we are saved through faith..”  In Luther’s day indulgences were a big thing.  Indulgences were pieces of paper sold by roving priests like Tetzel that, if bought, guaranteed the forgiveness of a certain number of years in Purgatory by the Pope.

         “The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines purgatory as a          “purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of      heaven,” which is experienced by those “who die in God’s grace and          friendship, but still imperfectly purified” (CCC 1030). It notes that “this final purification of the elect . . . is entirely different from the punishment of the damned” (CCC 1031).”

Luther challenged this belief, creating a rift between Catholicism and Protestantism.  Both believe in Christ, have similar Bibles, and actually have much in common.  Faith alone says that it is not because of an amount of my faith or because of my purification that I can draw near to God but because of trusting in Christ’s work on the cross, that we are saved.  Faith alone is all that is needed to be in relationship with God.  There does not need to be further purification.  We are saint and sinner.

         A Biblical story that exemplifies the Protestant’s stand is the two thieves on the cross, Luke 23: 39-42.  Both men believed Jesus was on the cross.  Both seemed to believe that Jesus was a good guy.  Neither had access to theological training and they appeared to be ordinary people.  As the one thief  is dying, he turns to Jesus and says, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  There is no big theological understanding but he pleads for mercy and to be where ever Jesus is going to be.   Jesus responds, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”  Faith puts one’s life where one’s beliefs are.  I can agree that it is a chair but when I sit on it, I exhibit faith that it will hold me.  I can believe Jesus is a great person but when I trust him to guide my life and future, that’s faith.

         Many of us struggle with guilt over pass failures and in many subtle ways try to deserve God’s grace.  On the other hand, we may cast a critical glance at another and silently judge that their actions make them unworthy of God’s love.  It is not our actions but Christ’s actions that is important.  Faith alone is the means of receiving grace – salvation.  

         Today spend a moment forming an acrostic from faith.

         F ________________________________

         A ________________________________

         I ________________________________

         T _______________________________

         H _______________________________

Blessings as you trust in that relationship.