November 10 Thanksgiving – *2 Thessalonians 2.1-5, 13-17,
Luke 20.27-38 “Thanksgiving - For All Others” Pastor Jacqueline Hines
During All Saint’s Day which we celebrated last
week, the question often emerges, “Do United Methodists believe in Saints?” The
answer of course is “yes.” As Christians, the Holy Spirit lives
in us! Marvelous work is being done in
us and through us to fulfill the awesome plan of God. “Yes,” we are saints.
A saint is simply someone
who is “set apart” just as we are today in this sanctuary. We have separated
from other people and places, in order to keep this appointment with God and
with one another. It’s not because we are more important or more valuable. We
want to spend some quality time with the Sacred One. We have heard the
invitation in that book of the bible called Song of Songs. It is an invitation from
one who loves us, saying “Come away with me…” So we have come. We have come to “con
sacred“ “consecrate” ourselves, to purge and purify our hearts, minds, and
souls. We are saints, indeed – always willing to receive God’s lavish love for
us. Always ready to share that bountiful love with others.
Not all of us will be famous
saints like those talked about among our brothers and sisters in the Catholic
Church, the Episcopal Church, and the Lutheran Church. They acknowledge saints known
as patron saints whose lives are
marked by some extraordinary or miraculous event. Such saints are said to protect
and defend others in various circumstances. For example, St. Paul who
wrote most of the New Testament is the patron saint of writers. We have heard
of St. Patrick the patron saint of Ireland, St. Francis who loved animals, St.
Nicholas the patron saint of money, St. Joseph carpenter and patron saint of
the home, St. Mary patron saint of mothers, St. Valentine patron saint of love,
St. Joan of Arc patron saint of soldiers, St. Jude patron saint of things that
cause despair and heartache, and St. Elizabeth patron saint of expectant mothers.
Jesus
assures us that those saints who have left this life as we know it are very
much alive. However, it is not included in our Methodist teaching or doctrine to
ask them to say special prayers for us.
We have not gone so far as
to create beautiful prayer cards with pictures of saints. We may enjoy baseball
cards of stars and little blurbs about their famous plays and statistics, but
it is not our Methodist tradition to possess cards that tell of the mission and
miracles of the saints.
Ecumenical gatherings and
family socials can be very enjoyable because of the many different and
delightful religious traditions we share among denominations. There are also
those times when we wonder about other traditions or we frown at their
doctrine. Arguing about religion can be like taking a juicy steak away from a
pit bull.
We may all have ideas that
we hold on with a dogged determination. Holding on too tightly puts us at risk
of generating dogma instead of doctrine. Church doctrine guides us in the most
peaceful and powerful relationship with God and one another that we can
possibly have at a particular time.
Church dogma separates
us from each other. Church dogma would always rather fight than switch, or
shift, or change, or adapt, or detour, compromise, or continue as if our
Covenant matters. Dogma is what Jesus confronted when he said the Pharisees “worship
me in vain; their teachings are mere rules taught by men.“
After hearing the sound
doctrine of Jesus, the Pharisees took up arms. They fought to the death. Experts
today, in the church and outside the church, are fighting tooth and nail, like
the Pharisees of Jesus’ time, not for God’s sake, but for profit and
self-importance.
This very week there have
been discussions about keeping trans fats or hydrogenated oils in foods, though
some consider them unsafe because they lower good cholesterol and increase bad
cholesterol.
The bible teaches us how to
fight for what we believe, but in a different way than the world fights. The biblical
pattern for fighting for what we believe is to fight to protect and defend the
abused and the neglected, not to fight one another. The biblical pattern for
fighting is not to fight when you want to fight. It is to fight when God
directs you to fight. God is the General in charge, and we do well to wait for
our orders.
Doctrine unites us. Dogma
divides us. Every society has ideas by which they are indoctrinated. Every
church and denomination has its written doctrine, legally binding teachings.
Our United Methodist doctrine is found in the Book of Discipline.
Our biblically based
doctrine needs to be prayerfully studied, carefully reviewed, and diligently pondered
with the assistance of the Holy Spirit. That’s why Christian education is so
important. Sunday School and bible study provide a solid foundation that keeps
dogma from undermining the integrity of the House of God.
Bethel members talk often about
building a house well. Some know of homes built so well that while every house
on the block has water in the basement, they don’t. We’ve smiled about one home
where every door frame is perfectly level, and not even a mouse can get into the
house. Sound doctrine helps us to build our
spiritual house well. Our children deserve an excellent house of God to grow up
in spiritually as do we all.
Paul taught sound doctrine.
It was often controversial, and dogmatic opposition would come out of the
woodwork. In Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica, he taught the
controversial issue of Jesus’ second coming. Some call it the
Rapture. In verse 1 of chapter 2 he says – “As to the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and
sisters, 2not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by
word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is
already here.”
There were some who were
teaching that Jesus has already returned. It was very upsetting to think that
Jesus had returned and left them behind. It was very upsetting and it shook
them up quite a bit. In his letter to the church in Thessalonica, he set the
record straight. Paul puts on his pastor’s hat and tells the church not to be
shaken up by the dogma, which were mere human ideas.
It is almost impossible to
talk about religious issues without being emotionally shaken up and confused sometime.
How do we avoid being confused and shaken up as Paul suggested? The Holy Spirit
working in us helps us. While considering whether something is sin or not,
right or wrong, good or evil – the Holy Spirit helps us keep that conversation
going with God and with one another.
When we wrestle with the
rightness or wrongness of teachings such as infant baptism versus being old
enough to choose; gender issues such as women wearing pants; or same sex
marriage, the Holy Spirit helps us to be grounded instead of flying off the
handle. The Holy Spirit helps us to be more clear than confused. The Holy
Spirit helps us to be more devoted than divided. Without the Holy Spirit, we can’t
do what Paul directs the church to do – stop being shaken up, stop being
deceived.
There is no way to wake up
one day with the guarantee that we will never be shaken or mistaken,
but if we are bent and determined to stay on the journey toward peace, the Holy
Spirit is just as determined to help us.
Along with counseling the
church to not be shaken up, Paul gives thanks for the people of the church. He
understood that our attitude of gratitude for one another creates an atmosphere
for good things to happen. It defeats any dogma that we have created when we
hold tighter to our ideas than we hold on to God.
Our gratitude creates an
atmosphere for sharing until all are satisfied, until we loosen our grip
on what is ours long enough to let go and let God. Our gratitude creates an
atmosphere where Jesus helps us to check our dogma at the door, saying ‘the one
without sin should cast the first stone, or go and sin no more.’ Our attitude
of gratitude creates an atmosphere where much fruit is produced – much love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness (generosity), faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control.
As long as we humbly teach
the soundest doctrine we know and fight, not for profit or self-importance, but
to protect and defend each other, especially the least the last and the lost, our
chances of being shaken and thrown of course will give way to gratitude for
each other, and wherever we go there will be an atmosphere ripe for something
more delicious and nutritious than we can ever imagine. May the spirit reveal
the truth to each of our hearts today. Amen.
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