Returning the Blessings

November 6, 2011

Rev. Dr. Craig Strobel

Psalm 116

1 I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;

he heard my cry for mercy.

2 Because he turned his ear to me,

I will call on him as long as I live.

3 The cords of death entangled me,

the anguish of the grave came upon me;

I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.

4 Then I called on the name of the LORD :

"O LORD, save me!"

5 The LORD is gracious and righteous;

our God is full of compassion.

6 The LORD protects the simplehearted;

when I was in great need, he saved me.

7 Be at rest once more, O my soul,

for the LORD has been good to you.

8 For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death,

my eyes from tears,

my feet from stumbling,

9 that I may walk before the LORD

in the land of the living.

10 I believed; therefore I said,

"I am greatly afflicted."

11 And in my dismay I said,

"All men are liars."

12 How can I repay the LORD

for all his goodness to me?

13 I will lift up the cup of salvation

and call on the name of the LORD.

14 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD

in the presence of all his people.

15 Precious in the sight of the LORD

is the death of his saints.

16 O LORD, truly I am your servant;

I am your servant, the son of your maidservant;

you have freed me from my chains.

17 I will sacrifice a thank offering to you

and call on the name of the LORD.

18 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD

in the presence of all his people,

19 in the courts of the house of the LORD—

in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the LORD.

Opening joke:

A man had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. He could receive little company and was not to be excited. While in the hospital a rich uncle died and left him a million dollars. His family wondered how to break the news to him with the least amount of excitement. It was decided to ask the preacher if he would go and break the news quietly to the man. The preacher went, and gradually led up to the question. The preacher asked the patient what he would do if he inherited a million dollars. He said, "I think I would give half of it to the church." The preacher dropped dead.

I want to tell you a story that warmed the cockles of this father’s heart. And it’s a sort of brag or shout out about my youngest daughter. She’s not here, and she doesn’t know that I know about this. Last weekend when I was in Portland for a meeting, I stayed with my mother. As I was standing in the kitchen, I had an opportunity to glance through some of the mail she had received and came across a card sent to her recently from Dawn. The card was a thank-you note from Dawn, in response to a Halloween card my mom had sent her. Inside was a nice long note telling Mom what she was doing in school, the play she was in, finishing cross-country and so on. I know my Mom loved getting that note, and tears almost came to my eyes that Dawn would remember to take time out to hand write a thank you note. What really touched me was that she had received a blessing from her grandmother, and she returned the blessing with a personal note.

What blessings will we return to God for all that we have received from God? That’s the question I would like us all to consider for the next three weeks. What will we return?

This is the question the Psalmist deals with in this morning’s scripture litany that we read together. The Psalmist begins out by describing how dire his situation was:

I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;

he heard my cry for mercy.

Because he turned his ear to me,

I will call on him as long as I live.

The cords of death entangled me,

the anguish of the grave came upon me;

I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.

Then I called on the name of the LORD :

"O LORD, save me!"

But God came to the rescue, God blessed the psalmist with life, because God is compassionate and merciful. Then the psalmist asks the crucial question:

“How can I repay the LORD

for all his goodness to me?”

We have been blessed. What will we return? How can we repay the LORD? The Psalmist immediately knows the answer:

“I will lift up the cup of salvation

and call on the name of the LORD.

I will fulfill my vows to the LORD

in the presence of all his people.”

Stewardship begins as the spiritual practice of recognizing and acknowledging that we owe our very existence to that which is beyond us, that which is greater than us. All of life is given to us – as an act of grace. The question is – how will we care for this gift given to us? This question is perhaps the most basic and the most profound human question. We are all gifted in many ways, and caring for the gifts given to us is a deeply significant act of gratitude. But the gifts are not for us alone, they are for the world. They are for our families and communities as well.

Stewardship reminds us that we are part of what I call the Great Chain of Blessing. Blessing flows through us. Our purpose in life is to be agents of accomplishing God’s will in the world/universe.

“Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

When we pray this we are dipping into the stream or flow of intentionality, of purpose present in the universe – the universal, cosmic expression of the will of God. Giving is being in the flow of God’s intentionality.  Give is verb form, gift is noun form. World is a gift of God. We are most like God when we give: “God so loved the world that he gave…”

We are approaching the time of year in which many of us will gather with family or friends or members of the community to celebrate Thanksgiving. It is appropriately set at the time of year after much of the produce grown in our communities has been harvested. We pause at this time not only to eat of this bounty, but to stop and give thanks to God for the bounty.

Giving thanks reminds us that we really have very little to do with producing all that we have been blessed with. Think of it, in regards to food:

Did you put together the DNA in those seeds to organize itself to grow, and to convert air and water and minerals powered by sunlight into proteins and carbohydrates to form into roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruits?

Consider what you are made of

Consider all the things that sustain your existence

Consider all the things that you use at your place of work –

·      Where did they come from?

·      Who made them?

·      Where did the raw materials come from?

·      Where did the rain and sunshine come from?

·      Where did the silicon, the copper, the gold, the iron come from to make up our computer circuitry?

·      Where did the petroleum that is made into plastic come from?

·      Meditate upon your cell phone, or your computer, or your TV or CD player…

Giving reminds us of this flow, this continuity of intention and blessing, of which we are a part. Spiritual problem: we forget our place in the universal flow of blessing, of intention. Spiritual solution instituted by God: practice of giving. That is what stewardship is all about: returning the blessings we have received in order to become more like God. Genesis declares that humans were made in the image of God. When we give, we are most true to this divine image: “God so loved the world that he gave…”

The Church exists in order to be a conduit of blessing – to allow God’s blessings to come to us, go through us and out into the world. We are all called here to be instruments of God’s blessing of the world. We have been blessed. What will we return?

“How can I repay the LORD for all his goodness to me?”

Closing story:

At age 16 Andor Foldes was already a skilled pianist, but he was experiencing a troubled year. In the midst of the young Hungarian's personal struggles, one of the most renowned pianists of the day came to Budapest. Emil von Sauer was famous not only for his abilities; he was also the last surviving pupil of the great Franz Liszt. Von Sauer requested that Foldes play for him. Foldes obliged with some of the most difficult works of Bach, Beethoven, and Schumann.

When he finished, von Sauer walked over to him and kissed him on the forehead. "My son," he said, "when I was your age I became a student of Liszt. He kissed me on the forehead after my first lesson, saying, 'Take good care of this kiss--it comes from Beethoven, who gave it to me after hearing me play.' I have waited for years to pass on this sacred heritage, but now I feel you deserve it."

God says the same thing to us. We have been showered with blessings too numerous to mention. But when we come to church, God comes and gives us one kiss on the forehead. “Take good care of this kiss. It is the kiss of life. It comes from my Son who gave his life that you might have yours. Take good care of this kiss.”

(From Andor Földes, "Beethoven's Kiss," Reader's Digest, November 1986, 145. One online reference is at http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=4530)

What will we do with that kiss?

What will we return to bless this world that God loves so much?