Luke 21:5-19

Trinity Parish Church - 25th Sunday after Pentecost

November 18, 2007

The Rev. Paul Collins

This coming week we will all celebrate the Feast of Thanksgiving.  For the early Puritans this was a profound event.  Most of their number had died of disease or starvation during the previous year.

It was also a profound gesture when President Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving Day as a new national holiday during the worst of the Civil War.  It is often true that those who have been through the worst are those who are also the most thankful.  Both cancer survivors and those who have had near-death experiences are often deeply grateful for even the smallest things of life.

For the rest of us, however, we may be too busy or too distracted, or even too worried to catch this spirit.

In many unnoticed ways our culture often wants to keep us from being thankful and happy and satisfied.  After 9/11 one of the first things President Bush asked us to do was to keep shopping.  We had to do our part to keep the economy going strong!  What a strange form of patriotism!

The church has another way, a different way.  Our Scripture and our tradition both teach us that at some point enough is enough, that we can free ourselves from our unconscious and driven need to acquire more material things.  As part of this old understanding, the church is always ready to teach us how to become deeply thankful before going through a deep crisis or emergency.

To grow spiritually is to become more and more thankful for what we have and for life itself.  This insight is found in all the ancient spiritual traditions, not just ours alone. 

Money and possessions simply become less important.  They don't become bad, they are still to be enjoyed, but they don't drive us to distraction.  Buying things ceases to be an addiction. 

Just a few years ago here in Seattle a new international movement began in Greenwood.  Known as the Simple Living or Simplicity movement, it has been a major influence on tens of thousands of people who have followed it.

In a few weeks we will have at Trinity John de Graaf, who has written about this in his book and movie Affluenza.  People have discovered that they can live very happily on far less than they thought.  One of the teachings of this movement reinforces the Christian Church's awareness.  As people acknowledge the deep thanksgiving which flows out of them, they also begin to desire to give back part of what they have received.

As a consequence, they tend to get more involved in their communities and start volunteering.  They also begin to support with their money those things they care deeply about.

I do not know if God wants you to pledge to Trinity Church in particular; that's up to you.  I do know that God wants each of us to become more and more thankful for what we have been blessed to receive.  And as part of that I believe God wants all of us to gratefully give back part of our blessings to the greater good. 

Please join with many of us here as we strive to help Trinity become an even better place for Holy Beauty, worship of God, and service to others.