Tom Lenhart
Sermon November 19, 2006
“Thanksgiving and Consecration: They Go Together”
Deuteronomy 8: 7-18 and 2 Corinthians 9: 6-15

Let us pray.

              “The Madness of Mankind,” “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” and “The Dogma of Hell:” some of you may recognize one or more of these; they are sermon titles from a collection of the best American sermons preached over the last 400 years.[1] As I read these and other sermons in that collection, I concluded that I have been too easy on you. There have not been enough warnings in my sermons about our teetering on the precipice or on our slow side into the fiery pit, if we do not mend our ways. I am, of course, joking but these titles are a reminder to the preacher -- in this case to me -- of the risk that sermons even in this modern day are too often talking about the negatives of life -- about human failings and what we should or ought to do better.    Feeling chastened I want to take a different tack and talk about positives -- about things for which we can be thankful – at least in the beginning. (I may then backslide a bit.). It does seem appropriate to do so as this is both Consecration Sunday and the Sunday closest to Thanksgiving.

Our Hebrew Bible text from Deuteronomy is a portion of a sermon that Moses offered to the people of Israel as he was nearing the end of his life and as they approached the Promised Land.  Moses wanted them to remember what they had been given and for which they should be thankful.  As they entered the Promised Land, the people of Israel were about to receive the gift of life itself. They were freed from bondage and slavery in Egypt and from their wanderings in the dessert and were now on the verge of arrival at a land with fast-running streams and hills abounding in grains and fruits -- where with hard work there would be more than subsistence.  Indeed, there would be food enough to eat one’s fill and resources enough to make metals for tools and houses.

As we are about to celebrate Thanksgiving, our national holiday, what do you think Moses, if he were here, would have to say to us. I believe he would tell us to be thankful for many things; yet there are three that seem especially apt on this Thanksgiving and Consecration Sunday.  First are this land and this country.  One of the dividends of my prior life was frequent domestic and international travel. Like many of you I got to see more than my share of interchangeable hotel rooms and conference centers on trips. I’d wake up trying to remember – “If it’s Tuesday it must be Cleveland or is it Detroit?” But I also got to truly see the diversity and the magnificence of this land.  The words of the song, America the Beautiful, ring true: “God shed his grace on [this land].” Whether it is the Grand Canyon, the national mall in DC, the moss draped oaks of Mobile, Alabama, the evergreens and clear lakes of Northern Minnesota or the botanical delights of one’s own back yard, the Creator God’s gift to us is evident. Your list of places will be different than mine but I doubt anyone here would dispute the divine gift of this land or, indeed, of our world – this earthly home that safely transports us through space.

But, of course, it is not just the land but the aggregation of people bound to gather in covenant -- this nation -- that we reflect on at Thanksgiving. It is fashionable to talk about our nation and our world as being in a dark period and perhaps they are. But I cannot help but hold in thanksgiving the courageous acts of those who have come before and who have given us a nation of high aspirations and ideals. The statements and declarations which    guide our actions when we are at our best are extraordinary   The list of our guiding documents is long but two that Thomas Jefferson penned are exemplary of this legacy of ideals we have been given.  The first is the Declaration of Independence with its acknowledgement of the divine worth and value of every human being and the role of democratic government in protecting and enhancing that worth. 

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

The second are Jefferson’s lesser-known words embodied in   Virginia’s Statute for Religious Freedom:

“WHEREAS, Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens… tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy author of our religion, who being Lord of both body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as it was his Almighty power to do… [Now] Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion….[2]

As did the Israelites we have much to be thankful for. We have been given a legacy of the finest ideals any nation has ever received -- to be a nation of equality, of liberty, of freedom, of opportunity.  This is a land where a church and a temple and a Mosque can share the same street; where the children of different races and religions can play and learn together. Our practices may not match our ideals often enough but we labor on never fully or finally giving them up. To paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr. we still have a dream that one day this Nation will live out the full meaning of these ideals. Not giving up on that dream makes all the difference. And we are for that reason still the most desired place of destination and resettlement in our world.

            I think Moses would also remind us to be thankful for those who have come before us.  The list of the saints known and unknown and of the ordinary people who have made a difference in our lives is beyond count and spans those who we have never known and those who touched our lives directly. To Sabin and Salk and Walter Reed and Alexander Fleming and to Washington, Adams, Madison and Jefferson go our collective thanks. But on a more personal level each of us will have our own list of those who embody the great commandment – who have loved, nurtured and supported us: family (mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, grandparents) and friends.  And there are also those who have simply touched our lives at various times; teachers who saw something in us that we did not see in ourselves or coaches who bolstered our self esteem when we most needed it. For me it was a 7^th grade social studies teacher who opened unknown vistas of learning and a baseball coach who told me one day when I was pitching “don’t aim, fire -- I know you can do it.” These words of confidence and advice have come back to me in moments when self-doubt threatened to overwhelm. And, of course, there are those special people who have stood with us in our dark times and in our grief.  For all of these, let us rightly give thanks.

            And I think Moses would urge us to give thanks for the church and specifically for this church that has made and continues to make a difference within and without the walls of this building. Look at our “Making a difference” banner made by our children.  It highlights some of the ways we make a difference -- how we seek to be a community of faith. Worship is one of the ways highlighted on the banner.  It gives us time to pause in a too busy world, helping to re-center us when our compass seems to have failed. It is hard not to be uplifted and recharged by a service like last week’s Choir Sunday, whether by the magnificent music, by the presence of our children and young people sharing their gifts with us and with God, or by the words of the scripture readings and prayers. 

Our Christian Education program also makes a difference. Not only does it provide resources and lessons that--often unbeknownst to student and teacher--seep into a student’s mind to re-surface helpfully in a moment of uncertainty or crisis later in life.  Our education classes and discussions also serve as supportive environments in which to discuss  the important questions of life without fear of judgment or ridicule.  And in so doing we are all  -- children and adults -- reminded that we are loved and welcomed in this community and by God no matter what.

Next we have our Outreach banner decorated with socks. It reminds us of our efforts -- financial and otherwise -- to reach out to help those who are often most in need. Again this year as last year we will house and fed upwards of twenty people who, but for this church, would live on cold and inhospitable streets. No doubt we will make a difference in the lives of those who will feel the warmth of our building and of our hearts. But I suspect – indeed I know--this outreach makes a difference in those who volunteer and serve. For two years twice monthly I shelled out $16.67 for the homeless. $16.67 buys a dozen donuts and box of Joe (about twelve cups of hot coffee) at Dunkin Donuts. It was my contribution to the Outdoor Church’s Sunday morning service in Cambridge’s  Porter Square. Not much of a contribution but for the homeless that gathered it meant a lot--especially the hot coffee on very cold winter mornings. But what I got was vastly more important. I got to know and like and respect many folks who in prior times I would have ignored. I was profoundly reminded of the worth of all of God’s children. When I came back from meeting and preaching for the search committee here, it was my homeless friends who were most eager to know how it had gone and most encouraging. That’s the beauty of outreach, it touches us all.

And finally church fellowship: What’s there to say the morning after the night before?  Good fun, warm fellowship and money raised for others. Our fellowship activities make a difference. I particular enjoy not simply the events but the preparation times when people work together, laugh together, and help each other. There are the impromptu birthday celebrations in the midst of a board meeting or in the hall while setting up for this or that. So it is that this church makes a difference and we should be thankful for that.

            Deuteronomy reminds us, however, that we must not simply pat ourselves on our collective backs. Most assuredly our efforts drive these events and programs but Moses reminds us that as people of faith we acknowledge that the source for what we have to be thankful is God. “Bless God for the good land that he has given you.”  And so we should. Not simply for the land but the gifts of intelligence, discernment, and judgment bestowed on us that allow us to love kindness and to do justice. And bless God most especially for her love of us and the unmerited gifts of grace and forgiveness to us and for our capacity to love one another and to be loved---for that makes all the difference. It under girds all that we have to be thankful for. And because there is so much for which to be thankful; we should not confine our thanksgivings to one Sunday. Giving thanks is something we should do regularly.

            But there is more to consider about thanksgiving and it is highlighted in our passage from Corinthians. Thanksgiving is not simply about remembering and acknowledging all that we have to be thankful for. Yes it is about giving thanks but as some one recently said it is about “living thanks.” And that is where consecration enters in. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary defines consecrate as: “ to set apart, dedicate, and devote to the service of… God.”[3] These are active verbs, especially “devote”--so too is consecrate.  When I hear the word “consecration” I think of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. In it Lincoln wrote in 1863 some weeks after the battle

We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it above our poor power to add or detract.

And so it was that Lincoln noted a poignant thanks to those who had died at Gettysburg--nearly as many as died during the Viet Nam war – for their ultimate sacrifice for their nation. But this was not simply to be a moment of recollection.  Lincoln recognized that thanks required more – that to consecrate this land -- meant to commit to action -- to live out one’s thanks. And so Lincoln ended with these words:

“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

And so it was that the nation’s thank you was an active one involving a commitment to see the struggle for the Union and for emancipation through to completion.

            This is Consecration Sunday and we rightly acknowledge the generosity of the pledges received and devotion of time given to this church by so many. But our thank you must be active and alive. In Lewis Carroll’s sequel to “Alice in Wonderland” called “Through the Looking Glass”, there is a wonderful and telling exchange between Alice and the Queen. It is one of my favorite passages.  The Queen is trying to entice Alice to be her lady’s maid by offering her, “Two pence a week and jam every other day.”  Alice responds, “Well, I don’t want any [jam] today…” The Queen says, “You couldn’t have it if you did want it—the rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday, but no jam today.”  G. K. Chesterton, the British poet and mystery writer, referred to this as the “green pastures” illusion —jam yesterday, jam tomorrow but none today.  The risk is that we sometime engage in a kind of “Green Pastures” consecration. That is we reflect on that which has happened yesterday and muse about what we are going to do tomorrow but do not devote our efforts to service today. That is the challenge to us as we consecrate our pledges and our time– it is to put them to work today. In other words, we must not simply give thanks but live our thanks today.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “the church is ‘the world the way God means it to be.’” That is a very high bar. One we are not likely   to ever meet. But the point is that every day – we should be trying to make the church – this church the way God means the world to be. It is a daunting task but we are up to it. We are and will continue to make a difference. Thanks be to God!