Indescribable Gifts

Sermon preached by the Rev. Sue Judson Hamly on Nov. 23, 2008 at Faith United Church, UCc, International Falls, MN.
Thanksgiving Sundsy

Scripture texts: Psalm 100 and 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Thanksgiving is a day—or maybe a season—of counting our blessings, perhaps finally remembering to be thankful for something, eating more than we should and hopefully spending a day or a weekend with people we enjoy.

That’s pretty much your basic American Thanksgiving, in a nutshell. But besides eating all that delicious turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie and whatever other goodies are part of your Thanksgiving dinner, this is a day that is—or at least should be—about celebrating the indescribable gifts of God.

Psalm 100 tells us HOW to celebrate. Even though our Puritan ancestors didn’t believe in music or decorations, the Psalmist tells us that we should make a joyful noise to the Lord and come into God’s presence with joy, gladness, singing, thanksgiving and praise. Why should we do this? Because the Lord is good! God can be trusted. God’s steadfast love endures forever and God is faithful to all generations. We can be thankful because we have witnessed this—both personally and through the stories of the Bible.

In today’s second reading, Paul seeks to explain to the Corinthians about God’s indescribable gifts of surpassing grace. This passage is a good stewardship text reminding us that how we sow (sparingly or bountifully) determines how we reap. It is the text from which we gained that “old saying” you’ve probably heard many times in your life, “God loves a cheerful giver.” It also reminds us that no matter what our personal complaints, we truly have been provided with blessings in abundance, which in turn enable us to do good works, to be generous, to share those blessings and to produce thanksgiving to God.

But you’ve heard all that before in one form of sermon or another. Today isn’t the time for the usual. Today isn’t the time to just count your regular blessings. Today is a day to think about some indescribable gifts and to give thanks for God’s extravagant love.

I’ll give you a few seconds to think about what an indescribable gift might be………. I saw some of God’s truly indescribable gifts 6 months ago in the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. Many of you have seen similar places of incredible wonder and majesty.

But this morning I am thinking of one of the most indescribable gifts God gives to us—the gift of special people who grace our lives and our hearts.

We have all been touched by many people who have passed through or still share our lives. As a congregation we have been blessed three times over, in recent years, to have three clergy persons as members of our church—Arden, Jill and Leo. We knew we would be saying “so long and Godspeed” to Jill today, but we didn’t expect to be saying farewell to Arden as well.

When Rowland started working in one of the big Lutheran churches in Decorah, he told me that the minister would get phone calls every Monday morning from several retired clergy in the congregation telling him what was wrong with his sermon the day before. Can you imagine?! Now there’s a reason for taking Mondays off—hopefully people will have forgotten the sermon by Tuesday! Our clergy members have always been totally supportive, encouraging and helpful, and for that I am eternally grateful. And I realize what a blessing they are!

Arden always demonstrated the extravagant welcome the UCC currently uses as part of our PR campaign. Some people might joke, “go see Sue, she’ll marry anybody,” but Arden agreed that marrying a couple who might never darken the church door again was the caring thing to do. One never knows when the seeds we sow may bear fruit. He respected everyone and saw the best in them and he knew in his heart that God loves everyone and so should we.

I want to tell you one story that I can’t tell at the memorial service on Tuesday because there will be people there from the churches Arden served. But it’s a story you need to hear if you haven’t heard it before, and be reminded of if you have. Arden served his last church for 22 years. Not long after I came to Faith United, he told me that when he retired he had “had it up to HERE” with the church. (Only Arden was quite a bit taller than I am, so he had had it up to here [holding hand a foot above my head]. Congregations don’t always treat their pastors well all the time and there had also been a Conference staff person whose comments and actions had been hurtful to him. But Arden found that coming here to Faith United Church and being a loved and welcomed member of this congregation was “so healing” and was exactly what he needed.

So, you see, you have been an indescribable gift to Arden, and he was certainly an indescribable gift to us!

In May, 2005, another clergy friend of mine died of cancer. His name was Donel McClellan and he served the UCC church in Bellingham, WA. Donel shared his dance with cancer (as he called it) by way of a blog on the internet. One day he had an experience at an International House of Pancakes that inspired him to write what he called “The Pastor’s Last Sermon.” He posted it at the time he wrote it, along with his thoughts. Then his son posted it again as the final entry to Donel’s blog the day he died.

I share it with you now because it speaks of God’s love and a pastor’s musings on life and love, and I think Arden would agree…….

Breakfasting at IHOP
The man in the next booth
finished talking to his wife
on his walkie-talkie.
He said:

God bless!
I love you.
I'm gone!

I swiped the words
thinking they were the ideal
obituary.

God Bless!
What more can be
said about life?
Every morning is an
undeserved gift. Each
evening a blessing.
If not blessed, then
life is something less
than was promised.

I love you
sums up the prophets
and the law. To love
and be loved is life's
greatest promise
and our finest achievement.
Love trumps dislike,
finesses anger and spite,
defeats ennui.
In the end there is faith
hope and love.
You know
which is the greatest.

I'm gone.
I suspect this is a finality
only from the perspective
of the living.
Who is to say to where
I have gone when I depart
this breathing
physical body?
I'm gone suffices--
and contains within its finality
the hope of another meeting,
as when the man in IHOP
returns home to love's arms.[1]

God’s indescribable gifts are treasures and blessings for always. AMEN.

Endnote
1. http://hellbox.org/donel/