Summary: If you did the assignment I gave two weeks ago, you will have read the entire Epistle to the Thessalonians and refreshed yourself with a tender, sincere, joyful, and life-giving message from Saint Paul. The Epistle is a challenge to a sober and fearful relationship with God. Laugher in the company of another is sure sign of the depth of friendship. We all laugh the loudest and longest when we are around those we know well, love, and treasure. A people who really love God and trust in God’s love for them are going to find humor, and smiles, and laughter even in prayer. I’ve always suspectedd that those who only run to God in some crises would have a hard time with this. When I was little I thought of God as the great problem solver, who would fix up my problems if I used the right prayers, repeated them in the right sequence, or prayed hard enough. God was like the cosmic gum-ball machine. If I put the right prayer in the slot, out would pop my good fortune. After failing a few tests in college and graduate school over which I had prayed more than studied, I got over it. What I’ve learned as I get older is that it’s fun to call friends when something really wonderful happens or when I’m laughing at myself over something foolish that I’ve done or said. They like those calls a lot better than if I would only call when I need somthing. Our relationship is a lot better. Thinking about and remembering things that make us happy, make us laugh leads to gratitude, and living gratefully is likely to keep us joyful throughout the day. If all you can think about and for that matter pray about is how bad everything is and how much trouble you have there will be no gratitude, and then there will trouble. “Rejoice always” says Paul to the church at Thessalonica. It was a church just like us that lived in the midst of human suffering and injustice having every reason to NOT be joyful. This makes me think of the great American spirituals. Listen to this: Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen Nobody knows but Jesus, Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen: Glory Hallelulia. Sometimes I’m up sometimes I’m down Oh yes, Lord. You know, sometimes I’m almost to the ground Oh yes, Lord. What a lasting sign of great faith in the African American Christian is this legacy in their hymns. These are not songs of passive resignation, they are freedom songs of joy consitent with divine revelation: Glory Halleluia! they sing in the midst of slavery and misery. How can they do that except that they are in love with God and live in faith. Joy, deeper than happiness, is a virtue that finds its foundation in the knowledge that we are loved by God. It does not mean that suffering does not bring sadness, and that injustice is not wrong and evil, but it does mean that suffeirng is not the last word in the life of Jesus or for us. That knowledge leads to Joy. Joy, Prayer, Gratitude are what Paul urges us to practice. They are bound together. Joy springs out of a grateful heart, yet Joy can lead us to gratitude. Our joy over good news moves us to gratitude and it moves us to prayer. In Joy we want to be with God. Sharing a joyful life gratefully in prayer is what brings us to this holy place. Yet as soon as I begin to think this way, I begin to wonder: “Why is it that churches fill up when there is a disaster, and are half empty when things are good?” Half the problems I listen to as your pastor come from evil, injustice, mean, and sinful behavior. The other half come from taking ourselves way too seriously and lacking a sense of humor about how silly we really are, how we get things all out of proportion, and let little things seem ten times bigger and more important than they really are in the grand scheme of things. Humor and Humility are very close friends. Those puffed up Pharisees in today’s Gospel were taking themselves way to seriously. Jesus pokes a little fun at them with their widened phylacteries and their great long tassels, and in their pride they can’t take it. With that the message is lost on them. It cannot be so with us. Joy, Prayer, Gratitude are important virtues, and each supports the other. When one is missing, the others fade away. Prayer awakens gratitude. Gratitude leads to Joy. Joy leads to prayer; and this is Paul’s simple advise to us today given nearly two thousdand years ago. We still need to hear it.
