Thanksgiving: in success; in suffering; through suffering; by the
Eucharist
By William Lyon Tupman. Preached at the Harvest Eucharist at St. Mary
Magdalene’s Church, Bolney.
18th Sept,
2016. Bible readings: Deuteronomy 26:1-11, Psalm 100, Philippians 4:4-9, John
6:25-35.
May
the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all our hearts, be acceptable in
your sight, O Lord our strength and redeemer. In the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today
we celebrate our harvest service here at St. Mary Magdalene; but why do we
celebrate the harvest, and how can we celebrate it?
We
can celebrate harvest by thanksgiving. Thanksgiving comes in a variety of forms
– you might have said “thank you” to the person who held the door open for you
this morning, or perhaps you felt thankful on Friday when you got home from
work without – too many – of the usual rush hour delays (?!).
The
harvest is a good time for us to remember God’s goodness to us, what He has
done for us, by creating us and the world, and what He does and will do for us
by sustaining us. There are many examples of thanksgiving we can relate to and
offer. Some of the ways how and the reasons for us offering our thanks to God
can be seen if we glance over today’s readings again.
We
can give thanks for God’s creation. He created us, as Psalm 100 which we heard
today says, adding that “we are his.” He has even created us in his own image,
as we’re told in Genesis. This is one of many reasons we can be thankful to
God; that we are all here because God has made us.
We
can all enjoy what God has created – the whole world. God has entrusted the
world to us to possess as a gift, as we see in the reading from Deuteronomy,
and that we can harvest and enjoy fruit, produce and other resources from the
land today.
I
also feel it’s important to remember that God openly invites us all to partake
in the harvest. Towards the end of our reading from Deuteronomy, there is an
invitation to celebrate the goodness and gifts that God gives “together with
the Levites and the aliens who reside among you”. I see this as an invitation
for us, the Church and her mission, as this community gathered here today, to
celebrate the harvest with everyone else, anyone who isn’t here today – or
wouldn’t normally be here. God’s invitation and His gifts are here for all,
since we are all created and sustained by Him.
We
can be thankful to God because He sustains us. The Church believes in the omnipresence of God
– that is to say, God is here and is present with us everywhere, sustaining the
creation He has lovingly made for us. As we heard in Psalm 100, God is good –
His love endures forever, and He is faithful to all generations.
So,
Psalm 100 and Philippians are very emphatic about giving thanks to God, saying
we should “make a joyful noise” to the Lord, and to “rejoice” for everything we
can think of that is good and worthy of praise. Now if things are going well,
or if something particularly good has just happened in your life – perhaps the birth
of a family member – you’ll naturally feel like rejoicing, giving thanks, or if
you’re musical making a joyful noise.
But
sometimes it is hard to give thanks. There is suffering in the world. Too often
the news reminds us of the unrest and violence in parts of the world like Syria;
we’ve seen the recent earthquake that shook and devastated parts of Italy; we
see the homeless in cities not far from here, such as in parts of Brighton and
Hove. There are crimes, illnesses, we suffer bereavements of loved ones, and there
are many other things which can really make it very hard at times to be
thankful for our lives, or for the world we live in.
Often
when one suffers, it is so easy to ask, “Where is God in all of this?” or, “Why
me?” or, “If God is all-loving and all-powerful, why didn’t He intervene to
prevent whatever bad has happened from happening?”. We turn to God in prayer,
and it’s almost like we expect God to answer in a particular way – perhaps the
way in which we think the problem should be solved.
But
it’s not that God doesn’t care about suffering; He cares greatly. The fullest
extent of God’s love and empathy is seen by how He sent His son to die on the
cross, to save us from our sins, before rising again in glory. God knows everything
that suffering can entail, and more.
Humanity
is most often to blame for suffering. Thinking back to Genesis 1, humanity was given
stewardship over God’s creation when He entrusted it to us. This gift comes with
a responsibility to care for our world. And yet, it is so often the failings of
humanity which results in suffering, such as when terrorism and other evils
occur.
Thinking
again about any problems we may face today, we might ask ourselves the
question: “What would Jesus do?” In Philippians, Paul says we should “not worry
about anything,” which is exactly what Jesus tells us in Matthew’s Gospel when
preaching His sermon on the mount. Is this a cop-out? Well, no, it’s not. The
Church believes that God is omniscient, or all-knowing. He is infinitely
superior compared to us; while He has made us intelligent human beings, our
intellect cannot compare with His infinite qualities. In Philippians we see how
God offers us His peace, even though it surpasses all understanding – all
understanding, apart from God’s.
When
we turn to God in prayer, in supplication or petition as well as praise, we can
be assured that God will answer our prayers. That’s a guarantee: God will
answer all of our prayers. At times, He might not answer them in the ways we
anticipate, or feel best or want. But He knows what is best for us; what we need
is to have faith that God knows what is best for us, and at an opportune time,
God will reveal this to us when we are ready. Just as God promised the
previously alienated Aramean in Deuteronomy much land and many descendants (two
of the most desirable possessions in Old Testament times), God provides for us
today, and will provide for us in the future. He will lift us out of any
difficulties we are in. What we need to do is to trust God in this. Jesus
throughout the Gospels emphasises the importance of having faith, in order for
many of His healing miracles to work. Is this a cop-out? Well, no, it’s not.
We’re not letting God off the hook, as He doesn’t let Himself off the cross.
We
can be thankful that God never abandons us, or loses faith in us. There’s a
beautiful poem called “Footprints” by Carolyn Carty, where she describes a time
when having walked along the beach with the Lord for a while, suddenly only one
set of footprints were visible – at the hardest time of her life. But in the
final stanza, we learn this wasn’t the Lord abandoning her in times of despair
– it was then that the Lord lovingly carried her.
I
can certainly relate to this; in the past, there have been times I have
experienced loss and bereavement in my life, and this brought me a temporary
period of suffering and unhappiness. But it was also this time when I realised
my absolute dependence on God, and from these times onwards particularly I
turned to Him in prayer. Now, I am so thankful that I am now very happy, and I
lead a good, successful and blessed life. This is all thanks to God, His
goodness, His guidance, Himself and working through others – family, friends.
At times in the past, I found it hard to see where God was in my life. I now
see how active He has been, and how active He is in my life. If we have faith
and trust in God, God will lift us out of all of our afflictions; for this we
can be truly thankful.
St.
Paul in today’s reading tells us if we keep on giving thanks, God himself will
be with us – God’s peace and His very self, and we are all invited to experience
this when we encounter Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The word
“Eucharist” – which we are all invited to partake of today – comes from the
Greek, “eucharisteo,”meaning to be thankful. The Eucharist is a formal act of
thanksgiving we show to God as His Church. When Jesus instituted the Eucharist
he gave thanks, before giving Himself to all his people, just as He did at the
Feeding of the 5,000. It is an act of thanksgiving through His suffering.
Every
time we partake of the Eucharist, here in the present, we participate in the
one perfect sacrifice Christ made for us. He instituted the Eucharist while He
was on the earth, and it gives us a foretaste of the Heavenely Banquet. This is
the same sacrifice we participate in. Jesus in today’s Gospel reading tells us
to work for the food that endures for eternal life – which Jesus Himself gives
us. Also, you’ll notice that Jesus in today’s Gospel speaks in the present
tense. We see how the bread of God comes down from Heaven, and gives life to
the world, and that Jesus says “I am the bread of life”. We are invited to come
to Him, so that we will never be hungry, and whoever believes in Him will never
be thirsty. These “will never” sayings are in the future tense, and to me are
an invitation, a wish of His for us to proclaim and celebrate the Eucharist
until He comes again in Glory. All of us can be truly thankful for this
foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet – which Jesus tells us will be “Paradise,” as
he says to those crucified with Him in Luke’s Gospel. God so freely offers us
this to all of us.
I
would like to invite you to pray with me this prayer of St. Richard. Let us
pray. Thanks be to you, our Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits which you
have given us, for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us. Most
merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother, may we know you more clearly, love you
more dearly, and follow you more nearly, day by day. Amen. In the name of God,
who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
