thanksgiving – Page 4 – The Noontimes

Judith 16: Praise in Celebration

Monday, May 18, 2020

Praise in Celebration

During the shelter-in-place practiced in much of the world during the Covid 19 pandemic, we know that domestic abuse, and abuse against women in particular, will rise sharply. Let us remember that although we “turn the other cheek” to offense, we never promote the idea that anyone remain with an abuser. Wherever we are, whenever we find violence in the home, we look for help for ourselves or others. A helpful resource and hotline in the U.S. can be found at https://www.thehotline.org/help/

Imagine the consternation that would stir in hard hearts if instead of subjugating women we celebrated them as this canticle does: The Lord Almighty thwarted them, by the hand of a female!

Imagine the change that might take place in the world if we allowed our love of God to shine from our eyes and go forth from our mouths: Judith, the daughter of Merari, by the beauty of her face brought him down.

Imagine the world as a place where we helped those who have few or no resources rather than took advantage of the vulnerable: When my lowly ones shouted, and my weak ones cried out the enemy was terrified, screamed and took to flight.

Imagine the impact our lives might make on the world if this could be sung about each of us when we have died: During the lifetime of Judith and for a long time after her death, no one ever again spread terror among the Israelites.

The Canticle of Judith holds dreadful, vengeful, Old Testament imagery that celebrates retaliation against our enemies. It also reveals the coming of the New Testament when Christ tells us that a new Way has come to dwell in us. We are to turn the other cheek and pray for those who brutalize others; we are to heal the wounded with soft words and gentle gestures; we must take risks with Christ and trust in the guidance of the Spirit; and we are called to witness to the coming of this newness. We are called to be one of the powerless, one of the vulnerable, one of the abused disciples of this New Way. And we are called to witness and celebrate God’s gift of discipleship to us.

Judith 16 is a famous canticle of praise for the woman who dares to do God’s will against all advice, against all odds. Her tools are not power and influence that she has gleaned for herself; rather, they are her beauty and her fidelity to God, both gifts from her creator.

Let us pause today to thank God for all we are given. Let us sing a canticle of praise, and let us imagine how the world would be if we all believed that we can do the impossible by following God’s voice . . . just as Judith does. And let us imagine the impact our lives might make on the world if this could be sung about each of us: During her lifetime, and for a long time after her death, no one ever again spread terror among the Israelites.

Tomorrow . . . a prayer in celebration . . . Pentecost . . .

Image from: http://preraphaelitepaintings.blogspot.com/2009/06/frederick-sandys-judith.html

A re-post from May 18, 2013.

May 18, 2020

beauty, Canticle of Judith, celebration, discipleship, fidelity, God’s voice, Pentecost, thanksgiving, The Way

Isaiah 62:1-2: I will not be silent . . .

Easter Friday, April 17, 2020

Isaiah 62:1-2: I will not be silent . . .

During this Eastertide we have celebrated our rescue from the depths. We have praised God for the goodness and mercy shown to us. We have spent time with the stories that so vividly tell us of God’s love for us. Today we reflect on our response. Do we sing out in gratitude . . . or do we remain silent?

We will always find imperfection in the relationships with our loved ones. This one refuses to see common sense. That one continues to repeat a cycle of failure. Despite all of this . . . we must remember to ask God for more patience. And we must not remain silent.

We will always find obstacles when we interact with our neighbors or our work colleagues. This one is recalcitrant. That one is toxic. Despite all of this . . . we must remember to ask God for more wisdom. And we must not remain silent.

We will always have a different perspective on life from members in our worship community, from those who actively lead us in civic life. This one is deceitful. That one is too simpering. The other is too strident. Still the other lacks compassion or common sense. Despite all of this . . . we must remember to ask God for more prudence. And we must not remain silent.

We will always suffer sorrow. We will always experience strife. No one is immune from life’s whimsical turnings. Each of us will have need to call on God for clarity and support. Each of us will need to heft some of our burden onto Christ’s broad shoulders. There is a guarantee that each of us will want to hide in the hug of God’s embrace. None of us is exempt from life’s brutal surprises.

God knows all before we dream it. Christ walks with each of us although we might not believe it. The Spirit dwells within us to abide with us through our sorrows and joys. No one is immune from this promise. No one is exempt from this truth.

We have experienced the transformation of Easter. We are loved and protected by God; we are touched and held by Christ; and we are consoled and counseled by the Spirit. So let us be patient. Let us be wise. Let us be prudent. Let us be grateful. Let us be loving. And above all . . . let us tell the world about God’s immense care and love for us. Let us never forget to tell this good news. Let us always remember to give thanks . . . for we must never, not ever, remain silent.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Edmund Burke, an Irish statesman who stood in support for the colonists in the American Revolution.

To read more about Burke, click on the image above or go to: http://www.padfield.com/1997/goodmen.html or http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/burke.html

April 17, 2020

healing, love, patience, prudence, thanksgiving, wisdom

Sirach 8 & 9: A Prayer for Friends and Friendship

Tuesday, February 25, 2020: Sirach 8 & 9 – Part III

A Prayer for Friends and Friendship

The wisdom of Proverbs and Sirach may be dismissed as childish or old-fashioned, but this week we have seen the depth and breadth of their astuteness and their keen understanding of human nature. Today we see these verses as a welcome counterpoint to the material world and its headlong rush to acquire all that is new; we strive to keep all things in balance: Spurn not the discourse of the wise, but acquaint yourself with their proverbs; from them you will acquire the training to serve you in the presence of princes. Reject not the wisdom of the old ones which they have learned from their elders; from it you will obtain the knowledge how to answer in time of need. (Sirach 8:8-9)

In our modern age of hyper-communication we might draw into ourselves in fear as we hear constant news of conflict and violence. We may be tempted to look at all that is wrong and forget to look for all that is right with the world. Anxiety may outweigh optimism. Fear may trump trust. Self-protection and avoidance of vulnerability may outweigh our courage to enter into friendship with sincerity and integrity. If this is so, and if the familiar stories in scripture do not inspire us, we will want to return to the wisdom captured by Jesus ben Sirach, for he has much to offer us.

And so we pray in gratefulness for our true friends and in thanksgiving for the presence of Christ in our lives . . .

Good and gracious God, I thank you for the true friendship you have shared with me in the person of my friends. Keep me ever aware of their value. Remind me to thank them often. Guide me in returning their nurturing care of my humanity. Help me to recognize their divinity, just as these true friends affirm my divinity when I reflect you to them. Thank you for adopting me as your daughter. Remind me often that I am a citizen of the next world rather than one of this. Give me the patience to wait while the wine of relationships ages. I ask this in Jesus’ name, together with the friendship of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Let us give thanks today for the gift of friendship.

Image from: http://www.cherrybam.com/friendship-quotes.php

For more wisdom from this text, type the “Sirach” into the blog search box and choose a reflection.

February 25, 2020

Christ, proverbs, thanksgiving, wisdom

Sirach 8 & 9 – Part I: Staying Within Our Means

Saturday, February 23, 2020

Sirach 8 & 9 – Part I

Staying Within our Means

We have been visiting with the Book of Sirach all week. Today and tomorrow we will want to spend time with Chapters 8 and 9 and think about how we spend our fiscal, physical and spiritual cash. We will want to ask ourselves if and how and even why we will want to stay within our means.

Many hurdles in life are too big for us to handle. We live in a society that tells us that we can do anything once we put our minds to it; but this is not true. We must recognize the limits with which we are born, assess our strengths, find our best talents and gifts, and use them well. This is also true of our spirituality. We are each endowed with a God-center in our brains which scientists have seen activated in meditating monks and nuns with brain scans. And each of these God-centers is likely to be as different as our physical being. It follows, then, that some of us feel more keenly the desire to seek God than others. I am guessing that some may not feel this desire at all . . . and these are people whom only God can reach. It is for these wounded souls that I pray each day.

Sirach urges us to steer clear of the quickly angry, the powerful, influential and rich. Kindle not the coals of a sinner, lest you be consumed in his blazing fire . . . Provoke no quarrel with a quick-tempered man, nor ride with him through the desert; for bloodshed is nothing to him, and when there is no to help you, he will destroy you. For my part, these words ring true.

In Chapter 9 we read more advice about becoming ensnared in matters which will take us beyond our own control mechanism. We are asked, in other words, to know and understand our weaknesses and strengths . . . to go not surety beyond our means (verse 8:13) . . . to exercise restraint where we know we have no strength . . . to take God with us everywhere we go . . . to include God in every relationship we enter.

This is the challenge we offer ourselves today as we continue our Lenten journey.

Image from: http://www.ehow.com/how_6140444_seed-money-inventors.html

Tomorrow – The Measure of Friends

February 23, 2020

gifts, restraint, talents, thanksgiving, wisdom

Sirach 51: Canticle of Thanksgiving

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Sirach 51: Canticle of Thanksgiving

When we feel as though we are about to slip into the abyss, when it seems as though we have nowhere to turn, there is one place we can always find comfort. No matter how many times we visit this book of wisdom written by Jesus ben Sirach it always feels new. As we linger among these verses of the last chapter, we might pause to add the details of our own lives amidst the ancient words. In so doing, we move from darkness into light, from our own timeline to God’s. We may even end each phrase with the details of our own journey to God. Again, we find that the faithful do not need to fight. They must be willing to do one thing . . . to refuse to take any action that will separate them from their God . . . and be willing to wait for the harvest to arrive . . . in due season.

Dear God,

You have saved me from death, and kept my body from the pit . . .

You have delivered me, in your great mercy, from the scourge of a slanderous tongue, and from lips that went over to falsehood . . .

You have delivered me from deceiving lips and painters of lies, from the arrows of dishonest tongues . . .

I turned every way, but there was no one to help me, I looked for one to sustain me, but could find no one . . .

But then I remembered the Lord . . .

So I raised my voice from the very earth . . .

I called out . . .

“You are my champion . . .

“Do not abandon me . . .

“I will ever praise your name and be in constant prayer to you . . .

He preserved me in time of trouble . . .

I sought wisdom . . .

She came to me in her beauty . . .

My feet kept to the level path . . .

I became resolutely devoted to her . . .

My whole being was stirred as I learned about her . . .

And Wisdom replies:

Come aside to me, you untutored, and take up lodging in the house of instruction. How long will you be deprived of wisdom’s food, how long will you endure such bitter thirst?

Submit your neck to her yoke, that your mind may accept her teaching. For she is close to those who seek her, and the one who is in earnest finds her.

Let your spirits rejoice in the mercy of God, and be not ashamed to give him praise in due season, and in his own time God will give you your reward.

And we respond: So be it! Amen!

IMage from: http://www.thedesertreview.com/give-thanks/jim-give-thanks/

First written on November 3, 2008. Revised and posted today as a Favorite.

February 22, 2020

God saves, God’s time, thanksgiving

Philippians 2:1-11: Unity and Humility

Philippians 2:1-11: Unity and Humility

Friday, December 13, 2019

Complete my joy by being of the same mind . . .

If Christ – who is God – can humble himself in order to bring about good, cannot we humble ourselves, and can we not obey God’s call to us? And what miracles might we experience once we do?

In Chapter 14 of Acts we read an account of how Paul and Barnabas are mistaken for pagan gods when they are able to cure a crippled man. When this gift of healing which God gives them is made known, “some Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered round him, he got up and entered the city”. Even a stoning and apparent death do not stop Paul. He is of the same mind as Christ.

As we spend time reflecting on Paul’s words and his actions, we have the opportunity to gauge our own humility before God, and our own desire for unity with Christ no matter the cost. Are we willing to be of the same mind as Christ?

From the MAGNIFICAT Evening Prayer: Psalm 116:12 – How can I repay the Lord for God’s goodness to me?

The attitude of thankfulness is central to Christian spirituality. The debt of gratitude we owe for God’s faithful love can be repaid only in a two-sided coin: turning to God in thanksgiving and doing for others what has been done for us. (Mini-reflection)

Be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:15-17)

The Christology expressed here is paramount to our understanding of who Christ is and how we might expect ourselves to be in him as he is in us. At the root of his divinity is his readiness to humble himself and to obey God . . . even to the point of death. Are we willing to be of the same mind as Christ?

Notes tell us that the hymn Paul cites in likely one that was sung by the early Christians; and we can understand how this song may have served to inspire the fledgling church as she struggled to survive. We too, might use these words when we find ourselves floundering. He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave . . . he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

When we are humble enough . . . and when we obey enough . . . then we can say we are in unity with Christ. And when we can say this, we will be in that spot where serenity overcomes anxiety, and where love overcomes fear.

A re-post from USA Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2012.

Cameron, Peter John. “Prayer for the Evening.” MAGNIFICAT. 25.10 (2010). Print.

December 13, 2019

Acts 14, Colossians 3:15-17, love, obedience, Paul and Barnabas, Psalm 116:12, serenity, thanksgiving

Mark 10:17-31: Being Last

Mark 10:17-31: Being Last

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

The rich man asks Jesus how he can gain admission to heaven. Jesus answers plainly: Put aside all that you have . . . and follow me. How simple. How difficult.

Jesus calls each of us to put away all that enthralls us . . . for love of him. This means that we put aside all that secures our identity, all that maintains our confidence . . . and trust solely in him. This means that we learn to live in liminal space . . . because that is where heaven is.

Test me, O Lord, and try me; examine my heart and my mind.

For your love is before my eyes; I have walked faithfully with you.

I have not sat with the worthless, nor do I consort with the deceitful.

I have hated the company of evildoers; I will not sit down with the wicked.

I will wash my hands in innocence, O Lord; that I may go in procession round your altar;

Singing aloud a song of thanksgiving and recounting all your wonderful deeds.

Psalm 26:2-7

I have learned an important lesson and have lately felt its echo come back to me as it reverberates through a lifetime. Of our own will we can do nothing. We best acknowledge this by letting go of all that secures us to life. We best experience this by falling backward over what appears to be a precipice. In the letting go of familiarity . . . in the floating . . . we feel God’s presence. This is what happens when we put God first. This is what we feel when we put ourselves last.

Jesus says: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle that it is for a rich man to enter heaven.

And we reply: But where are we to go? What are we do? How will we live? Surely we will die! We are only human!

And Jesus replies: With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.

Do we trust our maker to catch us when we fall? Do we understand that his love is greater than all else? Can we put God first . . . and ourselves last?

Test me, O Lord, and try me; examine my heart and my mind. For your love is before my eyes; I have walked faithfully with you . . .

Let us go in procession around the Lord’s altar . . . Singing aloud a song of thanksgiving and recounting all [God’s] wonderful deeds . . . and let us trust him who loves us . . . him for whom all things are possible. Let us be willing to go last in the altar procession as we sing our altar song.

Test me, O Lord, and try me; examine my heart and my mind. For your love is before my eyes; I have walked faithfully with you . . .

First written on November 15, 2008. Re-written and posted today as a Favorite.

To better understand our call to “fall” into Christ, please see: Rohr, Richard. FALLING UPWARD: A SPIRITUALITY FOR THE TWO HALVES OF LIFE. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011. Print. (Rohr 65)

December 10, 2019

eye of the needle, liminal space, possibilities, Psalm 26, rich versus poor, thanksgiving, the first will be last

Tag: thanksgiving

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