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2/4/2024 1 Comment Feb. 4, 2024: Serving Gratitude![]() Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 40: 21-31 Gospel: Mark 1: 29-39 Sermon: Serving Gratitude I have to admit, the feminist in me struggles with the fact that Simon/Peter’s mother-in-law is healed by Jesus, then immediately gets up and serves them. One could get the idea that they needed someone to make lunch so that is why Simon and Andrew told Jesus about her being in bed with a fever as soon as he walked in. But then I thought about it some more. What would I do if I had been sick in bed and Jesus cured me? I would jump up to serve Jesus as well. I would be so full of gratitude at feeling better, well, and so thrilled that Jesus came for lunch, that I would be happy to cook and serve. When I think about it, that is often how I show my love – in service — and I get as much pleasure out of it as I give, as I am sure many of you do as well. And this service that Simon/Peter’s mother-in-law gave Jesus was truly a gift because it was a very brief respite for Jesus in between teaching and healing. At sunset that very same evening, the scripture says, “they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons” and it goes on to say “the whole city was gathered around the door.” Wow! How overwhelming! Jesus healed many, quieted and cast out many demons or mental illnesses and was likely exhausted. I can imagine that the gift of service that he received from Simon/Peter’s mother-in-law was greatly appreciated as it sustained him for all of this work. In fact, Jesus needed to recharge his batteries even more, so he got up early the next morning, while it was still dark, and went out to a deserted place to pray. I do not know about you but I take comfort in knowing that Jesus modeled self-care: a quiet time away from others to center oneself on God, to offer prayers of gratitude, and to gain the strength to do God’s work. Jesus certainly needed that strength because even as he was taking this centering time, the disciples were as the scriptures say “hunting” for him. There was just so much work to do. From there he tells the disciples, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came to do.” And he went forth teaching and healing throughout Galilee. Jesus was fulfilling the scripture from Isaiah “he gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless…(allowing them to) renew their strength.” But even though the Isaiah scripture says the Creator “does not faint or grow weary” which God doesn’t, Jesus, God in human form, was modeling for us, showing us both that we need to serve others in love and gratitude but also that we need to take time for ourselves: time to rest, pray, and recharge so that we too can do God’s work. We all need time to reflect on what we are grateful for, what we need, and what God is calling us to do. Gratitude is the title of a very short but powerful book by Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, naturalist and writer. You may have heard of his treatment of a group of survivors of the 1920s sleeping sickness encephalitis lethargica that allowed them to move on their own for the first time in decades. It was captured in his book and the movie Awakenings. As Sacks neared the end of his life, he wrote, “I cannot pretend that I am without fear. But my predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved; I have been given much and given something in return; I have read and traveled and thought and written...above all I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.” That collection of his final essays was published posthumously under that name; it is a quick read, which I highly recommend. Raised as an Orthodox Jew in England, Sacks split from his faith at 18 when he admitted an attraction to men and his mother called him an “abomination” likely quoting Leviticus on this subject. I wish she could have instead followed Jesus’ model of loving all people and accepting them all just as God created them. Luckily, Sacks did find acceptance from his relatives later in life. Yet, even without faith, in his final essay “Sabbath” he writes of “the peace of Sabbath, of a stopped world, a time outside time” that his cousin Robert John Aumann, who received a Nobel Prize for his fundamental work in economics, followed religiously calling the Sabbath “extremely beautiful” and noting he would have turned down the Nobel Prize if he had to travel on a Saturday. In the end, Sacks felt some nostalgia for the Orthodox Sabbaths of his youth that were just time for prayer and family and a break from the chores of life. He wrote, “I find my thoughts drifting to the Sabbath, the day of rest, the seventh day of the week, and perhaps the seventh day of one’s life as well, when one can feel that one’s work is done, and one may, in good conscience, rest.” In planning for his final rest, Sacks wanted to see the night sky unobscured by the lights of man. Using Milton’s words, he liked seeing the sky “powdered with stars” and told this to friends who promised to get him outside to see that sky when the time neared. This idea recalls our Isaiah scripture where the Holy One says, “Lift up your eyes and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them by name.” I hope that when it is my time to leave this earth, I can have Oliver Sacks’ sense of gratitude coupled with the faith that allows me to thank God for it. A sense of gratitude in the face of adversity is really the ultimate weapon, the ultimate cure. It allows us to focus on the positives - what we have or have experienced – rather than on the negatives, some of which are outside our control. But gratitude is not just for times of adversity, times of sickness, or at the end of life. What if we could harness the feeling of gratitude on a daily basis? According to UCLA Health, “Research shows that practicing gratitude — 15 minutes a day, five days a week — for at least six weeks can enhance mental wellness and possibly promote a lasting change in perspective. Gratitude and its mental health benefits can also positively affect your physical health.” Studies show practicing gratitude in this way lessens depression, anxiety, stress and even heart problems. When we practice gratitude, we feel better and when we feel better, we have the ability to help or serve others. The practice of gratitude has the power to have a ripple effect, like a rock thrown in a pond, those ripples can extend in concentric circles around God’s creation helping God’s people: all people. So let’s start serving gratitude regularly, whether that involves going to a quiet place to reflect and pray, writing or teaching about it, serving others - or all three. We, too, can make ripples. Amen. Pastor Michelle Fountain
1 Comment
Andrew
12/29/2024 02:08:16 pm
Thank you for this excellent article It was very helpful and informative.
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