Rev. Stina Pope,
August 8, 2004

Do not be afraid.

Do not be afraid Abraham, never mind that you are old and childless, I will make you
the ancestor of a great nation.

Do not be afraid, Jesus said, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the
kingdom. Never mind that you are being persecuted, that you are being thrown out of
family and religious community for following me.

Abraham believed, and it was accounted to him as righteousness. What does this
mean? It means that Abraham was in right relationship with God. God had told him
something, and he believed it. He believed that God knew more than he did, and
therefore if God said it was so, he would believe it, even when everything spoke
against it. he believed, God said yes, that's right.

It is so hard. It is so hard not to be afraid. It's much easier to give in to the fear.
What I know, and probably the only thing that keeps me from giving into the fear,
is that giving into the fear is the way of death, and believing God in the face of that
fear is the way of life.

We all have fears. Some of them we dress up in fine clothes and parade around.
That? Oh, that's not a fear, that's my pet. Some of them we hide in the closet.
Some of them we call by long names, pretending that it is ignorant and low class
to put them together with common fears. It is human to be afraid. But, we are called
by God to look away from our fears, to let go of our clutching, to calm our breathing,
we are called to focus on God.

How do we do that? By letting our attitude be gratitude. By finding ways, even in the
most awful of circumstances, to say thank you to God for all we have been given.
There is always good. There is always bad. It's a question of where we choose to put
our focus. Focus is a tricky thing. I have worn glasses since I was in the second grade.
The issue of being able to focus is not something I take for granted. It is a matter of
choice.

The interesting thing is that when we focus on one thing, the other things that we do
not focus on sort of become pale, fuzzy in comparison with the thing we are choosing to
focus on. Unlike a good camera, which can keep all of the items in the picture clear,
when we focus on something, everything else in the picture fades and becomes
background material. It's there if we need it, but for the moment it's irrelevant. Therefore,
if we choose to focus on the small piece of good that we can find in a lot of awful, the
awful is forced to become background, the awful is forced to become, for that moment,
irrelevant. What that means is that we can choose to have joy, at any time, or not,
as we choose.

Focusing takes practice. A newborn has no focus and must learn to track movement, and
then to exercise those important little muscles in the eyes to tighten up and focus on the
desired object. As we age, we have to keep practicing moving our eyes around, and
practicing moving our focus in and out so that we don't lose that flexibility. The more
practice we get, the more control over our focus we have. If we practice focusing on the
good in the face of the slightly fearful, the "focus muscles" will get stronger, in preparation
for those times when we need to focus on the good in the face of the really awful. If our
"normal" way of being is to constantly look for the things we can thank God for, it is
easier when things get rough. We forget, of course, which is why we need community,
those others who remind us of who we are and who we are called to be.

And who is that? We are God's beloved, the ones that God wants to give good to.
Can we believe it? What would our lives look like if we believed it? We would have a
hard time complaining. We would be able to get mad at things, but not to stay mad.
We would be quietly joyful, most of the time. Doesn't that sound like something you
would want, to be quietly joyful, most of the time? Will you join me, giving thanks?

So how does this work? We give thanks, all the time. We choose to give thanks in all
things, not for all things. God does not ask us to give thanks for things that hurt. Rather,
we are called to give thanks for the things that are good, even when things hurt.
Starry Keck was giving thanks to the doctors and nurses who were taking such good care
of her. Yes she is in ICU, yes she hurts, yes she is black and blue in places, and staples
in her chest, and if she focused on that she could really have a good time complaining
about that, sitting right in her pity pot, and no one would blame her. But sitting in the pity
pot is no fun really, and besides it smells, and then no one wants to be around you.

Sometimes is is really hard to find something to give thanks for. When a friend was in
the middle of getting a divorce, his soon-to-be ex-wife made it impossible for his new
girlfriend and her children to move in with him. Never mind that the ex was the one who
had run off with another guy. She was, he felt, still trying to control him, which was true.
How, he demanded, could he say thanks for anything in this situation? He had been out of
work for two years, was now running back and forth between two houses in addition to
job-hunting, pushed to the edge, where was the good in this? I suggested that he think
about what would happen, if, in a month, he got a good job offer from out of state? Then
he would hae moved the kids twice in a very short time. Could he consider that as a rather
likely possibility, and give thanks for the guidance to not move just yet? Oh, he said,
I get it, and he let go of the anger at his ex for doing this "to" him, and decided to hear
it as a gift instead. Four months later, they have moved from their community, and the kids
didn't get settled in a new place just to be uprooted once again.

It is hard, when we are in the thick of it, to find ways to give thanks. That's what we have
each other for, to give us perspective, to help us find ways to give thanks. Obviously, it is
important to have people around you who are also committed to being focused on the good.
It is very easy to find people who help you agree that things are awful. Who are those
people who will remind you and help you to look for the good, for that which is God, in all
things?

Yes it was awful that the truck broke down, and wasn't it great that it happened where we
could easily get to a mechanic, who had a place where we could rest. Yes it was awful that
it was the drive train, so that he couldn't fix it immediately and wasn't it wonderful that he
could rent us a cheap car so we could get where we were going in a timely manner. Did we
like having the truck break down? Of course not, but I choose not to focus on that, thank you
very much. I don't like the game of "ain't it awful." It doesn't get me where I want to go.

A good way to start this way of thinking is to keep a small journal by your bed, and before
going to sleep write down twenty things that you can give thanks for. If possible, don't
repeat anything you said the day before. It is a good way to start to practice the gratitude
muscles. So again I ask, will you join me, giving thanks?

We are in a financial crisis right now in this church. It is not a huge one, but it is serious,
nonetheless. We need you, if you are able, to prepay your pledge, or to make a one-time
gift, to help us get through the next two months, until we make some serious money with
our fund-raisers. We need you to help with the fund-raisers. Am I worried? No, I am both
acknowledging the seriousness of the situation, and I am choosing to focus on the fact that
this is a great church with incredible potential. I am calling on you to both help with the
finances, and to come focus with me on all the things that are going right at this point in
time. I am convinced that if we will open ourselves to finding the good, that amazing things
will happen, because I have seen it over and over in my life. Will you join me in giving
thanks?