Good Grief (Philippians 4:6-9)
Gary McManus, 11/22/2020Part of the Life With Jesus is Better series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
November 22, 2020 Philippians 4:6-9
Thanksgiving Sunday! The Sunday before Thanksgiving.
This year, 2020, marks the 400th anniversary of the
landing of the Pilgrims in America.
It is still worth celebrating. . .
Focus on the Pilgrims in Massachusetts. They were, indeed, pilgrims on a religious quest—to find a place to live and WORSHIP—Christian worship as they read their Bibles.
They gave us a legacy of freedom to worship.
Americans would also inherit a legacy NOT to worship. Both are worth celebrating!
Pilgrims called themselves Separatists.
Puritans wanted to reform the Church of England from inside. The Separatists didn’t think that was possible. They left. . .and came to America.
Can it matter if the Pilgrims’ thanksgiving celebration
wasn’t an official religious/faithful Feast Day?
Separatists thanked God in Christ either way.
Have any worshippers been jailed yet in the pandemic for
going to worship? Some have been hospitalized from having attended worship. Some died from going to worship. The Coronavirus has killed people of faith and people of no faith.
Happy thoughts can be shared this Thanksgiving but it won’t change our grief at the losses at Thanksgiving in 2020.
This Pastor is grieving. Thanksgiving as the Pastor ha
enjoyed has been taken from me.
So, also, for many Americans.
Grieving is important and necessary work.
Most folks want to “get over it” or “forget it”.
But grief is best dealt with by going through it.
The first step in grieving is to accept grief for what
it is and work through it.
Sadness, loss, tears (if needed/helpful).
Name the losses, all of them. The losses might remind you of other losses. It might be helpful to write it all down or talk with other family members about the losses.
Jesus’ take on all these emotion issues:
Luke 4:16-21 where Jesus quotes Isaiah:61:1-3.
. . . He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve. . .
Pastor’s parents didn’t read their Bibles that way.
Pastor has to think outside the box.
Like Pastor’s parents we live in a society/culture
that does not know what to do with loss/grief.
And yet, the pain of greif can produce fruit:
protests, policy changes, law changes, non-profits,
fund-raisers, walks, 5K runs, ALS Challenge.
Don’t do them instead of grieving. Do them with
your grief. Still, there is no roadmap for YOUR grief.
We are all in uncharted territory.
“New occasions teach new duties.”
Grief and mourning can teach us new duties.
We can be stuck in grief or we can move through grief—that IS a choice.
For holidays:
--DO continue some of the very same holiday traditions.
--Do not attempt all of them, focus on a few.
--One family will put “Zoom” laptop at head of the table.
--All could have the same meal (share the recipes).
Whatever you decide to do, DO remember the Pilgrims. In 1620, they knew NOTHING BUT LOSS.
All they got for their trouble was the one thing they came to America to get—the freedom to worship. But the building they first built to serve as a church had to serve as a hospital where half of them died before Spring.
Read again Philippians 4:6-7. . .”in every situation,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God. . .” Amen.
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