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FROM POVERTY TO THANKSGIVING

Minister/Poet Richard Cookson writes:
"There are times when one must stop and sift the patterns of a lifetime.
Not when you plan for it or when you might even be prepared but when you have been opened and there is only that which is laid bare.
In that moment you must be willing to face that, much of what has been, is not what you want and if the future is to be different then the pain must be embraced, for in those joinings are the possibilities of new life at last."

Every year, around this time, our churches start collections to help those in need within our local communities.  Often times it’s food for the food pantry, here at Plympton chruch, it’s gift cards, mostly focused on grocery stores.  It’s disheartening and troubling to realize some of our neighbors don’t have enough to eat.
Similarly troubling are Jesus’ words in Matthew, where he quotes Deuteronomy: “you always have the poor with you.”
If that is the case, then how can we make sense of poverty?  If it is indeed simply to be an expected part of the human condition, where is the hope; how can God’s kingdom ever be realized here on earth?

Let’s first take a closer look at poverty in its various forms.
When we speak of poverty, we most often understand that to be a physical condition: lacking income, and, consequently lacking adequate food, housing and clothing. True enough.
First of all, we must be careful not to assume so much of a difference between the haves and the have-nots.  When disheveled strangers enter our visual field, we are often put-off, filled with distaste; perhaps a little frightened and defensive.  Cautious - yes, OK; but we must be careful when judgement begins to creep in.  Poverty is circumstantial.
And, according to the Letter of James, poverty is not to be so quickly discounted; it can have a certain, strange value, he writes:
“Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters.  Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the Kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?”

What, then, is there to be thankful for in the midst of poverty?
Poverty can come in many forms.  The Beatitudes help us to expand the notion of what it means to lack something, specifically, the feeling of blessedness - which we all yearn for.
Like the poor in spirit . . tired, low-energy, guilt, low self-esteem, melancholy, and the more serious conditions of depression, self-doubt or even self-hatred.
Like those who mourn - the loss of loved ones, or even things, job, security, family and friends moving on with their lives and away from us,

Like the meek who often lost self-respect, feel less than those around
Like those who yearn for righteousness, "right relationships", who know the poverty of disconnection and feelings of not belonging anywhere
Like those who are persecuted for whatever reason, know the poverty of forgiveness, understanding, compassion.
In the human scheme of things, we are all poor in some way.  To be sure, the “hierarchy of needs” would suggest that we focus on the basic physical survival needs first; but often the other emotional and spiritual needs directly impact and contribute to the continuation of true poverty.
We all have known poverty.
The hardest reality in the midst of poverty can be the tremendous loneliness and sense of hopelessness.
In his book, Loneliness, Clark Moustakes writes:
“Whoever is able to bear the loneliness grows to the stature of his experience. Loneliness paves the way to healing, to true compassion, to intimate bonds with all living creatures and all aspects of nature and the universe . . . We must learn to care for our own loneliness and suffering and the loneliness and suffering of others, for within pain and isolation and loneliness one can find courage and hope and what is brave and lovely and true in life . . The moments between death and creation, the periods between the end and the beginning, the interval between completion and starting of a significant project are often times of deep loneliness . . Loneliness is as much a reality of life as night and rain and thunder, and it can be lived creatively as any other experience.”

So where is the thanksgiving in this poverty, this emptiness, this loneliness that we feel?
The answer comes to us, not by focusing on what we lack, but on focusing on the potential and actual filling that can take place.  As one poet instructs:
Be loving of your empty times
as well as of your full ones.
No one has ever had a filling
without an emptying to give it room.
We begin in striving to honestly face that poverty that haunts us.  In what ways are we poor? In what way am I poor?
We then seek to find:
To find the specific food that will fill the hunger, Prayer, reading, music, activities to pull the focus outside ourselves to keep from spiraling deeper into our impoverishment.
To find the appropriate clothing that will warm the soul,
Things to put on - sometimes just the way we dress, or the expression we carry on our faces can actually change the inner experience.
To find available shelter, might we say sanctuary, that will surround the emptiness.
Seek out friends, share with those close at hand whom we know to be sensitive and compassionate
The following was written several years ago by a then 12 year old friend of ours, Erin Leary to her grandmother during a worship service. Her family had just moved to town and started coming to church.

“Though you have moved,
You are now home, Welcome and wanted;
“You are needed; And invited, cared about
And wished for,
“This church will Pull you in and Protect you.”

That light that shines into the darkness is a great light.
Just like turning on the light in the morning, its brightness causes us to shade our eyes momentarily.
Just so is the filling of the emptiness, the caseation of our poverty - our hearts will never be more thankful.
The world is never more colorful, nor music more swelling, the silence never louder, than in a sad and melancholy moment.
The poverty that leads to thanksgiving.
Once we have faced the impoverishment that exists within ourselves and discovered the love that can fill it, forgive it, change it, heal it; then, with the filling; with hearts thankful and overflowing, we will be better able to share God-like compassion with others similarly poor.
Cause for thanksgiving all around.

“The poor are with us always.
“Blessed are the poor . .
“God has chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith . .
A truly grateful heart is one that has known a poverty and emptiness that faith has filled.
We must see the poverty all around and the various forms it can take.
Know it within ourselves.  Recognize it in others.
Reach out, receive and be filled to overflowing.
The circle is complete - Thanks be to God!

While reading “Dante’s Inferno”, Loreena McKennitt wrote and then performed the hauntingly beautiful “Dante’s Prayer”:
"When the dark wood fell before me and all the paths were overgrown, I did not believe because I could not see.
"When the dawn seemed forever lost You showed me your love in the light of the stars
"Though we share this humble path, alone - How fragile is the heart.
"Oh give these clay feet wings to fly To touch the face of the stars.
"Breathe life into this feeble heart; Lift this mortal veil of fear;
"Take these crumbled hopes, etched with tears; We’ll rise above these earthly cares.
"Cast your eyes on the ocean - Cast your soul to the sea;

"When the dark night seems endless, Please remember me."

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The First Congregational Church in Plympton

254 Main Street, P.O. Box 147,

Plympton, MA 02367 (781) 585-5764

www.facebook.com/FCCPlymptonUCC/

plymptonucc@comcast.net

"What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God?"   --Micah 6:8

November 14, 2021                                                      10:00 A.M.

TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

PRELUDE

WELCOME and ANNOUNCEMENTS

CALL TO WORSHIP

Leader:    Happy are we

People:    when our wealth cannot be quantified.

Leader:    Happy are we

People:    when our knowledge is tempered by mystery.

Leader:    Happy are we

People:    when our pain is held in the balm of love.

Leader:    Happy are we

People:    when our delight comes from beyond ourselves.

*OPENING HYMN #85 “Eternal Father, Strong to Save”

UNISON PRAYER OF INVOCATION

God of our ancestors, of prophets from long ago and today, you have spoken your word deep within us.  Help us to hear your wisdom and to feel it in our bones.  You have called us to a life that liberates and is liberating. Help us to sense the strength we have together to create a way when there is no way. As people who have walked in darkness, yet have seen a great light, may we befriend the stranger with the warmth of our hospitality. As the Body of Christ, let us stand on the ground of the Good News that offers healing to the broken and belonging to the lost. Spirit of the Living God, guide us in your ways of justice and grace. Amen.

RESPONSIVE SCRIPTURE READING #185:    Matthew 5:1-12

Leader:  This is the Word of the Lord.

People:  Thanks be to God.

ANTHEM

PRAYERS

Prayer Requests

Silent Prayer

Pastoral Prayer

Lord’s Prayer:  Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.

*HYMN OF PREPARATION #102                            vss 1,  3 & 4

Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee

THE SERMON:          From Poverty to Thanksgiving

*CLOSING HYMN  #431  “Go, My Children, with My Blessing

BENEDICTION: (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.

All:   And now, may we bear fruit as we go forth in peace to love and serve the Lord.  In the name of Christ.  Amen

CONGREGATIONAL SUNG RESPONSE:  Go Now in Peace

Go now in peace.  Never be afraid.

God will go with you each hour of every day.

Go now in faith, steadfast, strong and true.

Know He will guide you in all you do.

Go now in love, and show you believe.

Reach out to others so all the world can see.

God will be there, watching from above.

Go now in peace, in faith, and in love.

POSTLUDE

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November 14, 2021