Philippians 4:4-5a, 8-9
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all....Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
This is a stressful time in our world today. We are dealing with a pandemic that we still know too little about. Our usual habits and routines have been disrupted. Many people are out of work and becoming desperate. We try to be responsible and kind, but we still deal with fear, and frustration, and sometimes, loneliness.
Perhaps because of the many tensions and restrictions in place right now, long-overdue justice issues are coming forward, such as equal treatment for all people regardless of skin color, healthcare availability, environmental concerns, and other issues we’ve allowed to be shoved to the backs of our attention for far too long. They are finally forcing their way to the front, saying “I’m here! Deal with me. Deal with me now!” This is a lot happening at once.
Given our context today, this little piece from St. Paul’s letter to the people of Philippi can seem almost too sweet, too “Pollyanna-ish.” Almost as if he is telling them to just think “nice thoughts” and everything will be fine. Paul, I suspect, knew quite well it wasn’t that simple.
When Paul wrote this letter the Philippians were going through their own stresses — the usual ones for Paul’s communities: false teachers coming along and teaching against Paul’s original teachings – taking healthy communities and tearing them apart from within. Even more importantly, Paul himself was in prison when he wrote this letter, and Roman prisons were no fun place to be.
Paul is decidedly NOT telling them to just think nice thoughts. Instead, he is telling them to control their thoughts. It is precisely in such times of stress that our thoughts too easily turn to blame and anger — or to sadness and despair — all those things that end up tearing families and nations — and our own lives — apart. It is precisely in these times that we need to work at keeping our thinking on whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable.
Times of stress are exactly when we need to keep our thoughts on the admirable and right, not on depression and name-calling. This is what Jesus spoke of when he said that anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, or anyone who calls another “fool” is liable to punishment.
This is metaphor. Jesus, I’m fairly sure, doesn’t mean these words literally, but when we allow ourselves that kind of angry thinking or speaking, we are damaging the fabric not only of our communities, but even more, we are damaging ourselves. Carried to extremes, our anger makes us even more distraught and can even make us physically unwell. Most importantly, we are weakening our own connection to the Holy Spirit within us, and we allow the wrong an even stronger hold on us.
Anger, for some reason, seems so often to be an easier response than compassion or wisdom. Push our buttons and anger – or maybe it’s sidekick, worry – are right there. We’re ready to judge people, ready to label people. Ready to despise people – toss them aside because we don’t agree with them, because we want a different result, because we are frightened.
Paul is telling us — as Jesus did before him — to control our thinking by consciously focusing on the good and not on the bad. We do not need to allow anger to be our default. This is not the way to build the kingdom of God. The people we disagree with are still, and always, God’s beloved children, too.
Focusing on what is good – what is noble, what is true – is not sticking our heads in the sand. It is reminding ourselves that we live in God’s world – and we live here by God’s rules. We do not have to lower ourselves to sneering at each other – that’s always a choice we make.
Used can move us to the right things – anger at the abuse of innocents, anger at the unfairness built into our systems, anger at inequality. But anger itself is not the goal – the goal is to be moved to do the right things, the good things.
Anger is not a place to live our lives. It is a goad to move us to action, to change the wrongs and lift up the rights, and to do this we must be familiar with the right, the good, the admirable. How else can we work to get our world there if we don’t know them well ourselves?
Go back and re-read Paul's list. Keep your mind on these things, he says — work on it, if you have to, practice it daily — go out of your way to find them, be conscious of where your mind dwells — and the God of peace will be with you.
Thanks be to God.
Perhaps because of the many tensions and restrictions in place right now, long-overdue justice issues are coming forward, such as equal treatment for all people regardless of skin color, healthcare availability, environmental concerns, and other issues we’ve allowed to be shoved to the backs of our attention for far too long. They are finally forcing their way to the front, saying “I’m here! Deal with me. Deal with me now!” This is a lot happening at once.
Given our context today, this little piece from St. Paul’s letter to the people of Philippi can seem almost too sweet, too “Pollyanna-ish.” Almost as if he is telling them to just think “nice thoughts” and everything will be fine. Paul, I suspect, knew quite well it wasn’t that simple.
When Paul wrote this letter the Philippians were going through their own stresses — the usual ones for Paul’s communities: false teachers coming along and teaching against Paul’s original teachings – taking healthy communities and tearing them apart from within. Even more importantly, Paul himself was in prison when he wrote this letter, and Roman prisons were no fun place to be.
Paul is decidedly NOT telling them to just think nice thoughts. Instead, he is telling them to control their thoughts. It is precisely in such times of stress that our thoughts too easily turn to blame and anger — or to sadness and despair — all those things that end up tearing families and nations — and our own lives — apart. It is precisely in these times that we need to work at keeping our thinking on whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable.
Times of stress are exactly when we need to keep our thoughts on the admirable and right, not on depression and name-calling. This is what Jesus spoke of when he said that anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, or anyone who calls another “fool” is liable to punishment.
This is metaphor. Jesus, I’m fairly sure, doesn’t mean these words literally, but when we allow ourselves that kind of angry thinking or speaking, we are damaging the fabric not only of our communities, but even more, we are damaging ourselves. Carried to extremes, our anger makes us even more distraught and can even make us physically unwell. Most importantly, we are weakening our own connection to the Holy Spirit within us, and we allow the wrong an even stronger hold on us.
Anger, for some reason, seems so often to be an easier response than compassion or wisdom. Push our buttons and anger – or maybe it’s sidekick, worry – are right there. We’re ready to judge people, ready to label people. Ready to despise people – toss them aside because we don’t agree with them, because we want a different result, because we are frightened.
Paul is telling us — as Jesus did before him — to control our thinking by consciously focusing on the good and not on the bad. We do not need to allow anger to be our default. This is not the way to build the kingdom of God. The people we disagree with are still, and always, God’s beloved children, too.
Focusing on what is good – what is noble, what is true – is not sticking our heads in the sand. It is reminding ourselves that we live in God’s world – and we live here by God’s rules. We do not have to lower ourselves to sneering at each other – that’s always a choice we make.
Used can move us to the right things – anger at the abuse of innocents, anger at the unfairness built into our systems, anger at inequality. But anger itself is not the goal – the goal is to be moved to do the right things, the good things.
Anger is not a place to live our lives. It is a goad to move us to action, to change the wrongs and lift up the rights, and to do this we must be familiar with the right, the good, the admirable. How else can we work to get our world there if we don’t know them well ourselves?
Go back and re-read Paul's list. Keep your mind on these things, he says — work on it, if you have to, practice it daily — go out of your way to find them, be conscious of where your mind dwells — and the God of peace will be with you.
Thanks be to God.
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