Philippians 4:4-9
Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!
Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.
We have been talking here a great deal lately about who we are as church and who we want to be and about the cost of being the church we think we are called to be. Not the cost in dollars, but the cost in commitment and in giving of ourselves. And then, last week I was listening to one of my favorite CDs and got to thinking that I don’t preach enough on who we already are. I got to thinking about the holiness of our everyday lives – the parts we never think of as extraordinary in any way. And yet, God created the everyday just as much as the extraordinary.
We were never meant to live all the time on that mountain-top of high emotional excitement. Those moments when we touch God in some electrifying experience – those are the peak moments - but no one can live permanently on the peak. We live most of the time on the every day plane – but that does not mean that we cannot and do not meet God here, as well, because God most certainly is in the everyday all around us. After all, God is the source of all that is - not just the miraculous.
In our reading today Paul tells us to keep our thoughts on the things that are “true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” You’ll notice that nowhere in that list are we told to keep our minds on the things that are holy – as if the holy things are separate from all else – unless, that is, we acknowledge that the true, the good, the authentic, the pure are themselves the very things that are holy. Which means, of course, that we are surrounded by -- submersed in – the holy all the time - every moment.
I’m going to play the song now that got me thinking of all this. The artist is Carrie Newcomer and the song is titled Holy as the Day is Spent..... [you can watch it here:]
We were never meant to live all the time on that mountain-top of high emotional excitement. Those moments when we touch God in some electrifying experience – those are the peak moments - but no one can live permanently on the peak. We live most of the time on the every day plane – but that does not mean that we cannot and do not meet God here, as well, because God most certainly is in the everyday all around us. After all, God is the source of all that is - not just the miraculous.
In our reading today Paul tells us to keep our thoughts on the things that are “true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” You’ll notice that nowhere in that list are we told to keep our minds on the things that are holy – as if the holy things are separate from all else – unless, that is, we acknowledge that the true, the good, the authentic, the pure are themselves the very things that are holy. Which means, of course, that we are surrounded by -- submersed in – the holy all the time - every moment.
I’m going to play the song now that got me thinking of all this. The artist is Carrie Newcomer and the song is titled Holy as the Day is Spent..... [you can watch it here:]
Holy is the dish and drain
The soap and sink, and the cup and plate
And the warm wool socks, and the cold white tile
Shower heads and good dry towels
And frying eggs sound like psalms
With bits of salt measured in my palm
It's all a part of a sacrament
As holy as a day is spent
And then she goes on to list an extraordinary number of things that she sees and recognizes as holy: cars in the street; the check-out girl in the store; her quiet, familiar room; a dog chasing rabbits in its dream-sleep; and then my favorite line in the entire song: And folding sheets like folding hands - To pray as only laundry can.
Sometimes it takes a familiar song to suddenly make us aware of what we've known all along. Are we aware, day to day, and moment to moment that we live in the midst of such incredible holiness? Are we aware, day to day, and moment to moment that God is with us -- right beside us and in us – not only when we are praying or studying scripture but when we are doing the dishes and taking out the garbage and paying the utility bills and gabbing a quick shower in the morning? These are the times we sometimes get a flash of recognition and, as Paul puts it to the Philippians, “before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.”
God is with us ALWAYS because that is how much God loves us – how much we matter to God. Not just when we are performing at our best level, doing noble things - but also when we are being a little lazy and self-centered – when we’re tired and cranky – when we have dirty fingernails and garden muck on our knees.
When I think of this song I also think of a companion piece – a poem – not that they were ever meant to be companion pieces – just that they are linked together in my mind. This one is a poem by Anne Sexton, titled Welcome Morning, which you can fine here... among other places:
Sometimes it takes a familiar song to suddenly make us aware of what we've known all along. Are we aware, day to day, and moment to moment that we live in the midst of such incredible holiness? Are we aware, day to day, and moment to moment that God is with us -- right beside us and in us – not only when we are praying or studying scripture but when we are doing the dishes and taking out the garbage and paying the utility bills and gabbing a quick shower in the morning? These are the times we sometimes get a flash of recognition and, as Paul puts it to the Philippians, “before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.”
God is with us ALWAYS because that is how much God loves us – how much we matter to God. Not just when we are performing at our best level, doing noble things - but also when we are being a little lazy and self-centered – when we’re tired and cranky – when we have dirty fingernails and garden muck on our knees.
When I think of this song I also think of a companion piece – a poem – not that they were ever meant to be companion pieces – just that they are linked together in my mind. This one is a poem by Anne Sexton, titled Welcome Morning, which you can fine here... among other places:
http://mondaypoem.blogspot.com/2013/06/welcome-morning-by-anne-sexton.html
Have a holy day, everyone.
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