Half Empty and Half Full
Rev. Herb Freitag
Scripture – Psalms 9:1-2; 107:1-3; Luke 10:25-27, 36-37
On Thursday, Lorraine and I will be heading to Gainesville to celebrate Thanksgiving with our daughter, Kirsten, her family, and a friend of theirs. We will, after the initial welcome from people and pets, be talking and laughing while consuming various snacks and appetizers in preparation for the big feast soon to follow. Then it will be turkey – lots of turkey – along with gravy and potatoes and noodles (a family tradition) and vegetables and some sort of stuffing and perhaps a cranberry concoction, all washed down with Riesling wine and soda. Of course we will, lest we starve to death, end with pumpkin and apple pie. Later we will take a walk (so we can at least pretend to be concerned about calories), play a game or two, and watch some football. At the conclusion of the visit, well fed and wiped out, we will head back to I-q75 for the ride home after a most enjoyable holiday outing.
How about you? I am sure that you all have plans of some sort which in most cases will involve getting together with family and/or friends. A few days before Thanksgiving, an elderly couple telephoned their son and, after the usual opening chat the father dropped the “bombshell”. He said that after 45 years of misery, he and the mother were getting a divorce. He said that they had done nothing but argue and that the situation was getting worse. The son was speechless. The father asked the son to please let his sister know and then he hung up. The son immediately called the sister with the news and she “flipped out”. “They are not getting a divorce,” she exploded – “Don’t worry…I’ll take care of it.” With that she called her parents and proclaimed: “This is not going to happen. We are both coming and we will straighten this out!” Dad got off the phone, smiled at Mom, and said, “They are both coming for Thanksgiving and at their own expense. Now, what will we do to get them to visit for Christmas?”
Holidays mean different things to different people, but they all revolve, to some extent, around gathering…especially Thanksgiving and Christmas. At such times we want to be with others so we can share the experience and demonstrate our affection. And a big part of such “gathering” is “caring”. We gather largely because we care! We care about other people. So the question for me, at this point, is not that we care but who we care about. By and large, we all care about family and friends…but how far do our lines of caring extend beyond them? That’s a concern I want to deal with this morning.
I read several biblical passages as our scripture lesson and, at first glance, they might appear to be disconnected. My intention is to put them together. And I want to start with this concept of “who is my neighbor”? Several weeks ago, Rhonda preached a sermon about the Good Samaritan. She rather thoroughly analyzed the details of that parable. To briefly recap: a Jewish merchant on his way to Jericho was waylaid and beaten by robbers who took all his goods and left him for dead. People passed him by, including a priest and a Levite (the highest of the high and the holiest of the holy in the Jewish religious system). The only one who stopped to help him was a Samaritan…and Samaritans were the bitterest enemies of the Jewish people. He treated the man’s wounds and took him to a place of shelter and recovery, even promising to pay for his care. What I want to deal with here, in answer to the lawyer’s question, is the resulting broad instruction from Jesus that “my neighbor” is pretty much everyone…so it is everyone that I am to somehow care for! Wow! – everyone? Even those who I don’t like and who don’t like me; even those who live far away and who have no direct impact on my life; even those who I don’t know and will probably never know; even those who are not part of my family or my circle or my “clan” or my country? Well, that’s what Jesus seems to be saying, so there you have it.
I fear that we human beings have, not only in this country but in other countries as well, adopted a new “religion”. It is called nationalism. Now, there is nothing wrong with loving one’s country, but when it takes the place of everything else and when that love believes and proclaims that one’s country has no imperfections and makes no mistakes – well, that’s problematic. Has America taken the place of God in our hearts and lives? Some years ago a young pastor was hired by a Baptist church in DeLand, Florida. He made a “ mistake” which affected his present and future professional prospects when, for theological reasons, he suggested that the American flag in the sanctuary should be removed and hung elsewhere – that it was not appropriate for it to share a place, with the Christian flag, by the altar of what is proclaimed to be a universal church. He was fired and gone within the week. Did he disrespect the flag or the country it represents? Of course not. He just did not want to see the flag or the country assuming equality with or replacement of God.
There is nothing wrong for we Americans to embrace, for ourselves, a concept of “America first” so long as it does not, from a theological perspective or against our religious beliefs, become “America only”! Believe it or not – I am part of the MAGA Movement. Didn’t expect to hear that, did you? However, it’s true. But I’m pretty sure that my understanding or explanation of such a stance is not the same as that of everyone who might claim the same thing. For me, the letters M-A-G-A stand for Make America Greater, Amen! You see…in addition to believing that America has never not been great (in the sense of being special, of being extraordinary, of being outstanding…despite whatever imperfections and weaknesses it, like all nations, possesses), I believe that we demonstrate our greatness when we feed people when they are hungry and we clothe people when they are naked and we shelter people when they are homeless – people all over the world through a variety of aide programs and expenditures; I believe that we demonstrate our greatness when we send teams of experts and tons of equipment to disaster-stricken places, regardless of the causes of those disasters; I believe we demonstrate our greatness when we share our medical knowledge with the most vulnerable and provide the possibility of health and healing to those unnecessarily dying of disease; I believe we demonstrate our greatness when we work for peace and provide poor nations with improved infrastructure rather than advanced weaponry; I believe we demonstrate our greatness when we welcome, within obvious and necessary boundaries, the oppressed and persecuted of all ethnic and racial backgrounds, thus endorsing the sentiments of Emma Lazarus inscribed on a plaque at the Statue of Liberty; I believe we demonstrate our greatness when we do all we can to make a better world for all its inhabitants! To be sure, America’s greatness is partially defined by its military might and its economic power, but I hope that it’s intrinsic and primary greatness is exemplified by its selfless caring and sharing! That’s the way it has been; that’s the way it should be; that’s the way it can be…as we, individually and nationally, correct the mistakes of our past and improve in the future. And I believe this on a religious rather than on a political basis – it’s what Jesus called for and represents the basic teaching of all religions!
Can we afford this kind of humanitarian generosity? Can we not afford it? Surely we can support military strength and also feed people. Surely if our tax dollars can build detention complexes and sports stadiums, they can also construct affordable housing and subsidize medical insurance. Surely we can use our wealth and expertise to help our “neighbors” whoever and wherever they might be. Surely we have the resources to do both/and rather than either/or. Surely we have hearts large enough to try to become what our professed faith calls us to be.
The United States is the richest nation on earth…and yet we have people who are hungry and homeless. I realize that all of us have heard stories about individuals who “play the system”…indeed, some of us may know people who do that. And we can’t ignore the accounts of those who show up at food banks in expensive cars or who falsely claim to have health and employment issues so they can collect welfare. But let’s remember that it’s the “horror” stories that usually get the “publicity” while the “good stuff” doesn’t make the headlines. I firmly believe that the vast majority of the poor are neither lazy nor incompetent nor crooked...and that a good many who depend upon assistance are doing so for the first time and, despite their embarrassment, have no other options. Think about it…perhaps, just perhaps, those who show up at the food bank in expensive cars might be driving the only cars they have – cars that they purchased when times were better and they were not financially desperate. And how many, do you suppose, are dealing with various horrific circumstances that have driven them to poverty…circumstances beyond their control which might be health or employment related. Call me naïve, but I believe that there are far more people who would rather work for what they need and have than who want a handout.
The poor. Many of them work two or three jobs to make ends meet – ends which often don’t meet no matter what they do. Many of them are sick, mentally or physically, and may not be able to afford medical care. Many of them don’t have the resources to secure adequate housing so perhaps they live on the streets or in their cars. These, too, are our “neighbors”. Do we care enough, as individuals or as a nation, to help them? And, indeed, beyond charitably giving them what they need to survive, why can’t we rework the system so that all can earn enough money to take care of themselves and provide for their loved ones? There is something obscene about a situation in which one man can become the world’s first trillionaire while others have to decide whether to buy food or medicine…if they can do either and because they can’t do both. And if and when there is fraud, why can’t the government root it out and correct the abuse while still serving the legitimately needy, instead of canceling life-saving programs and thereby hurting everyone?
The Psalmist sang about giving thanks to the Lord with his whole heart and making a joyful noise to the Lord while serving him with gladness and coming into his presence with singing. He called God “his shepherd” and praised him, in Psalm 23, for saving him from “want” and “fear” and hunger while promising him an abundant life. And in Colossians it was Paul who instructed his followers to do everything with “thankfulness” in their hearts. I think you will admit that that is easier said than done. “Make a joyful noise” when everything is going wrong? Be thankful and show gratitude when I have no food, no clothing, no home, and people are dying all around me? Give thanks when the bombs are dropping and I see nothing but death and destruction? I most admire people who can be thankful and show gratitude even when in the direst of situations and facing sometimes unimaginably horrid circumstances…like the Hebrews who were conquered and oppressed by one empire after another and the early Christians who were persecuted, often to death, by the Romans.
Throughout history we can see such examples of courage and fortitude. At Thanksgiving we remember the story of the Pilgrims and what they faced when they came to this country. These rebellious Puritans were religious separatists from the Church of England who came to the New World seeking freedom from persecution and found, along with such freedom, death and hardship. They had first fled to Holland, but not wanting to lose their English identity or culture, decided to immigrate to Virginia. Their ship, the Mayflower, was thrown off course and they wound up in what is now Massachusetts. That first winter in New England, half of them died from deprivation and the rest were only saved because some friendly Indians came to their rescue. Of course in later years the Pilgrims, and their descendants, stole the Indians’ lands and killed them with superior weapons and European diseases (a fact you will probably no longer find at the Smithsonian or in our national parks). But in 1621 these Pilgrims still managed to express gratitude for what they had, despite what they didn’t have and in the face of losing so many of their loved ones.
The Pilgrims came to these shores of their own free will – slaves from Africa did not. Their lives consisted of non-stop hardship and torturous labor with no chance to escape existences of total misery. Regardless of the extent of the brutality visited upon them by their “masters”, they were slaves – slaves – owned and used as property like animals…and no rewriting of history makes that either bearable or acceptable. And yet they turned their burdens of pain and suffering into resolve to someday, somehow, overcome their servitude and attain the kind of freedom the Pilgrims were seeking. Their thankfulness for what they did have and what they hoped for is reflected in the songs they sang, many of which we also sing in worship to express our faith and aspirations.
I have been reading a novel by John Grisham entitled “Sooley”. It’s about a young man from South Sudan who comes to the United States as part of a program giving scholarships to aspiring and talented basketball players. Samuel Sooleymon lives in a hut in a poor village and plays basketball on a dirt court. His family, like all its neighbors, is poor, but manages to get by. While he is here attending college, his village is destroyed by one of the vicious militias that frequently terrorize that nation. His father is killed, his sister is kidnapped, and his mother and two younger brothers, starving and desperate, manage to reach a resettlement center in Uganda where, as some of the lucky ones, they manage to live in a tent and get enough food to survive. Sooley (Samuel’s nickname) is very grateful for what he has, even as he mourns what is happening in his country and to his family. But, amazingly, it is not his gratitude that impresses me the most – it is the gratitude of his mother and brothers for what they have, which is that tent and just enough food and water to keep going. They are desperate, but they are alive, and for that they are thankful. Indeed, wherever and whenever possible they help their neighbors who have even less than they do. “Sooley” is a work of fiction, but there is nothing fictional about the circumstances it depicts. It describes what is really happening in South Sudan. And there is nothing fictional about what is going on in Ukraine or in Gaza or in similar war-torn places in our world. Yet the survivors somehow muddle through with courage and gratitude.
I also admire those people who lost loved ones in the Covid pandemic or perhaps are still living with the aftereffects of having themselves had the disease, but have not succumbed to desperation or despair. And I admire those of you who lost so much in last year’s hurricanes and yet it has not destroyed your faith in the possibility of better tomorrows. You are resilient; you are strong…and you have said that you are grateful that there were others who cared enough to help and that your circumstances are not as bad as they could have been. I have always been an optimist, but it is often difficult not to be pessimistic in the face of what is happening in our world. So gratitude expressed even in the face of extreme hardship lifts my heart and helps me see the glass as half-full even when it is, at the same time, half-empty. And I am encouraged that there are so many people who really act on the belief that they are their brothers’ keepers.
So, now for the practical. What can I do, what can you do, what can we do, to demonstrate our gratitude beyond the articulation of pious words as we celebrate this holiday? We can volunteer, to whatever extent we’re able, in programs that help other people in some way and form. We can financially contribute to worthy causes that work to improve life around the world and do this particularly in response to special appeals in times of special need. We can set aside blind political party loyalties and vote for those men and women, whether Republican or Democrat or Independent, who consistently demonstrate integrity and honesty, who actually put the welfare of people ahead of getting re-elected, and who have a larger, indeed a global, view of “who is a neighbor”. We can put aside our prejudices and treat others, all others, as we would like to be treated. That is how we epitomize and legitimize our gratitude for the blessings we enjoy – blessings we can and should share with others so that they, too, can feel blessed. Let us do what we can to make not only this Thanksgiving but every day a time of true thanksgiving for as many of our fellow human beings as possible. That’s how we take a great America and make it even greater! That’s how we save the soul of our nation! That’s how we hopefully make a reality out of Ronald Reagan’s vision of America as “the shining city on a hill”! That’s how we “make a joyful noise to the Lord”!
(half full and half empty11,25)
Pastoral Prayer
As we gather this morning, O God, we anticipate a special day designed to remind us of all that we have to be thankful for. Most of us are blessed with far more than we need to survive – we have food which is more than sustaining, clothing which is more than adequate, housing which is more than sufficient, and enough of the “good things” to make our existences pleasant. When we are plagued by health issues, most of us have access to a level of care that can help us recover and heal or, when that is not possible, to make us comfortable. Most of us have resources that enable us to feel secure in all stages of our lives from beginning to end. And we are fortunate to live in a nation in which we are free to pursue our dreams, whatever they might be.
With that said, hopefully as we celebrate our good fortune we do not forget those who are not so fortunate – those who live in poverty without adequate food and water, without clothing to keep them warm, without shelter from the harsh realities of bad weather, and without safety from the horrors of violence in whatever form it takes. And, hopefully, our concern for those less fortunate extends beyond the words of our mouths to the actions of our hands so that our prayers consist of more than commendable but meaningless articulations that have no practical consequences.
We pray this morning for our world…a world too often torn apart by war, by division, by partisanship, by man’s inhumanity to man. Make us more peaceful so that we can do our part in bringing peace where there is no peace. And grant the leaders of all nations greater wisdom in solving problems and greater compassion in bringing relief to those in want. Help us put aside our differences as we concentrate on the greater good and realize that all others are, in a very real sense, our brothers and sisters.
So we pray aloud and silently as we come to you… Hear now our hearts as we together speak the prayer taught to us by Jesus… Amen.