Sermon

INTRODUCTION: In the 1939 classic, Wind, Sand and Stars, Antoine de St. Exupery recounts when he was piloting a mail plane from Southern France, across the Mediterranean, to points in Africa and back. On one of those trips, around three in the morning, he was flying his little plane over the Sahara Desert, when he realized – he was lost! Below him stretched the endless sands of the Sahara, with nothing anywhere to give any kind of markings or guidance. He wrote:

I leaned out to see if anything, anything at all, was distinguishable in the void. There was nothing. I knew I was lost.

He began to radio to distant towns hoping to awaken someone, but at 3 in the morning, there was no response. No airports were open. He kept flying and searching. There was nothing but sand, sand, and more sand.

As his desperation increased, something wonderful happened: Out of the endless void of the desert, voices began to break through on the radio. And one by one, little towns and airports that had heard his plea for help began to radio him directions. He was no longer lost. He was overjoyed.

However his joy was momentary. For as wonderful as it was to learn where he was, he now had an even more serious problem. Even if he knew which direction he was going, his instruments indicated he would run out of fuel before he could reach any airport or town. From the proverbial frying pan into the fire: Directions or not, he would momentarily be headed down.

And then from Toulouse, the headquarters of the mail system, came this message over the radio: “Your reserve tanks are bigger than standard. You will be able to proceed to your assigned destination.” They were right: He had enough fuel to make it in.

I’m sure that many of you know that feeling of no markers…and no guidelines to help you…of running on empty…of feeling lost. And then from out of nowhere – maybe a friend, a book, or as faith puts it, maybe God – we realize that our reserve tanks are bigger than standard. We can make it.

That’s the message of Thanksgiving: Our reserve tanks are bigger than standard. In fact, we have infinite capacities to fulfill the vision to which we were called as a nation and a people, especially on this Thanksgiving, at this time in America. When our politics have been savaged by partisanship…when our nation was misled into war…when the balance of powers in our government has been sadly misaligned, now more than ever, we need to give thanks.

Now, lest you think that’s a contradiction in terms, let me turn to the Holy Bible.

In this very oldest of all New Testament Christian scripture, First Thessalonians, there is this remarkable verse that’s incredibly relevant for us at this time of year. It's this: "In all things give thanks" (5:18).

But how is that possible? Give thanks for the volatility of the stock market? Give thanks for $3.25 gasoline? Give thanks for real estate prices being in the toilet? Give thanks for George W. Bush? Give thanks for this misbegotten war. How so, “In all things give thanks!”

Listen closely: May I suggest that giving thanks is not bowing our head, standing in front of the oncoming train, and saying “Thank you, Jesus.” No, giving thanks is not passive submission. Rather, it has a dynamic active component, and it’s this:

How so? First, when we give thanks we see things differently. Instead of us and all our troubles, we think of us and all our blessings. I promise you, no matter how bad it is – and I know personally that some of you have it very bad right now – despite that reality, you also have blessings that are rich beyond compare.

-- Does that mean everything is going perfect? Absolutely not! Like you, I can gritch and grumble with the best of them.

-- Does that mean we don’t have health episodes? For certain. In fact, I support one entire pharmacy by myself.

But let me tell you what: when push comes to shove, and the rubber hits the road, and all the cards are on the table, what a blessed life we have. We can touch, feel, think, understand, speak, write, eat, sleep, smile, cry, laugh, hope, believe, wonder, and the list goes on and on and on.

We give thanks for the blessings of life that surround us like the sound in an I-Max movie showing. Giving thanks takes the focus off the deficit, and adds up the assets. We are not overdrawn at the bank of life. In that life account we have checking, savings, stocks and bonds. We are rich beyond measure when measured by what really counts in life. For when it comes to what really matters, the richest person in the world is not the happiest.

Happiness is an inside job, not what we have hanging on us, what we’re wearing, driving or living in. Happiness is relationships, commitments, and integrity. That kind of happiness doesn’t wear out or fade away. We can take it with us wherever we go and bring it back when we come home. And it all starts with giving thanks.

I’m talking about this moment…not yesterday…not tomorrow…but now. So please turn to someone on either side of you and say, “I’m thankful to be here!”

But there’s a second component to thankfulness in addition to giving thanks. It’s this:

2. Dr. Viktor Frankl wrote about it so insightfully, when he said, “‘Making the best of a situation is not resignation, nor giving up. It’s making the best – the very best! – of every situation we face in life.

Since this is Thanksgiving – a uniquely American holiday – I want you to take a trip back in time with me. In this trip, remember there are two things going on:

Writing in Common Sense, a pamphlet that sold more than any document ever published in America before that time, Thomas Paine wrote in January, 1776, these words:

Further, he predicted that what America did could affect the future of “all humankind.”

Now from this perspective, 231 years later, we have little understanding of what Paine actually meant about “starting the world over again.” But consider this for a moment:

In 1776, the year of the founding of this nation, there were no democracies in the world – none, nada. The 65 nation-building delegates who gathered from the 13 colonies, which formed the Second Continental Congress, were starting from scratch. The world as they knew it was ruled by monarchs – kings and queens – or despots and dictators.

The delegates began formally meeting in Philadelphia, May 10, 1776, and met the rest of May, through June, and into July. This was their reality: They would either be known as founders of a nation, or be hanged by the British as traitors to the crown.

That wasn’t an idle threat. While they were meeting, they were informed that on June 9, a British fleet of 132 ships – think of that: 132 ships – had sailed from England for America. They weren’t carrying tea for toddies: they were filled to the brim with King George’s armies. Twenty days later, on June 29, while the Congress was still in meeting, some 50 British ships appeared on the New Jersey shore line. That number doubled in a few days.

It was in the midst of these pressures and these fears, that they contemplated “beginning the world again.” They did not count the number of their foes, or admit to the certain threat of death if they continued their path. No, they did what every liberal does: they appointed a committee!

I mean when the world is going to hell in a hand basket, what else should any courageous, American do? So on June 11, 1776, the Congress appointed a committee to draft a document declaring that these 13 colonies were now and forever independent from King George and his England – even though it was a death sentence if their mission in nationhood failed. With British boats in the harbor, and more ships on the way, with soldiers armed to the teeth on board every ship, and an invasion imminent, the Founding Fathers appointed a committee and that committee wrote a document and that document said these most profound words:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Our nation has fallen on hard times these last few years. The reins of government have been brutalized, the independence of the judiciary has been mocked, the legislative role has been trampled upon, and our values both at home and abroad have been made mockery of by mental midgets in power who have ridiculed the treaties and conventions that define the very meaning of civilization. We have abused the awesome power to go to war in defense of freedom, and in its place invaded another country 10,000 miles away, and all on false pretenses.

But our tanks are larger than standard. We have reserves as a nation not yet tapped. Thanksgiving says to each of us, don’t give up hope. Stay the course, and do our best to right the ship of state.

Former president Dwight Eisenhower said, “Politics should be the part-time profession of every American.” Thomas Paine said, “Those who would enjoy the blessings of liberty must also endure the fatigue of supporting it.”

There is no way any of us can opt out or sit on the sidelines. Our nation needs us now more than ever.

John Adams, one of the most important of the Founding Fathers, said, “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

The moral thing to do, the religious thing to do, is to insist that all of our citizens have equal access to the rights granted by our Constitution, for which we give thanks this day.

The 14th century German theologian and mystic, Meister Eckhardt, once said: "If the only prayer we say in our whole life is 'thank you' that would suffice."

We join in public thanksgiving today for all that has been good in our nation's past.

n for scholars who write histories of times long past, because they believe our history is worth preserving;

n for scientists, politicians, and ordinary citizens who struggle to preserve and enhance our physical environment, and in so doing care for the animals, fish and fowl with whom we share this planet.

n We pray for those who have little to be thankful for and much to be angry about;

n for those who could not afford a Thanksgiving holiday even if they were given one;

n for those on a seemingly endless, unwanted holiday because they cannot find employment;

n We pray for military and support personnel who have come home after months or years of battle in Iraq and Afghanistan, wondering what it was all for;

n We pray for people in our city, who are withering with fear of the future, dying within, and alone;

n for people throughout our land shriveling with neglect, poverty, and boredom.

n May we learn how to demonstrate our thanksgiving for the past, and our belief in the future, by doing something in the present, to correct injustice, advance freedom, and promote reconciliation.

[1] A sermon on November 18, 2007, third in a three-sermon series on the “High Holy Days of America,” at the All Faiths Unitarian Congregation, meeting at the Crestwell School, 1904 Park Meadows, Ft. Myers, FL, by the Rev. Dr. Wayne Robinson, minister.