On this Sunday before
Thanksgiving, it’s a good time for us to reflect on how our attitudes shape who
we are.
There is a story about a
barber who had a negative attitude about everything. A man came to his shop,
got in the chair. He said he was going to Europe in a few days. The barber
asked, "Where are you going?"
He said, "First, we are going to go
to London." The barber interrupted him, and said, "That's a terrible place. It's dirty, noisy, too expensive. You
won't like it there in London. Where else are you going?"
"We are going to go over to Paris."
"Well Paris is worse. The people there are
really very rude. You won't like it in Paris. Where else are you going?"
"Well then we are going to fly down to
Rome."
"Oh, Rome is worst of all. The food is
terrible. Whatever you do, don't visit the Vatican. The lines are too long. And
don't think you are going to see the Pope either, because the Pope is not
accessible. And even if you do, you won't understand a word he says, because he
doesn't speak English."
Well the man went on his
trip. He returned to the barber for another haircut. The barber asked, "How was your trip?"
He said, "London was great. It was the most
exciting city. Prices were really quite reasonable. Paris was a beautiful city,
very hospitable, everyone was kind to us. And Rome was the perfect climax to
our trip. Everything was wonderful.
We went to the Vatican, and even had an audience
with the Pope. There weren't any crowds there at all. It was like a private
audience with the Pope. And he spoke to each of us personally, and in English.
Then he had me kneel, placed his hand on my head, and gave me a blessing. Then
he leaned forward and spoke into my ear, in perfect English, ‘You have a lousy
haircut.’"
Our attitudes matter,
don’t they? They can make or break your
day.
If that's true, then
maybe our Psalm 118 reading, "This
is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it," can
make all the difference in the world. I’d like to offer three ways that this
scripture can help us be more positive and more thankful in our daily living.
First of all, if this is
the day the Lord has made, than it’s not up to you and me. The Lord has already made the day. So whether
it will be a good day or a bad day, how it will end up is not entirely up to us.
"This is the day the Lord has made."
People who get burned
out in life believe that everything depends on them. They carry a load that is
too heavy for one person to carry because they really don't believe that other
people are capable of doing it.
But if I believe in God,
if I believe that God is the creator, and not me, then maybe I can stumble, and
err, and fail, and the world won't come to an end, because this is the day the
Lord has made. It’s not a day that I
have made. We’re in good hands with God.
The second thing that we
can learn from this scripture is that God is always creating new life and new
possibilities. God creates every new day.
The Book of Genesis says
that God created the world in six days, and on the seventh day he rested. It
doesn't say that he created the world in six days, and on the seventh day he
stopped. It says that he rested. So we can assume that on the eighth day, God
started again.
The "eighth day of
creation" is a wonderful metaphor that the Church has used to refer to the
resurrection of Jesus. Saturday is the seventh day. Jesus was resurrected on
Sunday. So the Church said that Sunday is the eighth day of creation, because
God recreated
the world in the resurrection of Jesus, and those who believe in him, live in
this new world.
This is why you can
never know for sure of this is going to be a bad day. You don't know what kind
of day it will end up being because the outcome doesn't belong to you or to me.
The Apostle Paul understood
this, didn’t he? I am especially inspired by Paul's letter to the Philippians.
He's in jail. He's not going to get out. The Philippians send him a letter and
a gift of concern They sent it with Epaphroditus as an expression of their love
and concern for him. The letter to the Philippians is his thank you letter back
to them. In it is this phrase. "I
want you to know that what has happened to me has really been a good thing,
because it has helped to advance the Gospel."
"This is the day the Lord has made." God is always creating new life and new
possibilities.
The third thing that I
want to point out about this phrase is that it says that today is all there is.
God hasn't created tomorrow. "This
is the day" God has created. In fact I really believe that God hasn't
even started to worry about creating tomorrow yet. So why should we?
That's the point of the
Sermon on the Mount. The phrases that were read to us today were from Matthew: "Consider the birds of the air: they
don't worry about where their food is going to come from tomorrow. They just
live for today. Consider the flowers: they don't worry about what they are
going to wear tomorrow. Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like any of
these."
So why do you worry
about tomorrow? Let tomorrow worry about itself. For this is the day. God
hasn't created tomorrow yet.
I mean, just look at
Pastor Pumpkin. See how content he
is. Aren’t you jealous? He’s not
thinking about where he’s going to be this Thursday for Thanksgiving. If he turns into pumpkin pie, he turns into
pumpkin pie. He’s more focused on today
and how I’m going to end this sermon.
Tomorrow will take care
of itself. This is the day that the Lord has made!
The story is told of an
American who was down in Mexico, on one of those beautiful beaches, near a
village. He came upon a fisherman coming up with his boat onto the beach. He
got out, unloaded his catch, just one fish. The American asked him how long it
took him to catch that fish. He said, "Not
very long. It doesn't take me long at all." Then he said, "Why didn't you stay out longer and
catch some more fish?" He said, "Because
this is sufficient for my family today."
The American asked him, "What do you do with the rest of your
day?" He said, "Well, I
sleep late, I fish a little, I come home and play with my children, then I take
a siesta with my wife, then later in the afternoon my wife and I go with our
children to the village. I sip a little wine, talk to my friends, and play the
guitar. I have a very full and busy life."
The American said, "Listen. I can help you. I have an MBA
from Harvard, and I can help you. If you spend more time fishing, you can catch
more fish, sell them, and buy a bigger boat. In time, with more earnings, why
you would be able to buy a lot of boats. In fact, you could have a fleet of
boats. Then in time, with enough earnings, you wouldn't have to sell your fish
to somebody else. You could put a cannery right here on this beach and process
your own fish. Pretty soon you could get out of here. You could live in Mexico
City, or Los Angeles, or someplace like that. Then pretty soon you would have
enough money to be a wealthy man."
The Mexican asked, "How long will this take?"
He said, "Maybe fifteen or twenty years."
The Mexican asked, "Then what?"
He said, "Then you can retire, move to some
beautiful spot. You can sleep late, play with your children, take a walk into
the village and be with your friends."
Friends, "This is
the day!"
"This is the day the Lord has made; let us
rejoice and be glad in it!"
