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Sermon for Oct 11/09: Thanksgiving Sunday

[Holding up a bucket of dirt] I dug up this dirt form the Assiniboine Forest yesterday. I had to clear the snow away to get it. The reason I brought it into the church today is because I want to talk about it. If I look into the bucket at the dirt, all I see is dirt. But I know that in this soil are many, many living creatures. There are mites, and millipedes, beetle or two and if I got a microscope out I would see billions of bacteria, millions of fungi, protozoa, algae cells and who knows what else. So my bucket of dirt is not just a bucket of dirt. It’s a whole new world in there.

I want to talk about this dirt because it’s a good reminder to me that so often I think that what I see is what I get. But in any given moment of my life there are way more things happening around me in that moment that I am totally unaware of.

And that’s why the prophet Joel speaks to dirt. Yes, Joel speaks to soil in the Hebrew Bible reading [Prophets do some strange things sometimes!]. What does Joel say to the dirt? “Do not fear, O soil! Be glad and rejoice! God is here.”

But the people can’t see God. God looks like God is not there. A terrible plague of locusts has ruined all the crops of Israel. And that has created an agricultural disaster of major proportions. The people who sow and reap and store their food in barns have no food to sow or reap or to put into their barns. Everyone is worried about their future. What are they going to eat? Their food is gone! What is going to happen to them? These people are terribly worried. That’s when Joel speaks to the soil, “Do not fear, O soil! Be glad and rejoice! God is here.”

We go about our daily lives and one summer disaster strikes and isn’t it the case that one of the first things to be affected is our faith in God. And the first thing to grow is worry and fear for what’s coming around the corner of our lives.

That is the same message we get in Matthew’s gospel with Jesus saying, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today. Look at the bird’s of the air and the lilies of the field. They don’t worry and yet God makes them beautiful. Forget about worrying about tomorrow, because God is here.

There you have it. Our Thanksgiving message is, “Don’t worry. God is here, and out and about looking after things.” Do what you can and leave tomorrow to God. Well tomorrow more parents in Africa will die of AIDS and tomorrow more grandmothers will have to raise their grandchildren. But Jesus says not to worry about that because God is at work. Just do what you can today. Keep knitting today and let God figure out about tomorrow.

There’s a cute story told about a rabbit and a little chick who were walking along the road. All of a sudden there was a bolt of thunder. The rabbit ran off along the road and began yelling, “The sky is falling. The sky is falling.” The rabbit looked back only to see the little chick was lying on his back with his feet thrust up into the sky: The rabbit ran back and asked: “Little chick, the sky is falling! What are you doing?” “One does what one can,” replied the little chick. When things don’t go our way, we can do what we can. Sometimes I thing the Care ‘n Share knitters group is like that little chick with his legs in the air trying to hold the sky up. It’s like we’re trying to prop Africa up with dish cloths, and scarves and mitts and hats. But God is here taking our little ministry and using it to save Africa, opening up a whole new world for us. We do what we can, and we let God do the rest. I love some of the ways Bernice Weninger talks. If I ask her if she will be at an event say, she doesn’t say yes or no. She says, “God willing and the creek don’t rise.”

Think of all the things we can worry about. War, the economy and our RRSP’s, crops, our children, your present minister is leaving. Today’s scripture message is not to forget about these things but to remember that God is here at work in them, often in surprising ways. When a door closes God opens a window.
I got a speeding ticket last Thursday. Yes, after travelling these roads for over two years I finally got caught. Now I have to find a way not to worry about how I’m going to pay it. But to do what I can. And what I can do it to be grateful that my speeding was checked. Who knows! Getting that ticket may have saved my life by making me pay more attention to my driving practices the next time I set out.

Do what you can for today and let all the rest go. Hard for some of us and easier for others. Have family and friends over for Thanksgiving Dinner. That’s an important thing to do, enjoy our friends and families. And let God worry about tomorrow. We can think we control tomorrow, but ultimately it’s out of our hands.
But we can do things today. We can be grateful for the present moment can’t we. That’s something we can do. Have you ever spent a whole 5 minutes admiring a rose or a whole hour enjoying a meal. Take time at your Thanksgiving meal to enjoy the moments and be grateful for them.

Be thankful for everything. Will AIDs be eradicated in Africa? Will the war in Afghanistan come to an end? Will we get more snow this week? Will we have a new minister in place soon? Will my friend’s cancer be wiped out? Will I pay my speeding ticket without too much trouble? Will I survive the flu pandemic? All we can do today is to do what we can, and all we can do for tomorrow is say, “God willing and the creek don’t rise!