bless the lord, my soul

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November 20, 2022
Bless the Lord, my Soul
Rev. Patricia Wagner

Bless the Lord, my Soul
Thanksgiving 2013
                                                              
“We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing” 
 
I remember one particular Thanksgiving
         because of the blessing.
 
Rose was just 4 months old,
         I’d brought her home Vietnam
                           only a few weeks earlier. 
         So all the family – her aunts, uncles, great aunts,
                  great uncles, cousins and second cousins,
                           gathered at her grandparents’ house
         to meet her
                  and have Thanksgiving dinner together. 
                           Something we hadn't done for years.
 
One of her greatuncles, my mother’s brother
         made a comment about her beautiful Asian eyes,
                  if I’d planned to get them fixed,
We took our places around an extended table,
         and bowed our heads as he,
                  retired pastor, with a remarkable career
                           or service and charity prayed.
                                   
Dear Lord, he began,
         We thank you that you have gathered us here,
                  all of us related by blood.
                                   
the air went out of the room
   
my mind raced: 
 
…“all our us related by blood?”
Aat least half of those at the table,
         as well as this darling baby,
               aren’t related by blood,
                  they’d all married in.                  
                          
And, anyway, Thanksgiving is all about
         sharing food with those
                  who don’t share your bloodline.
 
What kind of God are we praying to? 
 
I barely heard the rest of the prayer
         the list of thank yous
                  the request to bless the food and us.
 
After the Amen.   
         a cousin to my right immediately turned to me and said,                      quietly,
                           "I will never forgive him."
 
And my mother, took a breath said in a voice we all could hear
                  Well, Harold, it’s too bad you aren't thankful
                           for your own wife! 
 
Beneath that prayer was an understanding
        
that our family was united by our bloodline,
         rather than love that. 
. 
that God’s blessing comes through our sameness
                  rather than our differences  
 
We gather together…..
 
 
This past week, I witnessed a couple signing papter
     to dissolve their marriage
          irreconcilable differences
                  and then yesterday attended
                                    the special session of the West Ohio                                      conference of the United Methodist Church
                                    where we did the same.
20 pastors
         and 80 churches had completed all the requirements
         to leave the denomination, with their church buildings, 
         and join a new denomination,
                  where they will know the blessing of sameness
                           of mind as to discipline and doctrine.
                 
                   
After all years of dialogue around tables
         of rancor in voting,
                  it was a quiet ending,
 
There are, clearly, irreconcilable differences
                  about our unity and sameness
                                    or in our differences.
 
The mood was sober,
         just as it was as the couple signed the papers,
                  as it was around that family dinner table,
 
How shall we live with one another,
         when so much separates us?
                  in our families, in our nation
                           and even in the church of Jesus, the Christ. 
 
        
Early in his writings,
         we find Paul quite dogmatic
                  about who is in and out,
but then, he was confined in prison in Rome,
         probably between the years 60 and 62,
               and something changed,
                  he was liberated inside,
 
He wrote to the church in Colossae,
         to hold them firmly together in their understanding
                  that Jesus is the Christ,  and other core truths, 
                           but to allow each other the freedom of
                                    differences of ways of living.                       
 
He advises them
                   
12As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,
         clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness,
                   humility, meekness, and patience.
 
13Bear with one another and,
          if anyone has a complaint against another,
                  forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you,
                           so you also must forgive.
 
14Above all, clothe yourselves with love,
         which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
                   15And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
                           to which indeed you were called in the one body.
                                    And be thankful.
                                                                        Colossians 3: 12-21
 
 
 
And perhaps that’s the recipe for how to survive thanksgiving,
         and life in a divided nation and church,
Bear with one another.
         clothe yourselves in love,
                  let peace of Christ rule your hearts,
                                 and then comes that last word,
                                    and the other great challenge
                                             and gift of this holiday: 
                                                        Be thankful, he says,
 
Now, I can find a nearly endless number of things
          to be thankful for,
                but I wonder all the time how other’s can. 
 
Those folks living on our frozen streets,
         the war victims in Ukraine, and Poland,  
                  facing bitter cold,
                        all those fleeing violence and rising tides,
                           and famine
and all those living in the winter that is grief,
                 
It is quite a call, that Paul has,
         to above all, be thankful,
 
But it is clear, that if we embody all these things
         if we bear one another in our differences,
                  forgive one another our humanness,
                           and find a way to be thankful in all things,
then perhaps we ourselves become the blessing.
 
Our psalm today, 103
         Bless the Lord, O my soul .
                  All that is within me bless God’s holy name.
 
This is not a superficial prayer,
            not something to recite or endure before we eat,
                  it is the prayer of our life. 
                          
This blessing isn't something we say,
         it is something we are, says Paul.
           
It is the prayer of our innermost being. 
         that part of us that understands more we seem to.
.                 that part that will live on with God, forever. 
 
The call is to our soul to bless the Lord.  
         even when our outermost being
                  is in too much pain
                          or too hurt,
                              or struggling with others,
 
to realize in our innermost being  that the one who give us life
         is always leading us toward it,
                  inviting us to be clothed in compassion, kindness
                           humility, patience, and above all love,
         and so letting the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. 
                  which allows us be thankful in all things. 
                           we  become the blessing to God
                                    and all creation, 
         we say with our lives: Bless the Lord, my soul
 
When we worry about our future, or those we love,
but know God has brought us this far,
Bless the Lord my soul
 
When we are uncertain about the future of the church
yet trust that God is in this with all of us,
Bless the Lord, my soul. 
 
When we see the divisions in the country
and recognize that we may also be a part of that,
 Bless the Lord, my soul.
 
When we aren’t sure how to love those
who are different from us,  but long to,
Bless the Lord my soul
 
 
May we be a blessing to the Creator.
         may we live with courage
                  may we create goodness. 
                                 may we love the unloved
                                    May we be given enough light to
                                             find a way through dark times. 
 
Bless the Lord, my soul, and may I be a blessing.
         to you,
                  in Jesus’ name.
 
Amen.