DON’T BE SAD!

A sermon by the Rev. Dr. James G. Kirk

Harundale Presbyterian Church

Glen Burnie, Maryland

September 19, 2004

Text: “lead a quiet and peaceable life.” (I Timothy 2:2)

First Reading: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1

Second Reading: Luke 16:1-13

It’s a known fact that most children in Finland are born during the months of February and March. In fact, these two months are known as the “birthday months.” Count back nine months and you’ll understand why. In the months of July and August the days are long, with 20 hours of sunshine a common occurrence. I’ve mentioned before how my friend Sven invited me to Norway for the summer and we went hunting for mussels at 12 o’clock at night. We then took them back and had a cook out at one in the morning. The sun never really set, but would only become dusk for about two or three hours and then the sun would be up again. At any rate, in the Nordic countries people are alive, alert and active most all hours of the day during the summer months.

On the other hand, very few children are born in Finland during the months of August and September. Again, count back nine months and you have the answer. During the winter months the opposite effect is true; there’s very little sunlight and it’s almost always dark the whole day. Now you would think that all that darkness would be conducive for conceiving, but it’s not. What happens is what’s known as SAD, seasonal affective disorder. Some people here get the same thing. The constant darkness depresses them and they become somewhat dysfunctional.

Seattle is the most SAD prone city in the United States. It’s not that it rains so much in Seattle. They get less rain than Miami. But it drizzles all the time, and is most often overcast. When I went to Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon we counted 52 days in a row that we didn’t see the sun. That casts a certain pall over things and does affect your outlook on life. That’s why Seattle is so well known for Starbucks! People react to their SAD way of life by keeping themselves juiced up on caffeine! Either that or they install Ultra Violet lights in workplaces, so that they get the effects of hidden sunshine.

Now what’s all that got to do with our scripture reading this morning? The problem is there are quite a few congregations that are “sad” congregations; only in their cases they have a spiritual rather than a seasonal affective disorder. Attend their worship. People seldom smile. They sing the hymns so slowly people could almost fall asleep between verses! The sermons don’t have any life to them and preachers don’t know when to stop. Increasingly the congregations consist of a graying population and children are seldom seen in worship. It’s very difficult for them to attract new members, because there’s no life to them. They could use a good dose of Starbucks or some ultra violet lighting to get their blood flowing in a more positive direction.

What Paul does is offer his version of a tanning booth. He focuses on three things, a good prayer life, a peaceable relationship with others and knowledge of your own salvation. Our Jewish brothers and sisters are currently observing Rosh Hashana. It’s a season of judgment, repentance and remembrance that will culminate on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The holiday is traditionally a time for Jews to reflect and evaluate their personal conduct and their relationship with God and one another, basically to get their New Year off to a good start.

Summer’s over, we’re starting a new program year in the life of the church. What needs cleaning up, or what’s keeping the light from shining in your life? Feeling overwhelmed by your problems? Pray for someone else whose burdens are equal to or greater than your own. Feeling resentment toward a family member or coworker at the office? Give thanks to God for that person, asking God to let him or her be an instrument of growth in your life. Feeling alone and in the dark, uncertain where to go next? Pray, asking God to shed the light of divine wisdom in your soul. Feeling critical of others? Thank God for the objects of your criticism and ask God to make them a blessing wherever they go. Feeling bitterness toward others who’ve succeeded where you have failed? Pray for their continued success. Feeling impatient about the progress you’ve made on a certain course of action. Thank God for how much you’ve accomplished so far. Feeling unforgiving toward others? Remember that God has already forgiven them and continues to bless them daily. (Homiletics Online, 9/20/98.)

Those are examples of what Paul means when he writes, “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for everyone.” What’s become one of the most important moments of our worship together are the prayers you offer on behalf of friends and loved ones. Those five minutes of our time together open the doors of our hearts and let the light of the risen Christ pour through us and out into the world. What Paul wants is for those prayers to be uttered on behalf of our enemies as well, “so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.”

Harry Chambers argues that what keeps a person from living a quiet and peaceable life is a “bad attitude.” In his book, The Bad Attitude Survival Guide, he gives three symptoms that affect how people respond to situations, a bad attitude, poor performance and resistance to change. He then goes on to write that there are six reasons that cause people to have a bad attitude.

First, people have a low self-esteem or lack of confidence. How many times have you felt whatever you do someone does it better. Well, the simple reality is that’s probably true, but that shouldn’t stop you from doing your best. Paul writes, “This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” The truth is that every one of us is unique in God’s eyes, the same God who sends us the Holy Spirit to transform whatever weakness we may have into a strength to God’s glory and honor.

A second cause of a bad attitude is people’s fear that they’re going to fail, that somehow they won’t measure up to what people expect from them. The problem with that is the cause of the bad attitude is misdirected. Of course, none of us will ever measure up to what people expect from us, because people are always changing their minds. First they want one thing and then they want another. The solution to failure is the assurance that whatever you do is God’s will, not someone else’s expectations and it is God to whom we’re ultimately accountable.

A third cause of a bad attitude is the resentment that you’ve lost power or respect. Again, according to whom? If God has seen fit to send the Christ to assure us of salvation unto eternal life what can anyone do to us? We have the greatest gift that no one can take from us. We have to remember that any power or respect we may have doesn’t come from others, it comes from God.

A fourth cause of a bad attitude is some unresolved conflict. There’s not a soul who doesn’t have some skeletons in their closet, which is why every week we have a prayer of confession and an assurance of pardon. We need to hear that God forgives us over and over and that should help us put unresolved conflicts in their proper perspective.

A fifth cause of a bad attitude is the one that churches love to rehearse time and again, change. The seven last words of any congregation are, “we have never done it that way before.” With my retiring, Harundale’s going to experience a lot of changes and they’re going to be both frightening and exciting. Hopefully they won’t breed a lot of bad attitudes.

And the sixth cause of a bad attitude is boredom. Show me a teen-ager with an attitude and the first think you’ll hear out of their mouths is “I’m bored.” Churches that have the spiritual affective disorder are boring churches. There’s no life in them. The light of the Spirit doesn’t shine in anything they do. (Harry E. Chambers, The Bad Attitude Survival Guide, Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Longman, 1998. Ibid. page 4.)

That’s what Paul was trying to avoid, and his attitude was anything but bad. His emphasis on prayer, living peaceably with your neighbors and living life in light of God’s promised salvation all made for anything but bad attitudes. So put away your lack of confidence, fears of failing, resentment, unresolved conflicts, and inability to accept change and you’ll find you don’t have the time or the will to be bored! You’ll find yourselves living in the ultra violet rays of God’s love.

Thanks be to God,

Amen