Thankfulness Shapes Our Minds, Our Money, And Our Mercy

Gratitude is not a holiday mood; it’s a way of seeing that rewires what we value and how we give. We open with 2 Corinthians 9 to reframe resources as seeds, not trophies, and walk through the simple pattern that Jesus models again and again: give thanks, then act. That single move challenges the myth of scarcity and turns generosity into a predictable harvest. Along the way, we talk frankly about prayer—what it means to trust that the Father hears—and how the Spirit intercedes when words fail.

From there we turn to the work of a renewed mind. Too often we carry the gifts of the Spirit like an old VCR blinking 12:00—present but unused. We explore how to learn the controls, practice new habits, and “robe” ourselves with mercy, humility, patience, and forgiveness until they feel natural. We name love as the true mark of maturity and describe how unity in Christ dismantles hierarchies built on status, nationality, education, or wealth. The measure is simple and searching: how we treat the least among us.

The stories are the heart of this conversation. A grandmother thanking God for a car she’d just locked her keys inside reframes inconvenience into safety and faith for the children watching. A home that pulls doors off their hinges to make more tables becomes a living parable of abundance: when love is the host, there’s always room. We connect those moments to practical steps—setting aside resources to give, holding thankful thoughts long enough to change the brain, and building homes and churches that welcome without fear.

If this speaks to you, share it with a friend and help us spread a grateful, generous way of life. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us where you’re making more room at your table this week.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Theme Of Gratitude
• 1:01 2 Corinthians 9 And Generous Living
• 5:30 Abundance Versus Scarcity
• 10:15 Thankfulness Beyond Holidays
• 13:40 Jesus’ Pattern: Give Thanks Then Act
• 20:45 Prayer, Being Heard, And The Spirit’s Help
• 25:15 Renewed Minds And Using The Gifts We Have
• 31:40 One In Christ Beyond Status And Labels
• 36:20 Putting On Virtue As Daily Practice
• 43:10 Love As The True Mark

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the First Love Church Podcast. This is a collection of Sunday teachings inspired by the Revised Common Lectionary and recorded weekly in Ocala, Florida. We're grateful that you've gathered with us this Sunday morning, this 22nd Sunday of ordinary time, and what joy it is to be in this season with you. For those of us on this continent, we're gonna celebrate Thanksgiving. And I remind you, though, that in the life of a follower of Jesus, Thanksgiving is not just one day. It is in fact a key to presence. It's a key to how God wants us to live as ones that are truly formed by love. And this beautiful invitation is this morning that we would remember that transformation is the goal, that ascension is where we're all headed, or that we're supposed to be, that we would ascend into these ways of thinking that are so much different than the ones that we have now. I read to you this morning from 2 Corinthians chapter 9. Remember this a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop, but the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give, and don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure, for God loves a person who gives cheerfully. And God will generously provide all that you need, and you will have plenty of everything, and you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. This has always been the goal. You will have what you need, and then there will be plenty to share with others. It will not be you will have all you need and then you hoard it all so that no one has anything else. It is the invitation of we have received and then the exhale is that we give. We inhale the grace and we exhale the mercy. As the scripture says, they share freely and they give generously to the poor, and their good deeds will be remembered forever. For those of you who are concerned about legacy, how will I be remembered? These ancient scriptures tell you how to do it. Take care of the poor. And this is the kind of thing that is going to be remembered forever. For God is the one who provides seed to the farmer and bread to eat, and in the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Again, this has always been the plan that God would produce this harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. This is important that we talk about this because some people, our culture tells us that you will be enriched so that you can have and have and have and keep and keep and keep. And the invitation is here in God's way of living is that you will have, you will be enriched so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. And so we hear we hear this beautiful pattern emerging. The Spirit gives us grace, gives us resources, enriches us, and then we in turn work with the Spirit and we give those things away, and then those people who receive them will thank God. They may not thank you, but they will thank God. So two good things will result from the ministry of giving. The needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God. And as a result of your ministry, your ministry of giving, your ministry of generosity, your ministry of sharing, they will give glory to God for your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the good news of Christ. The good news, beloved, is there is abundance in the world. The lie is that there is scarcity and there will not be enough. But the good news of Jesus is there is abundance. There is hope for this whole world to be transformed. But this will prove that you are obedient to the good news of Christ, and they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace that God has given to you. What a beautiful and hopeful invitation. But for us to be reminded of the fact that generosity is a predicted outcome of our thankfulness when we recognize that everything that we have is a gift and is a grace, and then we find out, look at this is the kingdom of God where there is abundance, then we ask ourselves, how can I be a part of that abundance? How can I be a part of giving? How do I be a part of allowing my heart to be formed by generosity instead of lack?

SPEAKER_02: 4:48

You know, I don't claim to be an expert on marriage, but I will tell you this. If the only time you're nice to your spouse is on the anniversary, that's not a good relationship. You know? And uh, so why would the only time that we really focus on thankfulness is on Thanksgiving Day? You know, I I love the fact that at this church we celebrate Easter Tide. So we we celebrate the Easter service, but not in one service can you really even begin to grasp the resurrection of Christ and what that means for us as followers, right? And uh and and so there's an abundance to all of these things. There's abundance to love to make a relationship great. There's a there's an importance for us to be grateful all the time, there's there's an importance for us to remember about the resurrection all the time. And when it comes to generosity, it's a practice that there's an abundance of if we learn to just tap into it, to just use that, to to share that, just try setting aside some resources that you're just gonna give away. And watch how there is always enough to do that. There's a there's an abundance that we're not tapping into, and I want you to see that that it's not us trying to get an offering out of you, it's us trying to help you understand that in all of these areas that that the love is not just limited to to getting someone something on their 25th anniversary, but that every day there's an abundance that we can share in our relationships if we dig down and tap into that. And so for us to be thankful, yes, let's celebrate Thanksgiving with great joy in a couple weeks. But what if we made it a season of just thankfulness? I'm just grateful for the people around me, the things that we have.

SPEAKER_00: 6:34

What if we made it a lifetime, not just a season? Let's talk about that for a minute because if we look I'm starting out slowly. You're starting seasonal. I'm talking lifetime here, I'm talking legacy project. We are gonna be people who are thankful. Again, we follow Jesus, or at least that's our intention here as a community. And when you look at the life of Jesus, you will see a pattern that he gives thanks for something. And then the miracle happens. He gives thanks for something. He gives thanks over the loaves and fishes, and then he blesses them and gives them away, and they are multiplied. Jesus is at the tomb of Lazarus. This is one of my favorite patterns for how to be thankful in all things. You know the scripture verses that say that thanksgiving should be a part of who we are. One of them. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. If you want to know what God's will is for you, God wants for you to be thankful. And there, thank you, Miss Carroll. She's working on that. We're all working on that. This idea of yes, may we be people marked by gratitude, marked by thanksgiving. And we see this as Jesus does. Jesus is in a terrible situation at one moment because his friend has died, his friend Lazarus. And Jesus is grieving and his best friends are grieving. Their brother has died. And in the middle of all of this, Jesus says, Father, thank you that you listen to me when I pray. There is for us a pattern here. Not to ignore our grief, not to say it is not as terrible as it is. It was. Jesus did not diminish the horrific situation they were in, but said, here is where I can be thankful that I am not alone in this place of suffering. That God hears me, that there is a hope greater than this. And then you know the story. Then he calls Lazarus and says, Come out. And then he tells the people around them, hey, take off those grave clothes so that he can go free. One of the ways that we take off our grave clothes is that we begin to be people who are thankful, that we practice thanksgiving, that we practice the presence and remembering that every good thing that we have is from God. And God who loves us and has given us abundance.

SPEAKER_02: 9:04

You know, uh, haven't I been married a while? And I I think it's it's um able to been a while because she's able to make some concessions.

SPEAKER_00: 9:15

That is what marriage is, we all make concessions.

SPEAKER_02: 9:17

Yeah, uh this morning we were talking, and she said something, and no matter what you say, I think of 70s and 80s commercials or songs.

SPEAKER_00: 9:26

It is it is a cross I bear. Whatever happened to him in the 70s with those commercials, they implanted their messages in his brain.

SPEAKER_02: 9:36

That goes with whatever sentence she has in the and I get it, it's a mental illness. Stretch your hands out towards the pastor. But this morning she said something and she goes, I really want you to listen to what I'm saying. Dennis, are you there? Are you listening to me?

SPEAKER_00: 9:50

Because he was singing a song from the 70s.

SPEAKER_02: 9:53

And she goes, Are you are you with me? Listen, because I really want you to hear this. And I said, I'm listening. She goes, Are you really? And I go, Well, the commercial still is rolling.

SPEAKER_00: 10:01

So I was waiting for that to stop in his head.

SPEAKER_02: 10:06

Yeah, you're you got it too. But it's okay. So uh so I I I I was thinking about that because all of us have had that experience where we're just not sure someone's listening to us. But I want you to think about what Jesus said. I know, Father, did you hear me? I want you to leave if for nothing else that you know the Father hears you when you ask. And you know, we we try so hard as Christians to say the right thing. We want to memorize the scripture so we're confessing it just right, because we think somehow if we do this thing just right, maybe God would hear us and would answer us. But I want you to know you're loved. And I want you to know that that it's because of my love for Heather that I tune out the commercial and I tune in to what she's saying to me. But how much more are you loved by God who will listen to you? And I want you to have confidence next time you you pray. Next time you throw up one of those Hail Mary's, you know what those are, those foxhole prayers where you're panicking. I wonder if he even hears me. I hope that you remember. And God is saying to you right now, I hear every word that you say.

SPEAKER_00: 11:35

And then I remind you that Jesus prays for us. And I love to talk about Thanksgiving and prayer, and I want to remind everybody. It says that when you don't know how to pray, the Spirit of God prays for you. And how great is that when you don't even you can't even find the words for what you're feeling or what you are going through, the spirit intercedes for us. And so that is such a beautiful confidence, it's such a beautiful hope to be able to say there is more to this life and in this process of thanksgiving. Christ's resurrection is your resurrection too. I don't know if you know that, but that's good news. That is good news. That means death does not have the final word concerning you, concerning the people that you love. Christ's resurrection is your resurrection too. Beloved, we are to be people of resurrection. That's the big part of the story. That in our resurrection, then we ascend with Christ. This is the pattern that we are apt to, and this is why we are to yearn for all that is above, for that's where Christ sits enthroned at the place of power, honor, and authority. Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities and not with distractions or 70s commercials from the natural realm. It doesn't say that, from the natural realm.

SPEAKER_02: 13:00

See what I have to deal with all the time.

SPEAKER_00: 13:02

She's churching it up. And here's the hope for all of us, though. There is a there's a pattern that we're invited into. It's to change the way that we think. This is what Jesus said to all of us, to every person standing there. I'm inviting you to think differently. And who in your life is challenging the way that you think about everything, beloved, particularly about God? Jesus came, and I remind you that when God sent Jesus, God did not send us a book, a tablet, he didn't send us a big set of rules or download something via the internet into our brains. God sent a human person filled with the Spirit of God, a human person filled with the Spirit, and that's our pattern. And so we look to Jesus and say, what would it look like for me to embrace my humanity, to embrace all of what it means for the things that I will experience, but to not be distracted with things that are illusionary, to not be distracted with things that don't matter. Beloved, Jesus is calling us to think and to use our brains and to use the intelligence that he gave us, but to change the way that we're using it. I had a friend one time, and this was in the 70s, we will date ourselves by talking about this, but my friend gave her mother a brand new VCR, and that was the rage, and she had worked hard for it. And her mother just had a TV and she liked to watch certain shows, so she was gonna liberate her mother by giving her a VCR because then she could record that show and watch it. Where we live in that world every day now, beloved. But that was a big thing then. And she went to her mother's house and she put her VCR on, she plugged it in, and then a few weeks later she'd invited her mom to something, and she goes, I can't go because I gotta watch my show. And she goes, Well, I gave you a VCR, and now you all you have to do is record it. And she goes, Oh, honey, I don't know how to use that. She said, That's a clock for me. That's a clock for me. Well, there was a lot of capabilities in that machine that was beyond the digital clock. And there is a lot of capabilities that the spirit of God has for us, in fact, supernatural capabilities. Beloved, learn to use it. Ask for help, get a tutorial. There's lots on YouTube, but like there's things that we can do. You can be like my friend's mom, who had this incredible gift, and it was a clock to her. You have the spirit of God in you, beloved. You have divine power, you have the strength and the ability to change the way that you think. And this is an invitation, not into VCRs, not into distractable small technology, but into the consciousness of Christ that we're invited to use. Well, that was not even a good clock then either. Your crucifixion with Christ has now severed the tie to this life, and now your true life is hidden away with God in Christ. That's good news too, beloved. That if we didn't talk about anything else, your your real life is hidden in Christ with God. There is good happening. For you have acquired a new creation life which is continually being renewed into the likeness of the one who created you, giving you the full revelation of God. Which also tells us right here, this particular passage, you don't understand everything yet. It's okay, it's not a shameful thing. But the intention is keep following and more will be revealed. Keep following, and you'll give up those ways of thinking. Keep following, and you will get further into love. Beloved, farther up and further in. This is the invitation for us to be people who give up patterns of thinking that limit us, that are patterns of thinking that are handed to us by hate or by cruelty, and to join with Jesus in allowing Christ to change our minds.

SPEAKER_02: 17:10

I just kind of want to reiterate what Heather said that um earlier, that you know, Jesus said, You've heard it said, but I tell you the truth. You know, who does tell you the truth? You know, I think so much of the time we get the idea, you know, what we know is what we know and it's right, and and there's not a place where we can be challenged. And uh it's okay to allow yourself. I think sometimes we feel like our whole Christianity will crumble if we don't just hold so tightly to these doctrines. But remember, doctrines were handed to you by men, and the Spirit of God wants to bring truth to us, and and as we break the bread of the word of life together, and as we share, the Spirit moves, and and maybe you can begin to look at things a little differently. And so, where do you allow yourself that place to grow, that that place to really look at? And you know, uh, I've worked for people, and boy, if you question them, they were offended. Yeah, and they'd get real angry because it, you know, it's their way. And I find myself sometimes in doing a job, my kids and I'll be working, and I'll be like, it's done like this, and they want to do it a different way. Don't do it my way. And pretty soon I oh is it a quicker way? That would work better. Uh, you know, and uh, and so we we want, you know, we know people like that in our ourselves we do that, but can we allow God to show us a better way? Are you open in your heart? And uh, I've had those people that they're offended, but I know for sure that God is not offended when you ask questions. Yes, when you're curious, yes, and you that you know, it was handed to me this truth, but somehow, you know, I've met people, uh, I can talk about her because she's not here, Nathaniel's girlfriend. I I I love her for so many reasons, but one of the things amazing about her is she goes, ever since I was a little girl, you know, they said some things in church, and I just I questioned it. And then I was made to feel bad for it. And and and she's and as she's sharing those things, they're like, those are powerful revelations of truth that even as a child she knew. But the whole movement with the whole ocean was going in this other direction, but she knew enough about her spirit, you know, to trust that. And I want to encourage you that we just, you know, it's just not okay just because everybody's doing it. Amen. When you know in your even when it's church folks and they're they're being, you know, uh unwilling to serve the needy and unwilling to be kind and to really be grateful, well then we stand up against that and we share the truth of what God wants to do on the earth today.

SPEAKER_00: 19:58

And we need to question ourselves in beautiful ways. I appreciate that you reminded us that God is not offended with questions and our curiosity. In fact, he made us this way. We should be doing that on a regular basis. The apostle shows us this, um, the apostle Paul who said, When I was a child, I thought as a child, but when I became an adult, I put away childish thinking and I chose wisdom. I chose the path that wisdom showed me. And so this is an invitation to think differently. And here the writer is telling us in this new creation life, your nationality makes no difference. That's not true for a lot of people in a lot of places in the world. And from the very get-go, Jesus starts meddling with all kinds of things. The writer here starts meddling because Jesus said to the people that were listening to him, You're not going to get to God because your father Abraham. And they were like, What? Because we're counting on that. I mean, we are counting on that. And God was, and Jesus was like, Nope, that's not how you're getting there. And so the invitation for all of us is to look at this. In this new life, your nationality doesn't make any difference. It doesn't mean your nationality doesn't matter, because I appreciate the ethnic food that everybody creates. I like it so much. Keep that going, teach each other that deliciousness, and then allow us to participate. But if you think that you're better than someone else, the scripture here is saying absolutely not. Your nationality does not make you better than anyone else, nor your ethnicity, your education, or your economic status. This beloved is the scripture truth. We are not different from anyone because of anything. We are one in Christ. We are one because all of us bear the image of God. There is no different. In fact, there's another scripture that says that your sexuality, that your gender, that nothing about you separates you from anyone else, that this is the hope of Christ. Nothing else matters. For Christ, that means everything as he lives in every one of us. You are always and dearly loved by God. This is an emphatic statement. This is not if you add to it, if you get it together, if you can do this one more time. It's not that. You are always and dearly loved by God. End of story. And if you didn't know what the good news was, that's it. Right in a nutshell. You are always and dearly loved by God. So robe yourself with the virtues of God. I just want to ask you all to think about how does someone robe themselves? Well, you get out of the bed and you actually put something on. And he's saying, You are one with Christ. Now get out of the bed and be loving. Get out of the bed and be merciful. Get out of the bed. Put on the virtues of Christ. What is God? God is mercy beyond all measure. God is love. So this is the invitation for us to grow up. This is one of the things that we can tell when people get to a certain age of maturity, they can put their own clothes on. You know, until that time, you're considered a child. When now, we all have different opinions about fashion and about how clothes should be worn. But when you can actually cover yourself, when you can clothe yourself, there's a little bit of maturity, and we can expect that. And so here, now you're loved. Put on the virtues of God. You've chosen to be holy. We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining us today. If you're finding this episode meaningful, would you take a moment to share it with a friend? This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of people just like you. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church and the continued work of our podcast, visit us online at firstlovchurch.org, reminding you to like, follow, and subscribe.

SPEAKER_02: 24:05

You know, when you when you put on that robe or put on Christ, there is a uh uh an awkwardness that can come at first, or as you grow into uh things that God might be asking of you at different stages in your life. And uh I I was thinking about when I first uh got had a job where I needed to wear a tie, uh my dad would tie them for me, and then he stood behind me, and he a few times after that I started, you know, and I wore ties for so many years uh at work that uh, you know, I could tie a tie now without thinking about it. And just the other day, uh Thomas was doing a wedding and I and he wanted a color of tie that I had, so I gave him the tie, and he goes, Well, would you go ahead and tie it to? And so I tied it, uh made it loose and and and put it on him, and uh, and that might be awkward for him at first, uh, but if he continues to do it, it will become very comfortable and natural in part of what he does. And I hope you're tracking with me, because any of that stuff, it's worth doing, it's worth putting on. Because trust me, you look a lot better with Christ on. And uh and it will become more natural in your home to just make those choices. One of the things that uh I'm I'm most grateful about in our life is that when people come and hang out with us, they go, your children are they're amazing. And I go, yeah, well, that's me.

SPEAKER_00: 25:38

No, I I really No, they make their own choices. They make their own choices.

SPEAKER_02: 25:42

They are adult people, they're so kind to each other and they laugh. And you can just hear up in the room there, they're giggling, they're not fighting, they're laughing, and uh, and and it's um it's so beautiful that there's a place that that's now become because my brother's here today, and Danny, we didn't always get along perfectly. One time he he made me so mad I threw a rock through the windshield of his 1967 Ford uh galaxy.

SPEAKER_00: 26:10

And uh everyone together, Lord have mercy. I gotta realize black eye over there.

SPEAKER_02: 26:17

And uh and the the thing is uh uh you can you can have that kind of experience in your children, or we can put on Christ, and it can become a way of life. And I want that for you because I don't want you to have the broken windshield and the black eyes. I want you to be able to have that joy that generally comes from making that choice. And it's awkward and it's hard at first because you want to lash out, you want to make different choices, but we can surrender. Put on that, and at whatever level you are, there's a place where we can go higher in this. Amen?

SPEAKER_00: 26:50

Amen. Be merciful as you endeavor to understand others. To understand someone else means that you're gonna have to slow down, and you're gonna have to be curious, and it takes a lot of humility. That's one of the beautiful side projects of being thankful. Is when you're thankful, when you can get to a place where you can actually be thankful, it is a great blow to your ego. Because being thankful reminds you that what you have is a gift and it's a practice. But being thankful changes things. Be compassionate. This is who Jesus is, this is who God is. Showing kindness toward all. In fact, Jesus told us about God. If you want to know who God is, Jesus is the way to see God. And Jesus said, God is kind to the just and the unjust. Kindness marks God-like behavior. If it's cruel, if it's mean, it is not from God. That is your ego. And so the invitation is not to live in our ego, but to live above it in the spirit, to live in the realms that are offered to us. Be gentle and humble, unoffendable in your patience with others. I don't know a better test or a practice in patience with others than family. I think that God designed family intentionally, perfectly, to give us skills, to be patient with each other. Tolerate the weakness. Do you know how you can tolerate someone? By forgiving, by practicing forgiveness. It doesn't say be intolerant of each other, judge each other, and then condemn each other. Forgive each other. This is the practice. Forgiving one another the same way that you have graciously been forgiven by Jesus Christ. If you find faults with someone, if it's a big if, not when. If if you have done all the things and you still have fault, release the same gift of forgiveness to them. This is a way to live in God. That we would be people who practice divine forgiveness, that we would forgive as we ourselves have been forgiven. For love is supreme and must flow through each of these virtues. Love becomes the mark of true maturity. Love is the final answer. This is how things get sorted, beloved. Jesus said to the people who were listening to him, on the last day, there is going to be a sorting. And I feel like as a mom, maybe this happens not just as a mom, but in a house with a lot of people, there is a lot of laundry. And it feels like sorting is something that we have to do all the time. And based on your household or on the size or what size basket you have, there's always a plan for the sorting. And so Jesus is telling us on the last day, and he's speaking to an oppressed people. Remember this. He's speaking to people who are oppressed by the Roman. Government that is greedy and arrogant, and they hoard wealth, and they crucify people, and they are cruel, cruel, cruel. And Jesus is telling them something on the last day. He said, Here's how the sorting will go. If you were kind to the poor, go into the kingdom of the Father. That's what Jesus said. You were kind to me when I was in prison. You were kind to me when I was sick. You brought me food. And the people there said, When did we see you in that kind of condition? And Jesus said, Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done it to me. This is how the sorting goes, beloved. Love is the test. And how we treat each other, how we treat the outcast, how we treat our neighbors, how we treat our enemies, this is how it gets sorted out. Love becomes the true mark of maturity.

SPEAKER_02: 30:57

Love becomes the true mark of maturity. You know, uh a lot of our Christian walk is spent building a religion around a scaffolding of fear. You know, you gotta be afraid to do this, you better be careful to not do this. And God has always called us to build this thing with love. And love is the mark of maturity. You know, uh I've I've heard people talk for years in church, better be careful not to take on the mark of the beast. And it terrifies me. Even those words still send a little chill down my spine. And you're, and I spend a lot of time going, what is the mark? Well, I better not, better not, you know, I don't know, I better not, you know, and it's just that people say, well, don't, you know, don't get a chip you put in your arm. I mean, just crazy, and it just goes crazy, doesn't it? And and I'm telling you, with fear can drive that, and that's your relationship with God, this fearful thing. And and what what scripture's saying is be don't be marked with anything other than love, gratitude, kindness, serving the poor. That's that marks you. I don't want to be marked with wickedness. I don't want to be marked with anything. So it's not something we trade one day you're gonna be forced to do. It's just in this culture, are you gonna surrender to being mean? Are you gonna surrender to being selfish? Are you gonna mark yourself that way? Oh, that person's an angry, greedy person. You've marked yourself. But God's always been over here going, well, with love, this is not something to be afraid of. This is something beautiful to walk into. I can just learn how to love more. I can learn how to be more generous, I can learn how to get off my pile of stuff and share it with other people. I can be marked as, you know what? That person's a kind person. Years ago, I I asked my my wife, I said, hey, you know, the this person we know, he's a nice guy. I said, uh, am I nice? And she started laughing really hard. And I thought she'd stop in a minute and tell me I was nice, but she just kept on laughing. She goes, Dennis, of all the things you are. You're passionate. You know? But nice was not something that was named among the things that people called me, and they called me a lot of names. But that's that has to be a choice that I choose to be kind, to be, to prefer other people, until one day I could bear the mark of a nice man. But that's going to be based on my choices, isn't it? Not one time to go get a tattoo on my forehead, but then on a regular basis I choose to surrender to love. Amen? That I want to be marked, and God's tell us you can be marked with love. And do you see the beauty in that and just the freedom in that, or the fear in all, what you you better not do this wrong or that wrong and say one thing. Just following in love. And isn't it weird how we can sneak into your Bibles at night, no matter what passage we read, it's gonna talk about love. We it takes Heather and I a lot of time to go to each one of your houses and rewrite your Bibles.

SPEAKER_00: 34:36

Which we of course do not.

SPEAKER_02: 34:38

It's in there. We just gotta dig it out and discover it, amen.

SPEAKER_00: 34:41

Let your heart be always guided by the peace of the anointed one. Jesus claimed that anointing for himself at the baptism. God opened up heaven and said, This is my anointed one. Listen to him. He has the path. He has called you to peace as part of his one body. Oneness has always been the goal, beloved. Jesus prayed that for us in John chapter 17. Father, make them one, even as you and I are one. It is only one. I am not separate from you, I am not better from you, I am one with you because of what Christ has done, and that changes the way that I behave, or it should. It should at least challenge it. You are called to peace and to be part of his one body and always be thankful. You, beloved, are called to be a person who is grateful. You are called to have healing in your eyes so that you can look around and find something to be grateful for. There is some beautiful science. Look it up. What happens to your brain when you practice being thankful and when you hold thankful thoughts for more than 17 seconds, what it actually does. It's incredible. But you are called to be people of love. In fact, Jesus said, This is how you're gonna know if someone follows me. You're gonna be people of great love. And he says, and then you're gonna be thankful, always thankful, always thankful. There is a practice that we are invited into that is a spiritual path, and it is a practice of thankfulness. And the practice is that we would be fully aware of whatever is happening in the moment, and find a way to experience the presence of God in that moment and give thanks.

SPEAKER_02: 36:30

Could you share the story about your grandma in the car, the snow?

SPEAKER_00: 36:34

Yes. Dennis likes this story, but I've been telling it to him for a long time. Um I uh have a beautiful had a beautiful grandmother, and one of the times we were in Chicago, we were at a church, and we had gone to church, and the snow had happened, and it was a big snow while we were in church. And um, so she came out to the car with us, and we were Pentecostal holiness in that day, and um that meant that we had skirts on and high heel shoes. And um, we came out of the And also meant you were in the church, so it was very, very late, probably about eleven o'clock at night. Not that's not even an exaggeration. And she had little grandchildren with her, and she was coming out of church, and we walked over to her push-button rambler, and there was snow piled, like all you had to like pull the door really hard to try to get it open so that you could move the snow back. The snow plows hadn't even been there, and we were standing there freezing, standing in her little footsteps, and she couldn't find her keys, and she saw them sitting on the front seat of the car. So this would have been about 1975-76, before cell phones, before things like that. And she looked at her keys, my brother and I, behind her in the snow, and she said right out loud, Lord, I thank you that I have a car that I can lock keys in. And she proceeded to walk around and go back in and try to find a phone that she could use. But of all the things that could be said at a time where you recognize what has happened, I thank you that I have a car that I can lock keys in. And let me tell you, as a little tiny person, watching my grandmother do that when she was under the most pressure, I knew she was under pressure. I knew we were gonna have to wait a long time for my grandfather to come all the way from the house to come back over. I knew this whole thing. And she said, Thank you for the car that I can lock keys in. And that marked me as a really tiny person. When you're frustrated, be thankful for the things that you have. Find a way. Now she still had to call someone to come and rescue us. Keys still had to be changed. But our position, and let me tell you what that happened to my brother and I we felt safe even though we were locked out of the car. We were not afraid of my grandmother's outbursts or what was going to happen. She did not call down Zeus and Ra and every foreign god. Thank you that I have a car that I can lock my keys into. She took full responsibility. She didn't say to us, one of you kids must have taken it out of my purse. You know, like nothing like that happened. Just thank you. Thank you that I have the brain to figure this out. Thank you that there are people in my life, and this is a practice for all of us. We can be people marked by love and thankfulness.

SPEAKER_02: 39:15

I don't know. Was that punchline a shocker to you as it was to me? Um I think that it shows that we can be trained to behave that way, and I want you to further see how much it marked Heather. And um, and I want you to think about this that in the 70s a woman made a choice that has shaped the life of an individual and now has affected a whole congregation, and people that watch on the internet can have another way, can see a tangible path because of one woman's choice. And so I want you to consider the little ears that are listening to you lose your stuff when things don't go your way. When we absolutely just have to let out a, you know, because you do feel better at some level when you just bah, but then everybody has to hear that. And I that's such a powerful point she makes about how children listening to that, you know, they weren't afraid. Imagine how afraid you were when grandma's losing it out in the street in Chicago in the middle of the night. You know, what where's their safety? But by her choices, it affected everyone around. So I want to remind you that, yes, these things are important. We're talking about being grateful and how it affects your brain and what the good is for you, because you know, you know, that that gratefulness, you know, that's where God pours out blessing, you know, and that's where we're met. But but are you even considering what it does for the people that are around you that you make that choice?

SPEAKER_00: 41:02

My grandmother was an immigrant. She came to this country with her husband and a tiny baby, and they worked very hard to become citizens and to do these things. And in in her immigrant understanding, and she was a nurse during World War II in England, and she had a mother who died when she was nine years old and had two younger siblings and had to raise them in a foreign country because they were taken back to the homeland because the mother had died. So I'm just saying, not an easy life, not a life that was with pleasure or with a lot of things that were handed, but a life carved out of service and of love to people. And here's the hope for the generosity and practicing giving to the poor. I do remind you that Jesus never confronted a foreign God. He didn't say, Don't worship Zeus and Ra is not real, and didn't say anything like that. He said, feed the poor. Because here's the plan. Here's what it does to you, it changes you. My grandmother was a woman of incredible generosity. Perhaps her own immigrant status made her very aware that people didn't have tables or families to be aware of. And so she would invite people, anybody that you see was coming to our house, you never know who was going to be there, who was going to be living there, who was going to be a part of it because the door was open. And that's the promise of generosity when we give to the poor. Like even as a church, when we give food to someone, it's not just to give food to them. We started giving food to a woman by the name of Eloise as a church family more than 20 years ago, and Eloise became our family. When I had babies, and I had Nathaniel and then had Silas, and I put our babies into Eloise's arms, somebody that I originally had just given food to. This is the invitation of God's people is that we don't just give food away, but that it opens our hearts to express that we give family, that we are family, that we're all the family of God. One time my grandmother's generosity got out of control, and she invited people and she didn't expect them all to come, and they did. And we saw them piling into the house, and everyone who lived there was like there's a lot of people showing up. And we knew how long the table was and how many chairs there were. And my grandmother looked at people coming in that were coming in expecting to eat, and she said to my mother, Take the door off the basement and take the door out of the hallway. Put bricks underneath them and make them into tables. My grandmother took the doors off of our house, put tablecloths over them, and said, There's room. We might have to do some rearranging, but there is room. Beloved, that's what the church is supposed to be. Come in. If the church has to be rearranged, we'll rearrange it so that everybody can have a seat. This is the invitation. Come and eat. Know that you belong. Know that you live in a place of abundance, and there will be someone who will care for you. Let the word of Christ live in you richly, flooding you with all wisdom. Apply the scriptures as you teach and instruct one another with the psalms, with festive praises, and with prophetic songs given to you spontaneously by the Spirit. So sing to God with all your hearts, and let every activity in your life and every word that comes from your lips be drenched with the beauty of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One, and bring your constant thanks and praise to God the Father because of what Christ has done for you. This is what it looks like to be people who live wide awake, thankful for the things that we have, thankful that we have cars that we can lock keys into, thankful for whatever it is that we're going for, thankful like Jesus who said, Lord, I thank you that you hear me, and when I'm brokenhearted and when death has done its works, thank you that you hear me. I'm gonna pray a blessing over us, one that I wrote for our particular church, for each person here. I was thinking about you this week, praying for you, blessing you, and I wrote a blessing for all of us during this particular season. And what I'm gonna ask then at the end of the reading is that we all sit in silence. And it's not gonna be for a very long time, it will be less than a minute, but we're gonna practice sitting with gratitude, bring something up, maybe something will stir in the blessing that remember it, and hold it in gratitude before God. And so together we will practice holding gratitude, being thankful, expressing our thanksgiving. But I speak this blessing over you. In the beginning, God looked upon all that He had made and called it good. That goodness still shimmers beneath our days, beneath our breath, beneath our being. We are children of that first blessing, formed of earth and breath, made for giving thanks and for becoming love. We give thanks for earth, the steady ground beneath our feet, for soil that cradles seed and root, for tables that hold our bread and our belonging. May the ground of our lives hold our families safe and in grace. May gratitude rise from this good earth and may generosity flow like fruit in season. We give thanks for water, the flowing gift that renews body and spirit, for tears that cleanse, for rivers that feed, for the living water of grace that runs quietly through every heart. May the gift of health be restored and refreshed in us. May our gratitude flow freely and our compassion pour without measure. We give thanks for fire, for the warmth of table and hearth, for the holy flame of love that burns in the center of our worship, for passion that draws us toward mercy and justice. May the food that we share and the love that gathers us become the light of the world, and may thanksgiving ignite our hearts. We give thanks for wind, for the breath of God that still moves through creation, for songs that rise, for prayers that lift, and for the spirit that fills our lungs with praise. Bless this church, O wild elemental one, this gathering of hearts and stories, fill our breath with your peace. O Christ, you who gave thanks and broke the bread, teach us that in to live in that same rhythm, to bless, to break, and to give. You have shown us that true generosity and thanksgiving are your plan, that to receive the goodness of God is to become the goodness of God for others. We who have been blessed now open our hands to give. We follow you, Jesus, in thanksgiving and in generosity. May this be our blessing and our call to live as those who remember the very first word spoken over us. Good. And let every act of generous gratitude become an act of grace for the world. Amen. We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon. If you would like more information about us, visit us online at firstlovechurch.org.