From the Pastor’s Desk…
Faith Chat:
We are called to proclaim God’s grace by proclaiming the story of Jesus, to bring light, hope and healing to the world.
This is a piece I wrote for the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable Thanksgiving celebration last year. I pray that it speaks to you this year!
Rejoice in the Lord Always and again I say Rejoice! These words echo to me, yes, from the scriptures from my faith tradition, and from a Sunday School Song that I can now only remember that little snippet of. Rejoice in the Lord Always and again I say Rejoice! Yes, I know that I’m supposed to be speaking on gratitude and not rejoicing, I didn’t get confused, but if you know me at all, it’s a fair question. And I will admit that gratitude (or rejoicing) is not something that comes naturally for me. I’m skeptical of platitudes of “have an attitude or gratitude” that one finds on coffee mugs. And again, if you know me, you also know I’m not given to sudden bouts of sentimentality. I don’t have much use for it. AND I am convinced that gratitude does matter and is important.
Gratitude and rejoicing go together for me, but neither are about attitude, or how I’m feeling at any given moment. Gratitude (and rejoicing) focuses me on the here, and now, the present. Gratitude is an act of being rooted in the reality of my present situation, aware of the spectrum that lays before me from suffering to resplendent joy. When I fully grasp the complexities, paradoxes and tensions of my life, I am opened to notice that gratitude is tenacious, like love, and moves me to hold on to what brings life, what connects me to God, my community, to all you gathered here tonight. Believe me, there are moments when it’s easier to give in to hopelessness and despair. In the years following the death of our youngest child from a heart defect, gratitude and rejoicing were difficult to include in my life. Yet, others held gratitude for me, when I couldn’t. For that, I am grateful. You see, gratitude and rejoicing aren’t about me as an individual but are about who WE are as one people. Gratitude is a faithful and faith filled response, a radical act of defiance, to noticing the fruit growing among the weeds, or the comfort of a loved one holding you as your world shatters.
And I am called by my faith, by God, to be this community for you, when gratitude and rejoicing are far from your lips or heart or mind. I am grateful to be in this community tonight, with you who are committed to being flames of love and compassion in the midst of an angry world. It’s a challenge right now to stay present and not slip into despair or rose-colored fantasies. Doing either diminishes our capacity for gratitude, I believe. Seeing what is just, true, and authentic, allows gratitude to sit with us, in us, to direct our hearts, minds and bodies to be in solidarity our friends, loved ones, coworkers, neighbors’ who might be struggling to hold gratitude. The defiance of gratitude is that it is a communal act, it demands a communal response, and yet, demands the paradox that every individual has the right to know gratitude. In our Christians scriptures, which includes the scriptures of our Jewish siblings, we are called to this justice and righteousness-God calls us to right relationship. Gratitude is never more accessible than when we learn to live together in such a way that no one is diminished, ostracized, ignored, demonized or scapegoated. This is hard, for we are human, AND it’s why we hold the concept of gratitude with esteem. We all crave it, we all seek it. Sometimes, all I can do is sit, look around, open my heart and sing “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice,” and be grateful that I don’t sing this alone, even when I don’t feel particularly grateful or like rejoicing. The gratitude comes to me, and to you, from the care of community that God has created for the flourishing of us all. I am deeply grateful.
In Christ,
Pastor Brigette Weier
This is a piece I wrote for the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable Thanksgiving celebration last year. I pray that it speaks to you this year!
Rejoice in the Lord Always and again I say Rejoice! These words echo to me, yes, from the scriptures from my faith tradition, and from a Sunday School Song that I can now only remember that little snippet of. Rejoice in the Lord Always and again I say Rejoice! Yes, I know that I’m supposed to be speaking on gratitude and not rejoicing, I didn’t get confused, but if you know me at all, it’s a fair question. And I will admit that gratitude (or rejoicing) is not something that comes naturally for me. I’m skeptical of platitudes of “have an attitude or gratitude” that one finds on coffee mugs. And again, if you know me, you also know I’m not given to sudden bouts of sentimentality. I don’t have much use for it. AND I am convinced that gratitude does matter and is important.
Gratitude and rejoicing go together for me, but neither are about attitude, or how I’m feeling at any given moment. Gratitude (and rejoicing) focuses me on the here, and now, the present. Gratitude is an act of being rooted in the reality of my present situation, aware of the spectrum that lays before me from suffering to resplendent joy. When I fully grasp the complexities, paradoxes and tensions of my life, I am opened to notice that gratitude is tenacious, like love, and moves me to hold on to what brings life, what connects me to God, my community, to all you gathered here tonight. Believe me, there are moments when it’s easier to give in to hopelessness and despair. In the years following the death of our youngest child from a heart defect, gratitude and rejoicing were difficult to include in my life. Yet, others held gratitude for me, when I couldn’t. For that, I am grateful. You see, gratitude and rejoicing aren’t about me as an individual but are about who WE are as one people. Gratitude is a faithful and faith filled response, a radical act of defiance, to noticing the fruit growing among the weeds, or the comfort of a loved one holding you as your world shatters.
And I am called by my faith, by God, to be this community for you, when gratitude and rejoicing are far from your lips or heart or mind. I am grateful to be in this community tonight, with you who are committed to being flames of love and compassion in the midst of an angry world. It’s a challenge right now to stay present and not slip into despair or rose-colored fantasies. Doing either diminishes our capacity for gratitude, I believe. Seeing what is just, true, and authentic, allows gratitude to sit with us, in us, to direct our hearts, minds and bodies to be in solidarity our friends, loved ones, coworkers, neighbors’ who might be struggling to hold gratitude. The defiance of gratitude is that it is a communal act, it demands a communal response, and yet, demands the paradox that every individual has the right to know gratitude. In our Christians scriptures, which includes the scriptures of our Jewish siblings, we are called to this justice and righteousness-God calls us to right relationship. Gratitude is never more accessible than when we learn to live together in such a way that no one is diminished, ostracized, ignored, demonized or scapegoated. This is hard, for we are human, AND it’s why we hold the concept of gratitude with esteem. We all crave it, we all seek it. Sometimes, all I can do is sit, look around, open my heart and sing “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice,” and be grateful that I don’t sing this alone, even when I don’t feel particularly grateful or like rejoicing. The gratitude comes to me, and to you, from the care of community that God has created for the flourishing of us all. I am deeply grateful.
In Christ,
Pastor Brigette Weier
