Nowhere vs Now Here
1 Thess. 5:16-18 (November 18, 2012. Thanksgiving Sunday)
Thanksgiving Festival that we are observing now originated from the Celebration that the Protestant Pilgrims had after they had gathered their first crops from the field in the New Land. The Pilgrims arrived at the New Land in 1622 after having traveled the Atlantic Ocean for 63 days with a small ship, named Mayflower. This ship was so small (about 100 feet) that the Pilgrims couldn’t load all their necessities for the journey. Without sufficient water and food, they had to keep their journey to a new world. During travel, they fought not only against severe storms but also against thirst, hunger and illnesses. Having landed in a new place, known as Plymouth, they had already lost more than a half of the members, buried in the ocean. After all hardships in the ocean, they successfully landed on a new land but their living condition didn’t improve much.
They lost more lives during the first winter in the new settlement. After the first winter was over, they planted corn in the field and gathered a bounteous harvest. To thank for the harvest, they built an altar to God. The Pilgrims were so grateful not only for a fruitful harvest but also for God’s presence with them during all their trials. That year, they gathered nothing but corn, but they still remained in a thanksgiving spirit because of their God’s presence with them. That’s why they built a thanksgiving altar to God. It proves that a condition to be thankful is not given but to be sought from the given-condition.
Hurricane Sandy left huge damages in the Northern-Eastern areas of North America, just a few weeks ago. Economic loss is beyond our calculation. So many people lost their houses and jobs. Electricity and water were stopped in vast areas for many days after the Hurricane. Actually some places in those areas are still suffering without power and food until now.
Pastor Kenny Yi, one of my facebook friends and a superintendent of Long Island District of the UMC, post a few words on his facebook during those difficult days. His posts were so moving and encouraging that I want to share with you what he wrote:
I am going to stay tonight at my office where I can enjoy, power, internet and heat. When I got back from a charge conference with a church in Brooklyn this evening, only a cold house was waiting for me. It was too cold and evacuated myself to my office in Westbury UMC. I wonder why only my parsonage does not have the power back while all their houses in my block have gotten power back. It’s so unfair. . . I checked the circuit breaker but nothing happens. . . I have to call LIPA (Long Island Power Association) tomorrow morning….
Good to know we have so much food home.. … I feel for those who do not have the luxury of ours.
No power gave a lot of reflection time in silence. “Thank you God, I needed this kind of silence with you! There have been too many noises all the time. I am enjoying the sound of silence.”
I wonder if we have to spend the weekends without power. … Gas stations do not have gas…. Cars are lined up and fighting over who’s first…. Only one gas station is open 15 minutes away from home, and cops are directing traffic to have some order in front of gas station…. No fun.
As I understand, what Thanksgiving is teaching us is that we better not complain about what we don’t have but to be thankful for what we have, even though what we have is not much. God doesn’t ask us to be thankful for what we don’t have but for what we have. We can be grateful for the big only when we are able to be grateful for the small.
Then how can we be grateful for the things we have now? This morning I will respond to this question with two answers:
First, we can be grateful when we change our views of what we have now. About two weeks ago I went to San Jose to lead a revival service. Going to the church where I was going to preach, many roadways were covered with fallen leaves from the poplar trees. The pastor who drove the car for me saw the road condition and said, “I don’t know why the city planted these kinds of trees alongside the road. Every year fallen leaves make roads dirty. . . I wish the city planted green trees.” Do you know what I replied to him? I said, “To me who came from Hawaii, roads covered with fallen leaves look rather so beautiful and romantic. You can’t see this kind of beauty in Hawaii.” As a matter of fact, Hawaii is so beautiful all year long, but it is hard to experience dynamic changes of four seasons. Of course, I don’t mean it is a thing for compliant.
Pastor Jae-Woong Chang, serving in Long Island now, posted several comments on his facebook in order to give hope to his church members and all the people affected by the Hurricane. One of his posts was as follows:
If you upside down the word “역경 (trials),” it turns to “경력 (experience).”
If you upside down the word “Stressed,” it turns to “Desserts.”
If you upside down the word “자살 (Suicide),” it turns to “살자 (A will to live).”
If you upside down the word “Evil,” it turns to “Live.”
If life gives you lemon, make a lemonade juice.
I thought his words must be comforting to those victims of Hurricane Sandy.
As a matter of fact, if we turn things upside down, they look different. Sometimes we better look at our circumstances with a different prospect in order to find hope and a reason to thank from our challenges in life. Many things in life can become reasons to thank or reasons to complain according to how we look at them.
Second, to give thanks to God, we have to look for God in our difficult situations. In other words, we have to meet God who is with us in our circumstances. If we are assured of his presence with us in those challenging situations, we can still remain hopeful, encouraged and thankful.
“An umbrella cannot stop the rain but it allows us to stand in the rain.” Sometimes God doesn’t remove our trails but he gives us strength and power to overcome them.
As I know, Dr. Youngwoo Kang was probably one of the most successful Korean-Americans who have entered the White House. But he was a blind man and died a few months ago due to a pancreatic cancer. During his lifetime, whenever invited, he loved to say, “If you type the spacebar into the word, Nowhere, it becomes Now Here.” He has never thought, “There is no way,” but “There must be a way,” and “The way must be right here.” So with a strong conviction he tried his best to find a way in his difficulties.
Many people who have two eyes still have a difficulty to find a way, but Dr. Kang who had no eyes found it. How? What made him do that? It was possible because of God whom he looked up to. He saw nothing with his own physical eyes but not with his spiritual eyes. People who had two physical eyes said, “There’s nothing left. Even God left me alone.” However, Dr. Kang, who was blind said, “God is with me right here, right now.” Yes. Our faith in God helps us to insert the spacebar in our Nowhere situations and turns them to our Now Here situations.
Steve Maraboli wrote the following phrase which I love and memorized for my life journey:
As I look back on my life, I realize that every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was actually being re-directed to SOMETHING BETTER.” (livelifehappy.com)
Yes. One fact we can’t deny is that God is with us everywhere, even in a good condition or even in a bad condition. We have to know it and agree with it.
The Apostle Paul recommends us as follows:
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thess. 5:16-18)
How do we maintain to be joyful always and be thankful in all circumstances? It is NOT because we gain something good from God but it is because we are confident of the Almighty God who stays with us always. Because of this confidence, even when our circumstance is against our wishes, we are still grateful for everything.
One more thing I want to share with you this morning is that we better share our thanks not only with God but also with our family members, church members, neighbors next door and people in our community. Amen?
(Hawill Olive UMC Rev Lee Sang Ho Sermon)