Sermon by Herman Kauffman
Osceola Church of the Brethren
July 13, 2003

Are You Deeply Blessed?

Matthew 5:1-12

Count your many blessings, name them one by one;
Count your many blessings, see what God has done.

This old hymn, written by Johnson Oatman in 1897, was a favorite of the Columbia City congregation where I served as pastor 25 years ago. It has not been in any of the last three Brethren Hymnals, but I confess that the tune often comes floating into my head.

The chorus reminds us that when we get down on ourselves, to just count our many blessings and see what God has done. It reminds us when we start to grumble about a temporary setback, to just sit back and count our many blessings - name them one by one - count your many blessings and see what God has done, and we might add: see what God will do.

Linda Knight, writing in a daily devotional guide, tells the story of her husband who worked steadily and faithfully for 17 years before being laid off. For five years he was out of work more than he was working. Bt, whenever things looked bleakest, she writes, "God would provide my husband with a temporary job." She goes on to say that: "I promised God that once my husband found steady employment I would always remember to thank God and never grumble or take this blessing for granted." Finally, the steady job came, but soon she writes, she found herself grumbling and taking her husband's steady paycheck for granted. (1)

I don't know about you, but her story rings all too true for me. How many times have I been blessed by God ... and how quickly I tend to forget these blessings when adversity comes. This morning I want to suggest that you and I need to take time to count our many blessings and see what God has done.

It's true not only for individuals but for groups of people as well. As Americans, we often forget how blessed we are with freedoms and luxuries, food and shelter, good paying jobs, medical care, and educational opportunities that those in many nations only dream about. Yet when the words "sacrifice," "share," or "tax increase" are spoken we grumble and take these blessings for granted.

The Elkhart County Council recently passed a wheel tax that will cost me $20 for each of my cars to keep our county roads in better repair. Having grown up on a dirt, graveled road that is a tax I'm ready to pay. It cost me a lot more than $20 this spring when my son hit a pothole in a neighboring county and blew out his tire.

Don't misunderstand, I don't like paying taxes (and some taxes I dislike more than others), but taxes are one of the "blessings" that come with living in a land like ours. So let's count our many blessings and name them one by one as we give thanks for what God has done.

What's true for individuals and nations, happens within the religious community as well. Remember the Old Testament story (Exodus 14) of Moses leading the people of Israel out of captivity in Egypt? They have not progressed far before the people are grumbling and complaining to Moses: "It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." For 40 years, they wander through the "Wilderness of Sin" (as Exodus calls it), alternating between grumbling, being blessed by God, and grumbling again before God delivers them to the Promised Land.

As good church members it would be easier to laugh at those grumbling Israelites if they weren't so much like us. God sent Jesus into our world and our lives to deliver you and I from our own captivity ... sent us a good pastoral leader like Don to guide us through the "Wilderness of Sin" toward the Promised Land ... but I'm sure we can all find something to grumble and complain about.

You would be surprised (or maybe not) how much grumbling and complaining I hear from those in the church today. We so quickly forget what God has done ... and will do. Those of us in the church need to pause regularly to count our many blessings - name them one by one - and see what God has done in and through this church.

Reflect with me now for a few minutes about our scripture lesson from Matthew 5 - this passage we refer to as the Beatitudes. The setting is a hillside where Jesus is teaching common people like you and me about the practical lessons of living life as God's people. These are people whose land is under foreign occupation, a people who by all human standards have reason to feel depressed. In these verses, Jesus addresses what might be considered by many to be the negatives of life: poor in spirit, a time of mourning, meekness, hunger, thirst, and even persecution; and turns them into blessings: the kingdom of heaven, inheriting the land, being filled.

Listen again to Jesus' upside-down blessings:

.... and moving on down the list ...

Jesus takes these negatives from our life experiences and asks us to see in them the potential for blessings. Haven't we learned through our life experiences that adversity often leads to a time of blessing? Haven't we all been strengthened by going through an experience in which we felt weak and vulnerable? Certainly no one who experienced the Great Depression would want to live through it again, but how many stories have I heard about how the Great Depression brought out the best in nearly everyone.

Jesus calls us to see the potential for God's blessing even when things seem to be at their worst. God did not leave those hungry, thirsty, grumbling Israelites to die in the Wilderness of Sin - they were delivered to the Promised Land. Likewise, in the New Testament, from the Cross where Jesus was crucified came forgiveness and new life for each one of us. Count your many blessings, name them one by one, count your many blessings, see what God has done.

One of God's continuing blessings to us is balance in the weather that brings both the rain and the sunshine, heat and cold, all kinds of weather to provide growth for the plants that provide our food. You and I are blessed in these days with TV meteorologists who can predict pretty accurately the weather forecast not only for today but for 3, 4, 5, even 10 days in advance. A couple of hundred years ago, our ancestors were not so blessed but they did have their almanacs which among other things predicted the weather more than a year in advance. We've heard of Ben Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac, but you may not have known that Christopher Sauer printed his own almanac that was utilized by our Brethren ancestors beginning in 1738.

Two almanacs that have survived from the 1700 & early 1800s are the Old Farmer's Almanac and the Farmers' Almanac. Robert Thomas, editor of the Old Farmer's Almanac told his readers in 1829: "Our main endeavour is to be useful, but with a pleasant degree of humour."(2) The 2003 issue of the Farmers' Almanac still uses this line: "Always informative and entertaining."(3) I tell you this so you will remember that the weather forecasts in almanacs, while based on historical trends, may not be as accurate as today's meteorological forecasts.

However, Robert Schuller in his book Life Changers shares this story of what started the phenomenal success of the Farmers' Almanac. The story seems appropriate for today, July 13.

In July 1883 the editor was finishing his final draft for the year's almanac. He had worked all the way into the following year, estimating what the weather would be every day from January through July 12. But as the accomplished writer neared completion, he grew tired. So he thought he'd pick up the next day with July 13, 1884.

Just as he was about to go home, a boy came running in and exclaimed, "You can't go! The printer is demanding the remaining pages tonight - all the way through July 13th. You must stay and finish!" "I've had it," the editor said, "Just write in some kind of temperature and weather for July 13th. Your guess is as good as mine." And he forgot all about it.

So the young boy wrote in his weather forecast: "Wind, hail, and snow." When the almanac finally came out and was being distributed, the editor looked through it and saw what the boy had written. He was furious! He called the boy in and said, "This is outrageous! We're barely making it, and now this is going to ruin us. There's no way there can be wind, hail, and snow on July 13th!" Well (pause and nod) ... on July 13, 1984, there was wind, hail, and snow, like never before and never since.

When the people throughout the United States learned that the Old Farmers Almanac had predicted wind, hail, and snow on July 13, one year in advance, the calendar became an instant success.

Now that's a light-hearted way of making an important point this morning. If the future is so unpredictable, why do some of us always expect the worse? Why must we always expect doom and despair instead of God's blessings? And why don't we try looking for the blessings that God sends our way ... even during the worst moments of life?

We are indeed a people who have been blessed by God ... so let us count our many blessings, name them one by one, count our many blessings, see what God has done. For, ultimately, it is our trust in God's ability to continue to bless us that is at stake here. Let us continue to recognize and count on God's continuing blessings in our life and ministry together.

Our closing hymn, God of Grace, and God of Glory. was written by Harry Emerson Fosdick in 1930 while serving as pastor of Riverside Church in New York City. He wrote another hymn that was in the old red hymnal, O God, in Restless Living, which includes these words:

Teach us, beyond our striving, the rich rewards of rest.
Who does not live serenely is never deeply bless'd.(4)

I ask you this morning: "Are you deeply blessed?"

I believe we are.

 

Sources:

1. The Upper Room Daily Devotional Guide, January 25, 1993

2. www.almanac.com/history/history.html

3. www.farmersalmanac.com

4. "O God, in Restless Living" by Harry Emerson Fosdick, The Brethren Hymnal © 1951, #335