Above you'll find a video of my homily for this weekend, based on these readings, epecially the second one. Below you'll find the text of my homily.
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When someone asks you, “What's in your
mind?” - how often have you replied, “Oh, nothing really.”
Nothing?
Really?
The
truth is, we never stop thinking. The gears are always turning. I might not
always be paying close attention but my thoughts, my ideas and daydreams, my
cares, worries, and memories, my desires, insights, hunches, my suspicions and
aspirations, my observations and judgments, my reasoning, my reflections, my
guesses, my questions, my delusions, my opinions -- all of these, this whole
runaway train of thoughts, never stops chug-chug-chugging down the tracks of my
mind and heart all day long. And even through the night when I'm asleep - my
train of thoughts picks up speed, color, dimension, and content - in my dreams.
I
might not pay full attention to my thoughts while I'm awake, and I might not
remember all the dreams I dream while I'm asleep - but there's always something
on my mind.
How
about you? What about your thoughts? What's on your mind?
What
thoughts keep you awake at night as you try to fall asleep? What thoughts have
been renting space in the attic of your mind? in the closets of your heart? in
the corners of your soul?
Whatcha’
been thinking about when you're alone in your car? while you're grocery
shopping? when someone's talking to you - and your mind is miles away? when
someone's preaching to you and you're not really listening?
How
far have your thoughts traveled, and where have they taken you, since you
walked into church this morning? It's amazing where our minds and thoughts can
take us, whether we're alone and sitting still - or in a crowded place when
we're hurried and harried.
Our
thoughts often take us on an express train to our concerns and our problems, our
disappointments and hurt, our fears and anxieties, our regret about yesterday -
and our worry about tomorrow. We zoom there – so often.
Of
course, our thoughts can also take us to our joys and our loves, to our
happiest of memories. to our fondest hopes and dreams. What an amazing
playground is the field of our thoughts. What an incredibly powerful influence
our thoughts exercise over the words we speak and the things we do.
Perhaps
it's for all of this that in the second scripture this morning, St. Paul
actually tells us, “Think about this… Think about this.” He actually lists for
us the kinds of thoughts we ought to entertain. Literally - he's giving us “something
to think about.” Remember what he wrote? “Think about these things. Think
about whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just. Whatever is
pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, whatever is excellent and
worthy of praise, think about these things” and “Then,” says Paul, “then
the God of peace will be with you.”
Of
course, the God of peace is with us even when our thoughts are negative. troubled
and worrisome. But if we live primarily, or only in our troublesome thoughts (and
some of us do) we may begin to imagine, even to believe, “That's all there is.”
My
sister is a worrier – a big warrior: worry about things that may never happen. Usually
don't happen. And I often say to her, “You know what? Will you stop awfulizing
everything?” We do that, don't we, in our thoughts - we awfulize everything. If
we think only about our problems, our troubles will be all we find.
And
Saint Paul is offering us something much more than that. He's offering us
nourishing food for thought. To those of us who are starving and thirsty for
what truly feeds our hearts and minds and souls, St. Paul is telling us, “Hold
that thought! The good one. Hold on to the thoughts that refresh you, that give
you life, that bring you hope.”
St.
Paul invites us to “get lost in thought” - lost in thoughts that lift us up,
bring us peace, draw us closely to the mind and the wisdom of God.
So
what's on your mind? What have you been thinking about? “A penny for your
thoughts!”
Well,
whatever might be in your thoughts and mind this morning, St. Paul invites us,
he urges us to think about whatever is TRUE - which will require some
searching, discerning, discovering, and treasuring what is true when we
find it.
Paul
says, think about whatever is HONORABLE - what's truly deserving of our
allegiance, our attention, our loyalty, fidelity, and devotion.
Paul
says, think about whatever is JUST - whatever accords with the word of God and
the spirit of the gospel, whatever serves the needs of humankind, especially
the poor.
Paul
tells us to think about whatever is PURE - whatever is natural, authentic and
innocent, whatever is clear and lucid - and simple. Whatever is genuine, Godly,
and without guile.
Paul
says think about whatever is LOVELY - what truly delights the eye, the mind,
the heart - in spirit and in form. Whatever simply, in its being, hints
at, suggests, discloses, and reveals dimensions of the divine in our daily
lives - whatever draws us closer to God.
St.
Paul tells us to think about whatever is GRACIOUS - what has spirit and power,
what has fire and finesse. What dances in the wind and blooms in the desert. What
brings life where there was none before - and sustains life wherever it is
found. He says, if there is anything of excellence, anything worthy of
praise, anything deserving of your awe and wonder, deserving of your heart and
soul, deserving of your bowed head, your prayer, your song, song on bended
knee, think on THESE things. And then, the God of peace will be with
you
In
a world of lies and dishonor, in a culture that's often coarse and crude, in
the face of all that has been sullied, degraded, and disgraced: we are hungry
and thirsty for that very peace of God that surpasses all understanding - the
peace that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, the Lord.
In
a time when lethal warfare proudly announces its intention to replace social
discourse, and when social discourse grows less and less civil every day; when
on all sides, bitter, snarky name calling regularly substitutes for
constructive debate and dialogue; when mistrust and accusation have supplanted
mutual respect and collaboration - in just such a time as ours - St. Paul's
advice can help us begin - indeed, maybe the only place for us to begin - to
refresh, to rebuild, and restore what's falling apart all around us and
threatening our welfare, our security - perhaps our very existence.
Of
this, I am sure. These words from Paul can be, for most of us, a modest point
from which we might begin, with God's help, to change ourselves and our self-defeating
patterns of thought -- and to think rather, on the things of God, those things
that bring life and love.
And
then, and only then, might we begin to understand and take seriously what Paul
means when he writes, “Have no anxiety at all… That's what he said, “Have no
anxiety at all.”
If
that seems impossible - as it often seems to me - then let us seek to find in
our day, in our week, in our lives, in our hearts - a small vineyard. A vineyard of all that is
good and true, pure and beautiful, peaceful and life-giving… a vineyard that is
gracious and worthy of praise… a vineyard of trusting prayer where we surrender
our cares into the hands and arms of God.
Find
that vineyard - and visit there often - to seek and to find that peace that
surpasses all our understanding. Visit the vineyard that the Lord has planted
within each of us. And in that vineyard, think on these things: whatever is
true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious. Whatever is excellent and worthy
of praise, think on all these things.
And
then, the God of peace will be with you.
