Sunday, October 15, 2023
First Congregational Church of Cheshire
© the Rev. Dr. James Campbell
Philippians 4:1-9
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
My grandmother once told me that if she hadn’t become a preacher, she would have been a movie star. She certainly had the drive and determination, the glamour and the glitter to have succeeded, if the Lord hadn’t called. But the Lord did call, and my grandmother answered. The Lord did call, even though no woman was going to get a pulpit in the 1950s. But that didn’t stop her. Very few things ever did.
So, my grandmother became a traveling evangelist known as Sister Betty. She would go to preach in any church or gathering that would have her. And she didn’t just preach. She also sang and played the piano and the ukulele. She once auditioned for a Gospel Singing Group, but it was made up of all men and they wouldn’t let her in. So, she started her own group called “Sister Betty and the All Girl Gospel Band.” They became popular enough that some men asked to join the group. But grandma sent them packing, reminding them that they hadn’t let her in and now she was returning the favor.
My grandmother was only 41 when I was born, and I have distinct memories of being instructed to call her Betty in public. And I was blessed to have my grandmother until I was 41. She’s been gone a long time now, but all these years later, I can still miss her so intensely that it will stop me in my tracks.
I thought about her a lot this week as I settled on the epistle lesson for my text today. It contains a verse that was a life mantra for my grandmother. She used this verse to both encourage and to scold. And she lived it perhaps more fully than anyone I have ever known. - I can still hear her voice as she would say: “… whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
Grandma would say this if one of her sons told an off-color joke. Or if someone was arguing. Or if the news got her down. Or if her health or the failing health of my grandfather began to weigh heavy on her. She would whisper: “whatsoever things are true… whatsoever things are honest… whatsoever things are just…”.
Last Sunday, about 15 of us gathered after the sermon for a discussion of the text. You might remember that I preached on the fourth commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” One participant commented that he was impressed by the implied mindfulness of the commandment – the call to “remember (or call to mind) the Sabbath.” He went on to say that Sabbath provides a way for us to focus on the present moment – and thus to feel something akin to gratitude even when the world is on fire.
Staying in the present moment… dwelling on what is true, honorable, and just. This challenge came rushing back as this past week unfurled. The unspeakable violence unleashed in the Holy Land grabs us by the throat; stirs up in us fear and dread and the thirst for vengeance; and then it haunts our dreams. It is relentless and can so easily consume our days until we are unable to see or feel anything else.
And that’s to say nothing of Washington, in its disarray and disfunction. Ukrainians continue to live with a horror that increasingly bores the rest of the world. Economies shake. Health fails. Despots rise. Families are disconnected. We don’t sleep well. We don’t eat well. We forget to breathe. And it all feels out of control – because it is.
And yet… above that din I can hear my grandmother whisper: “whatsoever things are true… whatsoever things are honest… whatsoever things are just… think about these things.”
This instruction comes from Saint Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi, also known as the “epistle of joy.” But the setting of this passage is anything but joyful. And Paul knew, first-hand, how hard life could be. He wrote this letter from prison awaiting trial and his eventual execution by the Roman Empire. Before he landed in jail, Paul had been threatened, rejected, beaten, and even shipwrecked. He suffered from some kind of chronic illness (which he called his “thorn in the flesh”) for which there was no cure – not even prayer. And, to make matters worse, Philippi was his very favorite congregation, yet they were embroiled in a major fight that threatened their unity and mission. Two of the congregation’s leaders – women named Euodia and Syntyche - had a major disagreement that, like all church fights, spread like fire and divided the whole congregation. Gossip and anger and suspicion were rampant. And all Paul could do was write a letter.
But the pen is mightier than the sword. And this letter makes the compelling case for joy – despite the troubles of the world. “Rejoice in the Lord always!” he writes. “Again, I will say, rejoice!” “Don’t worry.” “Pray about everything.” “Stay in the present.” “Look for beauty.” And the result of all of that is the peace of God that surpasses all human understanding.
This was not mind over matter. This was not the power of positive thinking. Instead, Paul urges these early Christians to a life of spiritual discipline that makes a pathway for a truth that is broader and higher than this present moment.
We don’t talk much about spiritual disciplines anymore, but we should. The discipline of prayer. The discipline of reading Scripture. The discipline of charity. The discipline of stewardship. The discipline of mindfulness. – Now, this last one, in particular, is challenging for people like us, for whom mindfulness can seem like a middle class, bourgeois waste of time, when the world is on fire.
But when the world is on fire, what good are you if you are on fire too? And so, from a dark prison, Paul reminds us of the power of mindfulness. He writes: “if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Not all the time, of course, but in a regular, disciplined way.
Some years ago, Marcos and I visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. We all know the story. But what fewer people know, unless you have read her diary, is that Anne practiced mindfulness. She regularly looked for beauty and pondered that beauty in a very dark world.
Two weeks before she and her family were discovered in their hiding place and deported to a concentration camp where Anne would die, she wrote these words:
“It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever-approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.”
Our faith never calls us to stick our heads in the sand. But it does call us to the rigorous discipline of hope. It calls us to pay attention to beauty and goodness and justice and love – precisely so we can face the challenges of this present moment.
“… whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on (dwell on, count on) these things.”