As we continue to experience the Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. Great giving God, you offer your fantastic bounty to us. We gather as a community to praise you, to worship you, and to give thanks for your graciousness unto us. Use this time, so that we might experience your presence. Speak Lord, your servants are listening. If these words are not Your Word, may they be forgotten and come to naught. But if they be Thy Word, may they adhere to our hearts, forever transforming us from glory into glory, into the creatures you would have us be, Thou who art our Rock and Redeemer, Amen.

Hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in Philippians. Listen. Philippians 4.4-7. The Grass withers, the Flower falls, but the Word of the Lord endures forever…Thanks be to God.

When I was in high school, we liked to water ski. I’m not very good at water skiing, but I am great at falling. This passage is like a body of water in the early morning. It has something that tears through it, leaving concentric circles throughout the rest of the passage. The active force in the still pool affects the whole pool, not just the point of entry. That rock in the water is the last part of verse 5, “The Lord is near.” That is at the center of this passage, of this time of year, and of our lives. God is near, and therefore we can pray to God about anything. That is what verse 6 reports. Take everything before God in prayer.

Sometimes people get the idea that prayer has to be so reverent, with a sense of civility or niceness. You can’t act upset, this is prayer. Can’t be worried, God will pick up your tone and not like you for your lack of faith. You certainly can’t be mad, and definitely not at God. Do we really think that God doesn’t know what’s going on in our lives, in our hearts, in our minds? As if I were to say, “You know God, we just had a baby 2 months ago,” and God would say, “Really. Congratulations. I hadn’t heard yet. Email me some pictures.” When we pray in a manner inconsistent with how we feel, just to make nice with God, whom are we trying to fool? The Lord is near.

My favorite Thanksgiving Prayer.

We were in this in-between time. Monday December 1 2003 we went to the OB office. They wouldn’t know if we had miscarried until Wednesday. The rest of Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday morning we were both a wreck. I prayed to God. But let me tell you how I prayed. I prayed knowing that God knew what was going on. I didn’t feel like I had to say, “Hey God, we’re dealing with a possible miscarriage here, if you didn’t know.” So I prayed that God would bring us peace no matter what happened. Either the miscarriage had happened, or it hadn’t, we wouldn’t know. Certainly God already knew. I prayed for peace, and that God would provide for us in either situation. When we got the news that she had indeed miscarried, it was obviously difficult and disappointing. But I believe that the peace of God helped us get through it. That God worked providentially by supplying peace.

My experiences with the peace of God are best described by the language of this passage. When you pray, lay your life and emotional experiences before God, you often experience what verse 7 describes, “And the peace of God, which passes all understanding.” I can stand up here, describing the peace of God until I am blue in the face, but you won’t know what I am trying to describe until you experience it. I mean, its good, makes life exciting, and its way up there in terms of experience. Course, you could say the same for riding a roller coaster, or for that matter, a kiss. Its good, makes life exciting, and its way up there in terms of experience. Describing the peace of God with words is like trying to describe exactly what riding a roller coaster is like, or what a kiss is like. There are some things that can only be described by saying, “You’ll know when you try it.”

The peace of the Lord, when experienced, because it does pass all understanding, leads to the next concentric circle in this passage, the one we find most appropriate at a community Thanksgiving service, rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Verse 4. Made possible by the peace, which is helped by the open and honest prayer. When you experience the peace of God, that which passes all understanding, for just a little bit, and remember, no one said it lasted forever, for days, even for hours. Sometimes it lasts just as long as a roller coaster ride. But once you have experienced it, then rejoice with thankfulness in the Lord is the natural response. It becomes a life-style. Even in the midst of difficult times we can have peace that God will be near no matter what happens. The rock in the water of this passage, of this time of year, of our lives, remains always. The Lord is near. Not just in the good times, and not just in the tough times. So we rejoice and give thanks.

As we enter the holiday season, this week, and then as this week turns to Advent and to Christmas, know this; the Lord is near. God desires to give you peace through the presence of God. For that we rejoice. Let us be truly thankful. Amen.