The Secret to Life, the Universe, and Everything

Again, welcome. I'm going to do a quick review. We're in our third week of a four-week series on Psalm 100.

We're looking at verse 4 today, Psalm 100, verse 4.

Psalms 100:4

And we're in the second half of the psalm, so we're halfway there.

Next week, Dan will bring us home, looking at the fifth verse.

The rhythm of the psalm is really simple. There's a command to worship, and then the reason why we ought to worship.

And then there's a command to worship, and the reason why we ought to worship.

But verse 4, the second half, we're given a command.

We're to enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.

We're to give thanks to him and bless his name.

The verse here, the language of gates and courts, is just very simply a clear reference to the temple.

The temple was the place of God's presence. It's where heaven and earth met.

It's where God was, and that's where God's people were to worship him.

And so this verse simply describes where and how God is to be worshipped.

If you've worshipped at the Church of Advent for any amount of time,

you may have noticed that we talk about the Christian life in terms of becoming fully and truly human.

It's an interesting thing about how we talk about the Christian life.

As a church, our aim is to be alive in the way that God intended human beings to be alive.

To be alive in the way that human beings God intended us to be alive.

And this isn't just so that we might be fulfilled or self-actualized.

It's actually so that God might receive the praise and the honor that's due his name.

Because I think the Bible is pretty clear that God's glory is linked to the creation project.

Which is to say that God's glory is linked to the human project.

How we turn out, God's glory is linked to that.

Irenaeus, a second century bishop, said this famously.

The glory of God is a human being fully alive.

The glory of God is a human being fully alive.

When I read this, it reminds me of one of John Piper's famous sayings.

I don't know if you've ever heard of John Piper.

I'm a fan of his preaching, his theology.

He has a saying or movement called Christian hedonism.

And what Christian hedonism says is that God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him.

So Christian hedonism says God is most glorified when human beings are most satisfied in him.

Now I don't disagree with that.

I am very sympathetic to that view.

But I want to frame it a little bit differently this morning.

Instead of Christian hedonism, I want to talk about things in terms of Christian humanism.

And so I would say that God is most glorified when we are most fully alive in him.

Christian humanism.

God is most glorified when we are most fully alive in him.

And this begs the question, well, what does it mean to be fully alive?

And how do we become fully alive?

And that's what I want to talk about this morning.

And I want to ask the question, is there something so important?

Is there some characteristic or quality of the human being?

Something so foundational to the Christian life, that is to human life,

that if we get this one thing, then everything else just kind of falls into place.

Like a well-laid cornerstone that's laid such that every single other brick is laid and falls in the right place.

And so the whole building is built together with integrity.

So the question is, is there a secret to being fully alive?

Asking this question, I sort of laugh at myself in some ways,

because it's a big question.

Maybe it's absurd.

It reminds me of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

I don't know if anyone is a fan of that book or that movie.

We have one.

There we go.

So there's this really hilarious scene.

Two of the characters, they go up to a supercomputer.

And the supercomputer's name is Deep Thought.

And so they go up to the supercomputer and they say,

Deep Thought, is there an answer to life and the universe and everything?

And Deep Thought, the supercomputer, says,

Interesting question.

It's going to take a while to compute that.

Come back in seven and a half million years and I'll give you the answer to life, the universe, and everything.

And so the very next chapter, seven and a half million years later,

seven and a half million years of anticipation,

they go back to Deep Thought and they say,

We're here.

Tell us the answer to life, the universe, and everything.

And Deep Thought computes a little bit and says,

The answer to life, the universe, and everything is?

42.

Which makes no sense.

And the point of that is that this question makes no sense.

There is no...

Life is absurd.

There's no answer to life, the universe, and everything.

The answer is 42.

And so I hope my answer to the secret to life, the universe, and everything isn't as absurd.

I think I know the secret.

So is there a secret to being fully alive?

Is there a secret to life, the universe, and everything?

I think verse four of Psalm 100 perhaps surprisingly tells us.

Can anyone make any guesses from our verse?

What's the secret?

Give thanks.

Yeah, give thanks.

I think it's gratitude.

I think that's the answer to life, the universe, and everything.

And so what I want to do this morning...

Right?

Is that as absurd as 42?

I hope not.

What I want to do this morning is make the case why gratitude is so important

and then give us some practical ways for how we can cultivate gratitude in our lives

so that we can unlock the secret to life, the universe, and everything.

Okay, so why is Thanksgiving such a big deal?

Why is this, gratitude, gratefulness, Thanksgiving, the answer to life, the universe, and everything?

Well, in a negative sense, ingratitude is the root of all that's wrong in the world.

I don't know if you've ever noticed this in Romans 1,

but Paul writes about the cause of universal sinfulness in chapter 1 of Romans,

the estrangement of humanity from God,

one of the foundational failures, perhaps the foundational failure of human beings,

of the human project when it got started,

was the failure for human beings to give thanks to God.

I want to read the verses, Romans 1, 21 to 23.

Paul writes this,

So what Paul is saying, and this is surprising,

I don't know if you've ever noticed that before,

but giving thanks is,

Paul describes it sort of like the Jenga piece,

that once you remove this, the whole tower comes collapsing.

Why is it such a big deal?

Well, if we're not grateful to God,

we become,

that's a reflection of our being disoriented towards God,

and ourselves, and all of creation.

And this leads to foolish thinking,

and to foolish living,

and ultimately this leads to dethroning God,

and putting other things,

and ourselves in God's place.

It's what I call the Dudley Dursley effect.

I don't know if any of you know who Dudley Dursley is.

He's the bully cousin of Harry Potter.

And I don't frequent the Harry Potter fan websites,

but I went there this week,

because I googled Dudley Dursley ungrateful,

and the fan website came up,

and this is how they describe him.

This is official Harry Potter fandom stuff.

Dudley is a bully.

He's unpleasant, spoiled, demanding, selfish, manipulative,

and I quote,

most of all, extremely ungrateful.

You might recall the scene from Dudley's 11th birthday,

if you've seen the movie, or if you've read the books,

he just opened all of his presents,

and then he causes a scene.

He was very upset.

He says, 36?

That's two less than last year.

So he got 36 presents.

He was very upset that he got 36 presents,

because last year he got actually 37.

He miscounted a little bit,

but he was very angry,

so he calls the scene,

and he forces his parents to buy more.

And that kind of makes me think about

Adam and Eve being ungrateful in the garden,

and them saying something like,

all but one?

We can eat everything here,

except from this one tree?

Ungratitude.

They were ungrateful.

And I think Paul argues,

when humans fail to give thanks to God,

we become like Dudley Dursley.

And it might manifest itself in our lives

a little bit differently than Dudley,

but we become little dictators,

entitled to things that haven't been given to us,

and then we demand them.

And sometimes we don't just demand,

but we take what we want,

because we deserve it.

And I think this is how the human story has played itself out.

I know for a fact that this is how every morning,

this is how our little family plays itself out.

I read the news,

and this is how the world plays itself out,

sometimes in just a little bit more sophisticated of a way.

But really,

I think it's all stemming back to a lack of gratitude.

This is the poisoned root that corrupts life,

the universe,

and everything.

And on the flip side,

in a more positive sense,

it's not just lack of gratitude that's the problem,

but gratitude is the solution.

Gratitude is perhaps the most becoming quality of a human being.

The most becoming quality of a fully alive human being.

Gratitude becomes us as creatures created by grace.

Gratitude becomes us as sinners saved by grace.

And gratitude becomes us as saints sanctified by grace.

It's grace and a gift through and through,

and the most appropriate response for a human being

is gratitude for the gifts that God has given to us.

And this is why our verse tells us

right worship is marked,

perhaps most of all,

by gratitude.

We are to enter his gates

into God's presence with thanksgiving,

and his courts with praise.

We are to give thanks to him.

And by giving thanks to him,

we bless his name.

Thomas Merton,

a Trappist monk,

one of our core groups in the church

this past semester,

read,

I think it was No Man is an Island

this semester.

They inspired me to read a little Merton.

I've been blessed by him this past week.

He's an American Trappist monk,

and he articulates how gratitude

is the heart of the Christian life,

and because it's the heart of the Christian life,

it's the heart of the human life,

and he describes gratitude in this way,

and it's just a really great quote,

so I'm going to read it in full for us.

Merton writes this,

To be grateful is to recognize

the love of God in everything,

in everything that he has given us,

and he has given us everything.

Every breath we draw is a gift of his love.

Every moment of existence is a grace,

for it brings with it immense graces from him.

Gratitude, therefore,

takes nothing for granted,

is never unresponsive,

is constantly awakening to new wonder,

and to praise of the goodness of God.

For the grateful person knows that God is good,

not by hearsay,

but by experience.

And that is what makes all the difference.

You know, as I was reflecting and contemplating

that quote,

that could be a commentary on Psalm 100,

which is very interesting.

So I want to talk about

how we are to cultivate gratitude in our lives.

In order to recognize the love of God in everything,

in order to see that every breath we draw

is a gift of God's love,

in order to appreciate that every moment of existence

is a grace,

in order to not take anything for granted,

to always respond in the right way,

to be awakened to new wonder,

and to praise to the goodness of God,

in order to really know that God is good,

not secondhand,

but from experience,

in order to be grateful, in other words,

we need to be paying attention.

It's as simple as that.

It's not so simple as it turns out in practice,

but we just need to be paying attention.

If we're paying attention,

we can't help but be grateful.

And attention is simply the convergence

of our concentration on a particular point.

Attention consists of being right here,

right now,

of attending to a particular thing

at a particular time

and at a particular place.

Attention is listening to your friend

without looking at your phone.

And it's a faculty,

like all of our other faculties,

that is strengthened like a muscle

through practice,

through repetition.

And it really, really, really matters

what we focus on.

Developing our attention

and attending to the right things,

I would say,

is perhaps the most important thing

you can do to grow in your walk with the Lord,

to grow as a human being.

And it's not hard to waste your life

if you think about it.

You just have to pay attention

to the wrong things.

And I'm not just talking about Netflix.

You know, you can waste an hour

looking at cat videos,

but you can waste an entire life

living for retirement.

Or dwelling on the thing

that didn't go well five years ago.

Or obsessing over

what other people think about you.

You can waste your life

by paying attention to the wrong things.

There was an article

in the New York Times

this past week

on attention.

It was interesting.

It had a horrible title.

I forget what the title was.

But I don't know

if that was intentional.

It wasn't a click-baity title.

So it's like,

if you really want to pay attention,

you really have to go looking for it,

something like that.

But basically,

in the title,

it's just some really practical wisdom

for how to notice

the world around you.

And there were two things

about the article

that stood out to me.

One was what they called

attention management.

Attention management

is simply being

self-conscious about the things

that you're focusing on.

So we need to pay attention

to what we care about

and actually care about

the things that we pay attention to.

So think about,

one thing you could do

is just think about

the past week

or the past day.

And like,

what did I focus on today?

Maybe it was

what was trending on Twitter.

Just ask yourself,

was it worth

paying attention

to that thing?

Giving that much of my time

and energy

to the Face app.

I don't know

if anyone spent some time

looking at Face app.

Or then,

after you did,

worrying about the Russians

having your information.

Is it worth

paying attention

to those things?

I don't know.

Maybe,

maybe not.

The second thing

that the article talked about

was the art of noticing.

The art of noticing.

And that basically

is just setting aside

moments

to stop

and reflect

and to pay attention

to the things

that are most important.

To notice

God's gifts

that he gives to us

every single day.

God's gifts

big and small.

There are a couple things

I did this week

to practice.

I knew that I'd be preaching

on Thanksgiving

and I assumed

that attention

would play a factor

into it.

So,

I did a little experiment

this week

to see how things would go

to see if

practicing gratitude

had any impact

on my life.

So,

here are a few

of the things

that I did.

On Monday,

I went to the

National Gallery of Art

Monday afternoon

and there's

a great exhibit

there right now

that is showcasing

art from the

American

pre-Raphaelites.

It's always a word

that's hard to say.

Pre-Raphaelites.

It's an art movement

of the mid-19th century

that started in England

and made its way

to America.

And what this art movement

is particularly known for

is extreme realism.

So,

the artists

that are the

pre-Raphaelites

pay intense attention

to detail

and then they try

to replicate

the detail

that they see

in the things

that they paint.

And so,

if you go to the exhibit,

which I encourage you to do,

a lot of the paintings

just look like photographs.

It's really

quite impressive.

They have this

incredible

discipline

of attention

and noticing

and then

reproducing that

on canvas.

And so,

I wanted to learn

from how they did that.

And so,

I wanted to learn

from their discipline

of attention

to see if I could

train my eyes

in the way

that they paint

the intricate details

of minerals

and the colors

of minerals

on a rock

or tree bark

or peach blossoms

and to see if I could

train my eyes

the way that they do

to paint

to see the gifts

of God

all around me.

And the second thing

that I did

was that

every single day

I carved out time

to write

things that I was

grateful for.

So,

I had a goal

of writing

30 things

a day.

That was

in my little

moleskin

the number of lines

I had per page.

Some days

I only got 20,

not because

there wasn't

enough stuff

I just didn't

pay enough

attention.

But I wrote down

every single day

the things

that I was

grateful for.

And,

you know,

I'm not going

to lie and say

that my entire

life was transformed

this week

because I don't

think that's

how God

transforms us.

I don't think

it's as radical

as that.

I think God's

formation of us

is less

like a chisel

and more like

small drops

of water

slowly

smoothing out

the rough edges.

I have to say

it was a really

good week.

It wasn't an easy

week by any stretch

but being grateful

changed me.

It changed how

I related to God.

I felt closer

and more intimate

to God.

And when things

didn't go my way

I was a much more

enjoyable person

to be around.

At least I think

I was.

You can ask Susan

after the service.

But it was

awesome.

I have to say

even though there

weren't lightning

bolts

it was an amazing

week.

I feel much

closer to the Lord.

and I feel

grateful.

I just feel

happier.

I felt like a

really good

Christian this

past week

in a lot of

ways because

God has given

I'm not perfect

right but I

realized that

everything that

God has given

to me

every interaction

I had was a

gift and I

was grateful

for it.

And it just

was a joy

to be alive

this week.

And I think a lot

of that is just

because I stopped

to notice the

gifts that God

had given to me.

So I want to

end with a

challenge and

with a poem

that I've found

to be helpful

to lead me

into a place

of prayer

and gratitude.

So the

challenge is

this.

Do what I

did this

past week.

Maybe go to

the National

Gallery of Art

if you can.

But everyone

can make a

list of things

that you're

grateful for.

And so I

challenge you

this week to

commit to

writing at

least ten

things down.

Notice ten

gifts that God

has given you

that day that

you're grateful

for.

And be

specific.

As I went

through the

week I

first started

off saying

something like

my kids or

Susan or

Grace.

And then the

more I paid

attention the

more I saw

the details and

got really

specific and it

got richer and

deeper and more

transformative.

So stop,

reflect, pay

attention, notice,

listen, see,

acknowledge, name,

and then celebrate.

And ultimately

thank God for

those things.

Let these things

lead you into

prayer and to

communion with

God.

Allow these

gifts from

God, these

things for which

you are grateful

to be the

doorway into

prayer this

week and in

the weeks to

come.

And I

encourage you

just to

test the

Lord.

See how this

might impact

your prayer

life, the

way that you

connect with

God, the

generosity with

which you

treat other

people.

Test and see

if this helps

you become more

fully alive in

Christ.

Now I want to

end with a

poem that has

been a real

guide to me

these past few

weeks in

attention and in

gratitude.

And in

prayer.

It's a prayer

poem by Mary

Oliver and it's

entitled Praying.

This is what she

writes.

It doesn't have to

be the blue

iris.

It could be

weeds in a

vacant lot or a

few small stones.

Just pay

attention and then

patch a few words

together and don't

try to make them

elaborate.

This isn't a

contest, but the

doorway into

thanks, into

silence in which

another voice

father.