Gospel Reading: Mt 6:25-33
‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Sermon By The Rev. Dr. Maryann Amor
Two years ago, when I was a curate at St. John the Evangelist in Edmonton, a parishioner who teaches at King's University asked if I would be willing to teach for the Ephesus Project—an initiative offering free liberal arts education to people incarcerated across Canada. All their theology professors had retired, and they needed someone to teach Theology 250, Introduction to the Bible, a course I had already taught at King’s. I jumped at the opportunity and started preparing…choosing textbooks, writing lectures, and creating the syllabus.
While looking over syllabi from past faculty, I found something unexpected: The Book of Joy was a required text. This surprised me because The Book of Joy isn’t normally included in a Bible course—it’s not about the Bible at all. So why was it required for my incarcerated students?
For those unfamiliar with The Book of Joy, it recounts a conversation between the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu about living a joyful life. Despite facing immense hardship, both men were described by Douglas Abrams, the book’s primary author, as two of the most joyful people he had ever met. The Dalai Lama fled his home in Tibet during the Chinese uprising and has lived in exile in India ever since. Desmond Tutu, known for his fight against apartheid in South Africa, also stood up for the full inclusion of the LGBTQ community in the Anglican Church, after his daughter lost her ordination for marrying a woman. Tutu also battled cancer, which eventually took his life on December 26, 2021.
Despite everything they endured, both men radiated joy. Their resilience in the face of hardship helped me to understand why The Book of Joy was required for my students. For those in prison, joy might seem impossible, but this book would offer them hope…this book would show them that even in the darkest moments, joy can be found with the right mindset.
As I reflected on this, I read through our Gospel reading today and noticed that The Book of Joy connects with Jesus’ message. Jesus says, "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?" These words reflect our human condition, because all of us at one point or another can be consumed with worry and anxiety. And when we are overcome with this, when we find ourselves in difficult circumstances, like my students found in prison, we might feel like joy is beyond reach. But Jesus calls us to embrace a different way of living, to let go of worry.
And it is to this situation that the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu suggest a way forward: gratitude. They refer to Brother David Steindl-Rast, a Jesuit priest, who says, "When you are grateful...you are not fearful, and when you are not fearful, you are not violent. When you are grateful, you act out of a sense of enough and not out of scarcity, and you are willing to share. If you are grateful, you are enjoying the differences between people and respecting all. The grateful world is a world of joyful people. Grateful people are joyful people. A grateful world is a happy world."
If we want to live without worry, as Jesus instructs today, we must become people of gratitude. When we recognize even the smallest gifts in our lives and cultivate thankfulness, we loosen the grip of anxiety. Gratitude shifts our focus from what we lack to what we have, making it hard to be consumed by worry. This opens us to joy—the joy that sustained the Dalai Lama and Tutu, the joy that my students in prison and all of us here right now yearn for, the joy that Jesus invites us to experience when we let go of worry.
And living a grateful life, isn’t all that difficult. Author Brené Brown, whom I am sure many of you have probably heard of, writes on the connection between joy and gratitude. In her research, she expected to find that joyful people were naturally grateful. But it turned out to be the opposite—grateful people were joyful people. The challenge was learning to practice gratitude, because it required deliberate effort. Some people keep journals where each night they write down everything they are thankful for or they do a daily practice like "1,2,3,4," where, at 12:34 each day, they name something they’re grateful for. Families might say grace, then go around the table sharing what they’re thankful for. Whatever it looks like, practicing gratitude means making a habit of recognizing what we have, and in doing so, we might start to shift away from worry to instead realise that we have so many wonderful things in our lives already.
As you leave worship today and celebrate Thanksgiving, let that celebration continue long after the turkey and pumpkin pie are gone. Follow the example of the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu and adopt a new practice to help you recognize all that you have and become truly grateful and truly joyful. This is how we can stop the worry Jesus speaks of today. I hope my students, spending Thanksgiving in prison, are doing this—because no matter the situation, there’s always something to be grateful for, joy is always possible. Amen.
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