“Which Tent Will You Live In?”                              November 1, 2009
Hebrews 13:5–6; Philippians 4:11–12                    The Rev. Dr. Beth Braxton

This past Wednesday my 2 year old grandson came running up the sidewalk to the church, I scooped him up and gave him a big hug and asked him about the book he was holding in his hands and he said it was about trucks. I said would you like me to read it.

Yes, he indicated so we sat down on the bench there outside in the warm fall weather as his mother, Jessica went in to prepare for Raindrops. I felt so content with that little tike snuggled up to me as I read about diggers and dump trucks, and flatbeds and the Osh-kosh military trucks that made him giggle.

One other time recently, I can remember using the word “content” as I was sitting at our library table holding a hot cup of tea and looking at the glorious yellow and orange colors of the autumn leaves outside the window. And I said to myself – I am content.

What does it mean to be content? We feel at peace with ourselves: what we have and who we are. “Satisfied” is the primary word that the dictionary uses.

But I experience here in the Burke/Fairfax area so much discontent among us in a number of areas. I find we are never satisfied with anything. As soon as we acquire something, we hardly take time to enjoy it before we desire something else. Here is what I have observed and heard. Do your own check–list and see if you agree.

Most of us experience discontent with our stuff – our things, our clothes, homes, cars, electronics, gadgets, etc. We buy the home of our dreams and then we move in and find out that the windows need replacing or the dining area is not big enough for the extended family and we are dissatisfied and start planning how we can remedy the situation. We get new furniture and it is only a few months later that we see in Southern Living the furniture we really want. We buy new blue curtains for the bedroom, only to find that the bedspread doesn’t match and we feel discontent until we change it. Then we notice that the color of the carpet is off in tone.

We buy a new computer and are excited; then we take this new laptop to work, only to find out that our colleague has a better faster system and we are not satisfied until we can upgrade and match the speed of our co-worker.

Well speaking of jobs - many of us are discontent with our jobs. We don’t like our boss; we are dissatisfied with the work environment; we can’t stand one of our co-workers; we complain about the commute and on and on the list goes. Some of us are constantly searching for that perfect job that will make us happy.

This is often true with the church also. We have the illusion that things are going to be perfect in church, after all it is church where we are suppose to love one another. But you know there are people who don’t want to serve on committees with certain other people; sometimes the pastor forgets a comment about an illness and a parishioner is hurt that he/she did receive a call. Sometimes someone volunteers to help out with a mission project and no one calls right away. Sometimes someone feels that they are holding the bag doing everything for a special event and they complain. All we can see is what is wrong with the church. We are dissatisfied,

This dissatisfaction seems to apply to relationships too! Remember when we were teenagers and we wished that the Brown’s were our parents because they allowed their children to watch more TV or stay up later on a school night. We were dissatisfied with our parents. We did not like our parents; we hung out at the Brown’s house.

Likewise now as parents we are often dissatisfied with our children, saying why can’t you be like the Smith’s children who remember to say thank-you, who stand up straight or who get good grades, or who try out for more sports. Never satisfied!

The really sad thing is that this often applies to our spouses. When we marry we are madly in love, then it does not take long before we feel irritated, frustrated by many habits - things our spouse does that drives us crazy! We are discontent and observe – I wish I had met so-and-so’s spouse first, he doesn’t … or she always…; I wish my spouse took me out to dinner more often like so-and-so does. Never satisfied. (They have not been to the marriage enrichment program that Bob and I attended a number of years ago where the first remarks out of the seminar leaders’ mouth was “You have married the person who most frustrates you.” (How did he know? I thought! :>))

There are no perfect spouses or children or parents or job or church! This is what discontentment does to us; it leaves us in a state of dissatisfaction, seeking the illusive perfection–never at peace, never content.

What must God think of us?–the One who has blessed us with such beauty and abundance!? I have a prayer on my dresser written by Garrison Keillor that says, “Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough.” Discontentment keeps us from loving our lives and others.

So quickly now–how do we turn this mess around? How do we cultivate an attitude of contentment?

First I think one way is to simplify; we are so bogged down! We said in our stewardship sub-title for this season‘s campaign–“discovering joy through simplicity and generosity.” We have talked about the joy of how we make a life by what we give. Now let us talk about how we make a life by how we live. I DO think that “Less is more” as the Green Posters read. We need to simplify––after all more stuff means more maintenance, which involves more time, more energy, and more resources and more protection, security and insurance. There is a point when we have enough stuff and everything above and beyond that level just causes stress. Reduce–Re-use, Recycle is a good idea! Yet, we get tempted–that one more “toy,” or the just-right toy will make us happy. And we buy more, only to find out it does not satisfy. It does not make us more content. There is no question that our consuming habits have serious consequences too that affects not only our personal lives but the national debt and the world and even the church. I have had persons tell me that they are so consumed that they feel they cannot respond to God’s call now to do what they want and feel called to do for God in this church.

Second, we can simply ask ourselves before we buy something–“how long will this make me happy?” My husband calls this pre-cycle.

Third, we can help on contentment attitude by asking, “In the great scheme of things – is this going to matter? – that the carpet is not quit the right color, or I don’t have enough Christmas dishware for all the relatives, or that my child only plays a musical instrument and not a sport, or that I don’t have the fastest printer, or that my spouse forgets my birthday?? In the great scheme of things, is it going to matter?”

The fourth key to contentment is to cultivate a grateful heart. A grateful heart recognizes all life is a gift; and for gifts we are thankful. As the gospel hymn says, “Count your blessings, name them one by one; count your many blessings see what God has done.” This thankfulness creates contentment.

Let us remember the words of the preacher in Hebrews – he says, “the Lord is our helper” and the Apostle Paul who says it is Christ who strengthens him. They both say, be content with whatever you have; God (our creator and redeemer) is with you! As the quote on your bulletin cover today says, “Want what you have.”

Finally folks, let us be clear our contentment comes primarily in relationships: that snuggle I felt from my grandson, that satisfaction with myself I felt drinking my hot tea. But this all stems from a relationship to God.

The only real satisfaction of our souls is in Jesus Christ. The human heart is finally satisfied only in God, not in the accumulation of things. As St. Augustine said long ago–“Our souls are restless until they rest in Thee.”

That is why we come to this table often. We come to be nourished in the life of Jesus Christ; to remember who we are and whose we are; to feast on love that satisfies and lasts forever.

Which tent will you live in – dis-con-tent ment or con-tent-ment ?

It is your choice!

It was four years ago now on our Kibwezi work camp 2005 to Kenya when one of the young adults, a recent college graduate, was struggling with her vocation and her living arrangements, making it on her own. After a particular conversation on that trip she handed me a little slip of paper with Hebrews 13:5–6 on it (I still have it in my Bible today) and told me how this passage had sustained her in her struggles. And later in our time in Kenya I shared the passage with the school director, Samuel Mote, who was struggling with issues of things – things he wanted for the school, for himself, supplies, food, etc. Later he wrote me a letter about the power of that scripture in his life and thanked me for my comments on it.

[move to table] When we come to this table to receive Christ today; we find our contentment – all we need for our journeys.

Today when you come to the communion table you may take one of the green key change cards here that says “contentment;” on the other side is a prayer. I hope you will carry it with you in a pocket or key change to remind you of the contentment we find in Jesus.

Let us pray: Touch us deep down, O God, and open us to the joy of life in you, our Savior, our Bread of life, our contentment.

Amen.