An Attitude of Gratitude
The Reverend Shearon Sykes Williams, Twenty Second Sunday after Pentecost, October 20th, 2024
This past Friday, the sports world was shocked to hear the announcement that UVA basketball coach Tony Bennett was retiring. Bennett is one of the “winningest” coaches of all time. He has had a stunningly successful career. He is also widely regarded as a person of deep integrity. He said that he could longer continue because he did not believe in the direction that college sports were going and feared for the well-being of his athletes within a system that was becoming more and more like professional sports. Coach Bennett said that he knew it was time to acknowledge that he was not equipped to take the program forward in this new environment, describing himself as a square peg in a round hole. Bennett had 5 pillars that he based his program on. Humility, passion, unity, servanthood and thankfulness. Bennett said this in an interview with UVA News when he first started. “The first principle is humility. Don’t think too highly of yourself. The second is passion. Don’t be lukewarm. Our third is unity. Basketball is one of the greatest team games there is because there can be individual talent, but boy, if (we) come together, (we) can be so good together... And we can overcome more tough situations. The fourth is servanthood. Whatever your role is, be a servant to the team and make your teammates better. The last one is thankfulness. Be thankful certainly when there’s great success, but also be thankful for what you’ve learned through the hard times, because there’s great wisdom in those experiences.” Humility, passion, unity, servanthood and thankfulness.
Coach Bennett is channeling Jesus in today’s Gospel. James and John want glory and honor, prestige and power. And Jesus tells them,
“You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Mark 10: 35-45
Jesus has just finished telling his disciples that he is about to suffer and die. In fact, he has told them not one, not two, but three times. And yet they have not heard him. Being his disciple is about servanthood, not glory, not honor, not prestige and not power. Servanthood.
Coach Bennett is a person of deep Christian faith, faith that he by all accounts, does not force onto other people, but when asked about, he shares. He works with a very diverse group of people, religiously and otherwise, and he is widely admired for having a strong moral compass and respect for everyone, whatever their creed or life experience. And he has been open about the fact that his five pillars come from his faith. They are also values that can be universalized. And these values are hard to live out because we are all so egocentric and we live in an egocentric, polarized culture. Rather than being focused on seeking the good of all, we are very “me-focused”, “us and them” focused. That is why Bennett and others who believe in working for the good of all with humility, passion, a spirit of unity, servanthood and thankfulness, really stand out. That is what Jesus calls us to and it is hard to do. It’s hard because it involves sacrifice. It means making room for others, rather than taking over the room.
“You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Mark 10: 35-45
As we approach this highly consequential presidential election, we are all thinking about what we want in our leaders. And as Christians, we discern how we are going to vote based on the level of integrity that we perceive the candidates to have, as well as how their positions on issues best reflect our values. Which candidate best demonstrates humility, passion, unity, servanthood and thankfulness? Which candidate is most committed to respecting the dignity of every human being and working for the common good? No human being models these qualities or these intentions perfectly. No one. And yet we are called, as people of faith, to make a choice based on our understanding of how Jesus wants us to live, making the best choice we can as imperfect people living in an imperfect world. An imperfect world that Jesus calls us to love with a sacrificial love. An imperfect world in which he calls us to work for justice and peace. An imperfect world in which we are called to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.
The election is two weeks away and anxiety is very high, so it is important to remember to breath. To spend time each day in prayer and thanksgiving. It is so easy to get focused on our fears and everything that is wrong in our world. But we can’t let fear rule our lives and we need to ask God to help us to live hopefully. Focusing on what we are grateful for reorients our hearts and minds and improves our spiritual, emotional and physical health. It also helps us to work for change out of a healthy place, rather than an angry, fearful place. Gratitude is the key to the kingdom of God.
Gratitude is a spiritual practice. When we can look at the world and see all of its broken places, when we can look at our own lives and see all the things that are wrong, and still be grateful for all that God has done for us and all the work that God is going to do through us, we know that we are making progress on our spiritual journey..
Having an attitude of gratitude is everything. And that is why we make our financial pledges to Saint George’s every year. When we make our pledge to support God’s work in this place, it is an act of faith, hope and love. Making our pledges is a spiritual practice. Jesus talked about money a lot in the Gospels. He knew that money can have too much power over us, and if we learn to give a portion of it away, it has less power over us and more power to effectuate good in this world. A number of years ago, we started sending stewardship letters that thank each person or family for their generosity in the past and ask them to take the next step in growing in generosity in the coming year, and the response has been so wonderful. Saint Georgians are exceptionally generous. A few weeks ago, I was visiting a parishioner who isn’t able to come to church very often anymore, and this person shared how they were amazed that they were now giving far more than they ever thought possible, just by giving a little more each year, and how grateful they were for that. Giving is so good for us. Giving helps us to stay humble. Giving helps us to express our passion for the work God is doing in and through Saint George’s. Giving helps us to work for the unity God calls us to. Giving helps us to model servanthood. Giving expresses our thankfulness. And thankfulness is everything.
“You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Mark 10: 35-45