thanksliving—thank God for the small things—1 thessalonians 5:18—be thankful in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

introduction (small things)—last week we had the wonderful opportunity of hearing judy squier teach on encountering God in our brokenness.  i was amazed at hearing her story of how she was born with a birth defect that prevented her legs from being normal legs, fully functioning.  unable to run from her birth defect, judy’s life became a stage for God to show up and craft a masterpiece out of her detested missing piece.

last week i was doing tech and before the service started, i found out that the wheelchair lift was jammed or stuck—it wasn’t working correctly.  i tried pressing buttons and i hit a button that made an alarm sound—this was clearly not working correctly.  i tried explaining this to Judy and she was the least bit concerned about it—it’s just a small thing—it’s no problem she said. in our conversation, she was just beaming with a wide smile that filled her face, and i saw the compassion and love and concern for God and for people just oozing out of her.

i told her about my friend erik himbert who nearly three years ago was paralyzed from the waist down.  and throughout the entire service i kept thinking back to erik—thinking about when we played music together, when we played hockey, surfed, spent time praying and doing ministry together.  i remembered how high maintenance he was when he brought a hairdryer to india.  i remembered how nit-picky he was when he found our buddy dave’s toenail clippings poking him on the couch.  i remembered how cool his tattoos were—and how he always said cheap tattoos aren’t cool and cool tattoos aren’t cheap.  and i specifically remember, out of all his cool tattoos of ships and skulls and clovers and Jesus—i remember a tattoo, I believe it was on his right arm, it was a verse from the book of galatians, from chapter 2 verse 20: i have been crucified with Christ and i no longer live, but Christ lives in me. the life i live in the body, i live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

when my buddy erik was paralyzed in a tragic snowboarding accident, i began to think about how life for him would never be the same again.  i remember how he had to relearn how to maneuver, how to go to the bathroom, how to get in and out of cars, how to get dressed, how to get in and out of bed.  seeing him in his struggle reminded me of how lucky i am to have limbs that work, and how precious the small things are—my toes, my fingers, my legs that work, my eyes that see, and my ears that don’t always listen—but they can hear.

as he was going through therapy, from time to time he had to stand up in a sort of metal cage.  i remember seeing him stand up in the cage for the first time and I thought, “dude i totally forgot how tall you are!”  erik used to be a tall thing, and now he’s a small thing.  his 6’3 is now down to probably 3’5.  he’s a small thing now—but small things are special objects of God’s concern.

in the 8^th century bc, during the reign of king jeroboam II, from tekoa, the hill country of 10 miles south of Jerusalem, came a prophet by the name of amos.  before his period of prophecy, amos was a shepherd—and God called him from ordinary life to speak judgment upon the northern kingdom Israel. let’s flip to the book of amos.

his proclamation was, as it says in 5:14-15 to “seek good and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, just as you have said.  15 hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate…”

the major issue was that the weak, poor, afflict, and righteous were innocent, and they were being sold into slavery, dispossessed, exploited, and ignored, while the leaders of society lived in luxury.  these were the small people, the insignificant who were being trampled upon.  and the prophecy of amos is a response to the cry of the weak.

now we must remember that prophets aren’t fortune-tellers, they aren’t magicians, and they aren’t always talking about the future—they were social critics, heavily involved in religion and politics, and so amos is the mouthpiece of God and his words are describing and speaking up against the situation.  (when i think of prophets i like to think of people like martin luther king jr., mother theresa, not people like criss angel or miss cleo the tarot card reader in the infomercials).

let’s hear some of the words of God through the prophet amos: concerning judgment on Israel, amos 2:6-7—thus says the Lord:
 for three transgressions of israel, and for four, i will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals—7 they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way; 
father and son go in to the same girl, so that My holy name is profaned; (and yes, that’s talking about the worst think you can imagine.

concerning the wealthy women of samaria (which at this time was the capital of the northern kingdom, israel)—amos 4:1-2—hear this word, you cows of bashan (another version says you fat cows of bashan) who are on mount samaria,
 who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, ‘bring something to drink!’ 2 the Lord God has sworn by his holiness:
 the time is surely coming upon you,
 when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fish-hooks.

bashan was known for its rich soil and fat cows—and the women are personified as fat, lazy cows ripe and ready for the slaughter—why?—because they oppress the poor, crush the needy, and they are down right rude!

and another instance, in amos 5:11, he cries out, “you trample on the poor
 and take from them levies of grain,
 you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them;
 you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.”

ironically, the wealthy will lose the very things they have acquired unjustly.  even today, archaeological evidence in this area points to the major differences in housing structures—they extended from small huddled structures to large expensive houses (both winter and summer homes) belonging to the rich.  it shows a stark contrast between the luxury of the rich and misery of the poor.  the rich get richer and the poor get poorer—and where is God in all of this?—God is concerned with the plight of the poor, with the cause of the orphan and the widow.  small things are special objects of God’s concern:

psalm 140:12—i know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.

isaiah 41:17—the poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. but I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of israel, will not forsake them.

and in the words of Jesus, luke 6:20—blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

small things are special objects of God’s concern—the weak, the needy, the broken, the orphan, the widow, and the poor. and therefore they should be special objects of our concern—when i refer to the word poor i am referring to those who are physically poor and destitute, but also those who are spiritually bankrupt—those who don’t know God, those who don’t have the hope and the love that consumes and sustains—the hope and the love that cannot separate us from God, as Paul says in romans 8:38—for i am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

small things are special objects of God’s concern because people matter. the small things matter, but the small things are easy to miss. set up—merlin and i set up the church—thought it was all perfectly set up and ready to go for church the next day—but in the morning u realized that we only set up the manly stuff—not the froo-froo candles, drapery, gift bags, etc. in that moment i felt pretty ashamed of myself—where i thought i had given 110%, i had only maybe given 70% and that’s a C-. i completely spaced on the small things, and some of those things are important—like the prayer cards and the welcoming table.  in that moment, i made a decision that the small things aren’t really small things, they are important things.

after erik had gotten out of the rehabilitation hospital (where i guess he met michelle, who is now his wife—man that guy’s got charm), i realized that things were going to be a lot different for him and for me too—here’s a picture of us playing guitar hero after his accident—we just had to play it differently, but i realized that this difference didn’t make him any smaller.  and his faith remained tall, and as it still read on his arm: i have been crucified with Christ and i no longer live, but Christ lives in me. the life i live in the body, i live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

may we learn to say thank God for the tiny, insignificant, small things—for those parts of our bodies, our toes, our fingers, our internal chemical balances that are extremely significant. and may we learn to say thank God for those around us who the world considers insignificant and small—the poor, the needy, the hurt, and the broken—for in these circumstances we have the opportunity to show the love of God and to carry one another in the midst of our pain.

as the great winnie the pooh once said: “sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.” may this be our prayer.

-j.a.kays