Today’s message was written by Rev. Dr. Roger Kunkel, founder of Dial Hope.

A small dog had been struck by a car and was lying wounded by the side of the road. A doctor driving by noticed that the dog was still alive, stopped his car, picked up the dog, and took him home. There he discovered that the dog had been stunned, had suffered minor cuts and abrasions, but was otherwise alright. He revived the dog, cleaned up the wounds, and was carrying the animal from the house to the garage when it suddenly jumped from his arms and scampered off. “What an ungrateful little dog,” the doctor thought to himself. He thought no more about the incident until the next evening when he heard a scratching at his door. When he opened it, there was the little dog he treated, with another hurt dog.

That is the story of the “ripple effect.” Throw a stone into a lake and the water ripples out, and the circle widens. One of the great characteristics of the first Christians was their ripple effect. Something had happened to them that filled them with so much joy they just could not contain it. It was contagious. It spread out among the people in a ripple effect. And the circle of love grew wider and wider.

Let us pray: Lord, help us to spread your love by being the gospel, the good news to others. Give healing to those who are ill or anxious today and remind us of the power of your spirit to transform every earthly situation. Give strength to the weak and hope to the depressed. Keep in safety all who travel. Watch over the poor and the homeless. Now let the ripple effect of your love and joy help us to make this day a masterpiece. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

In my fifteen years of hospice and nursing home ministry, I heard some wonderfully moving comments and questions from people with dementia. Joan W., for instance, near the end of her life: “Why do I love Jesus so much?” Elizabeth N., as December began in 2007: “When Jesus comes, will he walk with me in the hallway?” Bunny, confined to bed as the end neared, usually just babbled. But one day, as I entered her room, she was humming. I knew her faith tradition, so I asked her if she would like me to sing a hymn for her. And I started: “On a hill far away, stood an old rugged cross …” And she immediately joined me, on pitch and word perfect. And after the closing words, “I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it someday for a crown,” with tears in her eyes and a few moments of silence, she went back to babbling.

Dear friends of Dial Hope, our Lord is with us always – in sickness, in health, during tough times, and happy times. And in the midst of dementia. Those were just a few of the profound faith experiences I was grateful to witness and share in. These three women, and many folks like them, were as much of a gift to me as I hope I was to them. And they enabled me to witness the truth of those famous words in William Cowper’s hymn, “God moves in a mysterious way/His wonders to perform.”

Let us pray these words from The Book of Common Prayer: Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. 

On the bedroom wall, I have a framed calligraphic rendering of my favorite message from the prophet Micah: “This is what the Lord asks of you, only this: to act justly, to love tenderly, and to walk humbly with your God.”

It is challenging to manifest that in this angry world. I need to strive daily to strengthen the holy center I speak from, especially when dealing with such issues. And, as the saying goes, I need to be the change I want to see in the world. With God’s help, I can do that – or at least do the best I can, which is all that God asks of us. And to recall what John’s Gospel tells us: “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us.”

Can we do our darndest to try to model this every day? To model the message? That is a form of ministry, after all. And we never know whose heart we might touch, even though they – and we – may not realize it at the moment. Or as Mother Teresa puts it, “Loving as He loves, helping as He helps, giving as He gives, serving as He serves, rescuing as He rescues, being with Him twenty-four hours, touching Him in his distressing disguise.” Because they, too, are children of God.

Let us pray these words of Dag Hammarskjold, the deeply faithful first Secretary-General of the United Nations: Have mercy upon us. Have mercy upon our efforts, that we before Thee in love and in faith, righteousness, and humility, may follow Thee with self-denial, steadfastness, and courage, and meet Thee in the silence. Give us a pure heart that we may see Thee, a humble heart, that we may hear Thee, a heart of love that we may love Thee. Thou, whom I do not know but whose I am. Thou, whom I do not comprehend but who hast dedicated me to my fate. Thou ………… Amen.

There is an old Garfield comic in which Garfield is watching television. An advertisement blares out of the set, “Our cat food is new and improved! NEW AND IMPROVED! NEW AND IMPROVED!” In the last scene, Garfield says to himself, “Just think… All this time I’ve been eating old and inferior.”

It is true. Sometimes we are made to feel we need the newest and the best in order to be happy. And when we fall into that trap, we often fail to appreciate all that we do have.

Author Melody Beattie once wrote, “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, and confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

My friend Roger Kunkel once suggested writing a “thank you” letter to God. What a great idea! Today, I invite you to find a quiet moment and call to mind all that makes your life rich. Put your reflections into a letter being as detailed as possible. And then, may that letter serve also as a prayer of thanks.

Let us pray: Gracious God – you give and you give and you give. Help us today to notice the abundance of your grace and mercy. Deliver us from any anxiety, worry, or self-pity and open our eyes to the blessings that surround us – right here and right now. And then, as we are blessed, help us to be a blessing to others. We pray in the name of the One who gave even his life for us. Amen.

In the message yesterday, I shared with you the serenity prayer which is attributed to the theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

There is a second part to this prayer, and though it is not as widely known, there is much wisdom in it. It is as follows:

Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as God did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that God will make all things right if I surrender to his will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with God forever in the next. Amen.

The truth is, we have no guarantees of tomorrow. We have no guarantees of an hour from now. And no matter how faithful we may be, we have no guarantees of a perfect trouble-free existence.

What we do have is the promise that God is able to bring something good and beautiful and strong even out of suffering – even out of our suffering. The cross and empty tomb are our reminders.

We also have the promise that Jesus loves this world as it is, not as it should be. And because of this love, he is at work to mend and redeem, to heal and make whole all that is – even you, even me.

Let us pray: Almighty God, you are the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. We praise you for you are ever-present and ever powerful and ever-loving. We surrender our lives again to you this day. Help us to live each moment to the fullest, trusting that you hold the future and that you hold us.

We pray especially today for our sisters and brothers who are struggling with addiction, and for all who carry burdens too heavy and too real to hide. We pray for continued glimpses of your presence – for healing and hope and redemption beyond measure. We ask in Jesus’s name. Amen.