Celebrating

College Chapel service 9 November 2007

Psalm 90
Philippians 4:6-9

So has it been a good year? Or a pretty bad one? Excellent year? Meritorious? Achieved? Or not? If it’s been perfect, then maybe you’ve been asleep most of the time. Or ignoring the opportunities you have to help others. Someone once said: When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

There are different ways of dealing with the good and bad in life. Some people are quite philosophical. They say these kinds of things in order to cope with the ups and downs of life: Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue. That may not be the best approach…. Maybe we should teach people to fly, or clean statues!

We’ve heard a few stories of successes this year. I think there are lots of things to celebrate! There will be more before the year is out.

So what does the Bible say?
The Psalm we read today is a bit gloomy in parts. We are like weeds that sprout in the morning – and are dead by night. Things like that – and the bit about us going back to dust. It speaks of the inevitability of our life coming to an end!

But there are some glimpses of celebration. There are these prayers:
Satisfy us in the morning with your constant love, so that we may sing and be glad all our days!
Lord our God, may your blessings be with us! Give us success in all we do!

Success in all we do is not always being first. Sometimes it is being faithful. Not giving up.

For some it’s having courage to try new things.
For some success is simply making a new friend – and keeping the new friend!

One person wrote of a particular student: It may be that his sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others. Well we do learn from things that go wrong.

What we really need to do is to celebrate every success! All the time! With an attitude of gratitude. And with a song in our hearts!

And following our second reading:
Instead of worrying, pray!
And then Paul goes on to say that we should fill our minds with good things!
In addition it helps to fill our minds with the work we need to remember for our exams.

Prayer doesn’t work when you haven’t done the work. Like the boy who prayed a prayer that God could not answer after his exam: “God, please make Paris the capital of Germany”.

May you find strength as you celebrate this year – discipline as you focus on these next weeks and finish the year well – and true happiness. Remember what Abraham Lincoln said: Most people are about as happy as they choose to be.

The choice of faith makes a difference:
Satisfy us in the morning with your constant love, so that we may sing and be glad all our days!
Lord our God, may your blessings be with us! Give us success in all we do!