When word about a new virus discovered in China began making the news in 2019, I started thinking about making a sourdough starter. You see, when you have a healthy and vibrant starter, you only need three other ingredients to make bread: flour, water, and salt. I had made a sourdough starter once years before that, used it for a time, and then neglected it until it turned a very scary color, so I knew the basic process. But, I hesitated to start a new venture into sourdough because getting a sourdough starter active takes a whole lot of flour. I wasn’t a huge fan of the idea of going through a whole bag of flour to get a new starter active, so I waited for a while and did some research.

Shortly after cities on the east coast began social distancing requirements and quarantine, I discovered a baker who was experimenting with making a tiny starter. He lovingly called it his “quarantiny starter.” Rather than trying to make a whole sourdough starter with a half cup of flour twice a day, you did the same process using only a tablespoon of flour. Every day, twice a day, you would take a small piece of your flour and water mixture, feed it with a small amount of new flour and some water, mix it, and leave it on the counter for 12 hours. The idea behind the tiny starter was this: once you had a tiny bit of active starter, you could mix it into a larger amount of flour and water, and the tiny starter would get to work leavening the dough. Eventually, over time, your starter (once it is active) can be made larger until you have enough for nearly any recipe. A tiny bit of leaven is enough to make the dough rise. Sounds pretty biblical.

After my starter was active, I met my parents at the state line and gave some starter to them. My dad shared it with his sister, and she shared it with a friend. Almost six years later, the starter is still active and making beautiful sourdough breads, bagels, and waffles, even though I ruined one of mine and had to replace it with some from my dad about a year ago.

Even now, when I take my sourdough starter, which only contains flour and water, and add it to more ingredients, I’m amazed by the way that small starter accomplishes something so big. When it encounters new ingredients, it gets to work and transforms them into something airy, light, and nourishing. In fact, sourdough bread is considered a healthier bread because the starter breaks down the glutens in the bread and creates something that doesn’t spike your blood sugar in the same way as regular, yeasted bread. (Just a note that a lot of sourdough bread at the grocery store isn’t really sourdough. It’s yeasted bread with citric acid added for tartness. If you want the real deal, make sure the ingredients include “sourdough starter.”) With real sourdough, a little bit of wild yeast goes a long way. A little bit of the good stuff transforms ordinary flour into something beautiful.

Today, we arrive at the last of the attributes for us to think about or appreciate from Philippians 4:8 – praiseworthy. This part of Philippians 4:8 is different from the rest. Let me read it again, and see if you notice the difference: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Do you notice the difference or the change in how Paul talks about both excellence and praiseworthiness? Rather than saying, “Whatever is excellent” or “whatever is praiseworthy,” Paul uses a conditional word – if. “If there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” When I first started studying this passage for this week, I spent a lot of time wondering why Paul says “if.” I read several commentaries, and none of them addressed it. They skipped over it as though it was unimportant. And, maybe Paul makes this change here simply to keep the interest of the reader. Or, maybe he did it for a deeper purpose.

As I studied this word translated “praiseworthy” in the New Revised Standard Version, I learned that the word means “praise,” and it primarily has to do with words of praise. Why would Paul call us to think about “praise” if there is any? As Paul wrote this letter to the young church in Philippi, I wonder if he struggled at first to find any praise to think about. He had spent three months in Philippi sharing the Gospel. He met a woman named Lydia, who converted to Christianity. It is believed that Lydia was the patron – or the financial supporter – that made the church in Philippi possible, and the church may have even met in her home. After only staying for three months to teach the young and growing church about Jesus, Paul was forced to flee Philippi due to intense persecution. Soon after, he was imprisoned in Rome, where he worried about this young church and the persecution they were experiencing. The Philippian church sent Epaphroditus to Paul to be an encourager, and to help Paul with any of his needs, but Epaphroditus had become ill and very homesick. As Paul sat down to write to this young church, he was in prison, worried about the people in the churches he had started, and was making the difficult decision to send Epaphroditus back home to get well. Is there anything worthy of praise to think about in a moment like that?

Yet, as Paul reflects on the people in Philippi, he is overcome with gratitude. Even with all their difficulties, they’ve stayed the course. Even when they were struggling, they still cared about other people and tried to take care of them. They prayed for Paul in his imprisonment, and they sent one of their own people to take care of him. In a moment when, at first, it seemed everything was hopeless and difficult, Paul was encouraged by the thought of the faithfulness, of the beautiful words and deeds of this young church. If anything is praiseworthy? Oh, so much was praiseworthy! 

To help us think about whatever is worthy of praise, we have a familiar parable of Jesus – the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying to God in the temple. Luke wants to make sure we don’t misunderstand the point of the parable, so he explains it right away: “[Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.” The people listening to Jesus’s parable put their trust in themselves, rather than in God, to make them righteous, and they viewed other people as nothing – as not even worth considering. Jesus, then, tells a story about two men who went to the temple to pray. The first man was a Pharisee–someone the people would have expected to be a righteous person. The Pharisee looks at the tax collector and views him as less righteous – which is exactly what everyone else was probably thinking, too. His prayer was a prayer of thanks that he was a righteous person and that he wasn’t like the tax collector. By contrast, the tax collector–a person most everyone would have looked at as a Roman sympathizer or an exploiter of other people–came before God with humility. Jesus sums up the parable this way: “I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Theologian and philosopher Paul Tillich once said about the gospel being a stumbling block that we have to be careful not to stumble over the wrong thing. Francisco Garcia, Episcopal priest and theological educator, points out the potential hazard of stumbling over the wrong thing in this parable when he writes: “This parable, if we do our exegetical homework, puts us in something of a bind. At face value, the parable is written so that we will be drawn to identify with the tax collector due to his demonstration of humility (Luke 18:13), as opposed to the Pharisee who displays a sense of moral superiority (18:14). Be humble like the tax collector, and don’t be haughty like that Pharisee, and you’ll be justified before God. Simple, right?” Do you catch the problem? The parable is told in such a way that we might be tempted to judge the Pharisee and think to ourselves, “Thank God I’m not like that self-righteous Pharisee over there.” The parable is meant to encourage us not to see ourselves as better than other people, and yet as we read it, we are tempted to do just that.

What would it look like if we were to think about whatever is praiseworthy in this story? How might the way we interpret it change? What do you think is worthy of praise in this story? I can see a few things: 1) It is praiseworthy that these two men came before God to pray at all. Their attitudes may not have been equally praiseworthy, but they both showed up. I can think of many times when my attitude wasn’t what it should have been, and yet, when we show up, we open ourselves up to the possibility of being changed by God. 2) It is praiseworthy that the tax collector recognized his sinfulness and came before God with humility. He recognized he was in need of grace, and he was honest in his prayers. 3) It is praiseworthy that God is a merciful God. When the tax collector asked for mercy, God granted it to him, and that is a beautiful and praiseworthy thing.

What would it look like for us to think about whatever is praiseworthy? I wonder if we, like Paul, ever find ourselves in situations of difficulty and pain, situations where it might seem to anyone on the outside looking in that there is nothing good or worthy of praise. And yet, out of Paul’s trials came one of the most beautiful letters in all of Scripture. As he considered whatever might be worthy of praise, his heart overflowed with gratitude both for God and for each of the people who had encouraged him and been there for him. He could see God’s praiseworthiness in protecting him and the young Philippian church as they endured persecution. He could see praiseworthiness in the care and compassion of the Christians he had ministered to. He could see praiseworthiness in the faithfulness of Epaphroditus who had left his home and sacrificed his own well-being so that Paul would not be alone. If there is anything worthy of praise? Oh, there were so many things! And there still are! 

Just like my tiny sourdough starter, it doesn’t take very much praise to leaven our weary and aching hearts. Just a little praise–just a little leaven–can work its way into the deepest parts of ourselves and cause the praise to rise to overflowing. In my office, I have a metal can–you know, the kind that holds those popcorn mixtures around the holidays? Jeff and I call this can our “God can” and we place in it any encouraging notes or cards we receive. Whenever times are difficult, or I just have a bad morning, I like to sit down and open the God can and begin to read. It is amazing to me how even one kind word can turn things around for me. And, when I take time to remember the one kind word, I find myself thinking back on other moments of praise. After a while, I get lost in the wonder of the many blessings and good things God has done in my life. 

May we be people who share words of praise with others. Who knows? The words of praise we share might be just what another person needs. And may we be people who live in awe of God and God’s goodness. As we reflect on all that God has done for us, I am certain we will never run out of praise. To God be the glory! Great things God has done. Amen.