These illustrations are based on Luke 17:11-19
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Sermon Opener - Giving Thanks before Thanksgiving - Luke 17:11-19
Greg Anderson, in Living Life on Purpose, tells a story about a man whose wife had left him. He was completely depressed. He had lost faith in himself, in other people, in God--he found no joy in living. One rainy morning this man went to a small neighborhood restaurant for breakfast. Although several people were at the diner, no one was speaking to anyone else. Our miserable friend hunched over the counter, stirring his coffee with a spoon.
In one of the small booths along the window was a young mother with a little girl. They had just been served their food when the little girl broke the sad silence by almost shouting, "Momma, why don't we say our prayers here?" The waitress who had just served their breakfast turned around and said, "Sure, honey, we pray here. Will you say the prayer for us?" And she turned and looked at the rest of the people in the restaurant and said, "Bow your heads." Surprisingly, one by one, the heads went down. The little girl then bowed her head, folded her hands, and said, "God is great, God is good, and we thank him for our food. Amen."
That prayer changed the entire atmosphere. People began to talk with one another. The waitress said, "We should do that every morning."
"All of a sudden," said our friend, "my whole frame of mind started to improve. From that little girl's example, I started to thank God for all that I did have and stop majoring in all that I didn't have. I started to be grateful."
We all understand and appreciate the importance of gratitude. How it can radically change relationships. In fact, one of the first things we were taught and that we teach our children is to express their gratitude. Someone gives them some candy and we say: “Now what do you say?” And the child learns from an early age the answer “Thank you.” And certainly we all know as adults that we appreciate being thanked. Yet, when it comes to giving thanks to our heavenly father, we so often miss the mark.
And when it comes to giving our thanks to God, I don’t suppose there is any story in the Bible that is so endearing to us, so timelessly appropriate, as the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers. We have all heard the story many times, but like so many Bible stories, we never tire of it….
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Healing - Luke 17:11-19
When I was in fourth or fifth grade, I was helping my dad in the kitchen. I had been taught how to use a knife properly, but I wasn’t always perfect at it. I slipped and knicked my finger. It was just a small cut but it was on the knuckle, so if the cut was going to heal, we had to find a way to splint my finger. I remember being very proud that my dad simply took a piece of kindling from the pile for our wood stove, cut off two small pieces, bandaged my finger and taped it with adhesive tape. Voila! Within a matter of minutes I was on the road to healing. My finger healed quickly and you can’t even see a scar. It is as if it never happened.
I think we often wish more of life was like that. When we are sick or injured, we hope and pray for healing. We want a transformation. We want our health completely restored. We want it to be as though we were never sick or hurt in the first place. We want transformation as we see in our scriptures today.
In 2 Kings we hear the story of Naaman, the army commander, who was healed from leprosy when he finally followed the instructions of the prophet Elisha and went to bathe in the River Jordan seven times. Amusingly, Naaman was initially resistant to this source of healing as he expected a great fanfare or an endurance trial or challenge in order to be healed rather than merely just bathing in the Jordan. Yet that was not what was required of him. When he finally followed Elisha’s instructions, at the urging of the servants, Naaman was made clean. And this was some cleansing. It was not just that Naaman was healed of his leprosy, his flesh was completely restored to what it was before he ever had it. He had the skin of a young boy after he bathed. Naaman got exactly what we wish for — complete healing and transformation.
Then in Luke’s gospel we get another story of a miraculous healing of lepers. The ten lepers asked Jesus to have mercy on them. Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priests, and Jesus granted their wish, and “poof,” just like that they were healed. The leprosy was gone. Again, just what we wish for when we are the ones who are afflicted.
I have to admit, I actually have a hard time with these miraculous healing stories in the Bible. I find them rather frustrating. Because while the small cuts and bruises of life do heal over….
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The Seeds of Discouragement
An old legend tells how a man once stumbled upon a great red barn after wandering for days in a forest in the dark. He was seeking refuge from the howling winds of a storm. He entered the barn and his eyes grew accustomed to the dark. To his astonishment, he discovered that this was the barn where the devil kept his storehouse of seeds. They were the seeds that were sown in the hearts of humans. The man became curious and lit a match. He began exploring the piles of bins of seeds round him. He couldn’t help but notice that the greatest majority of them said, “Seeds of Discouragement.”
About that time one of the devil’s helpers arrived to pick up a load of seeds. The man asked him, “Why the abundance of discouragement seeds?” The helper laughed and replied, “Because they are so effective and they take root so quickly.” “Do they grow everywhere?” the man asked. At that moment the devil’s helper became very sullen. He glared at the man and in disgust he said, “No. They never seem to grow in the heart of a grateful person.”
Keith Wagner, But Are We Grateful?
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Nine Reasons They Did Not Return
Why did only one man cleansed from leprosy return to thank Jesus? Someone has made a list of nine suggested reasons why the nine did not return:
One waited to see if the cure was real.
One waited to see if it would last.
One said he would see Jesus later.
One decided that he had never had leprosy in the first place.
One said he would have gotten well anyway.
One gave the glory to the priests.
One said, "O, well, Jesus didn't really do anything."
One said, "Any rabbi could have done it."
One said, "I was already much improved."
That's not surprising, is it? I doubt that more than ten percent of us are ever truly grateful to God. In fact, it often seems that the more we have, the less gratitude we feel.
King Duncan, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com
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Now Thank We All Our God
You can even be thankful during the most difficult of circumstances in life. It's true! We see an especially inspiring example of a brave and thankful heart in the story behind one of the church's most popular hymns, "Now Thank We All Our God." This particularly hymn was written during the Thirty Years War in Germany, in the early 1600s. Its author was Martin Rinkart, a Lutheran pastor in the town of Eilenburg in Saxony.
Now, Eilenburg was a walled city, so it became a haven for refugees seeking safety from the fighting. But soon, the city became too crowded and food was in short supply. Then, a famine hit and a terrible plague and Eilenburg became a giant morgue.
In one year alone, Pastor Rinkart conducted funerals for 4,500 people, including his own wife. The war dragged on; the suffering continued. Yet through it all, he never lost courage or faith and even during the darkest days of Eilenburg's agony, he was able to write this hymn:
Now thank we all our God,
with hearts and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom the world rejoices
...[So] keep us in His grace,
and guide us when perplexed,
and free us from all ills,
in this world and the next.
Even when he was waist deep in destruction, Pastor Rinkart was able to lift his sights to a higher plane. He kept his mind on God's love when the world was filled with hate. He kept his mind on God's promises of heaven when the earth was a living hell. Can we not do the same - we whose lives are almost trouble-free, compared with the man who wrote that hymn?
Whom can you say "thank you" to?
Erskine White, Together in Christ, CSS Publishing Company
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Overwhelmed by the Gift
When did you first notice that some people are more thankful than others are? When I was a young father, I remember taking my little children out on Halloween to go “trick-or-treating.” They were very young, perhaps three and five, and were appropriately costumed in garb which thrilled us as parents. As they toddled to the front doors, I stood back and watched. I noticed that after they bravely mustered their “trick or treat,” and took the candy, they didn’t say “thank you.” It then became my mission to explain that after they received the candy, they should always say “thank you.”
After many attempts to encourage a grateful behavior pattern, in some frustration I came to understand that they were far more overwhelmed with the idea that when a door opens in the darkness two people with candy appear, than they were overwhelmed with the idea that they were being graced with an unwarranted gift. It dawned on me that gratitude needs a touchstone in the heart, a place or moment when someone recognizes that this didn’t have to happen: What I am receiving is pure gift! I neither earned nor deserved this! Such an insight is too profound for little children on Halloween night—and perhaps for many of us on any night.
David Zersen, What Is Grace Calling You to Be?
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Humor: Does Everyone Do That?
The story is told of a farmer who went into town for a little breakfast. As his meal was set before him, he bowed his head and offered a silent prayer. The man at the next table derided him, "Hey, does everybody do that where you come from?" "No," said the farmer. "The pigs don't."
Frank Lyman, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com
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A Letter of Appreciation
In the book "A Window on the Mountain," Winston Pierce tells of his high school class reunion. A group of the old classmates were reminiscing about things and persons they were grateful for. One man mentioned that he was particularly thankful for Mrs. Wendt, for she more than anyone had introduced him to Tennyson and the beauty of poetry. Acting on a suggestion, the man wrote a letter of appreciation to Mrs. Wendt and addressed it to the high school. The note was forwarded and eventually found the old teacher. About a month later the man received a response. It was written in a feeble longhand and read as follows: “My dear Willie, I can’t tell you how much your letter meant to me. I am now in my nineties, living alone in a small room, cooking my own meals, lonely, and like the last leaf of fall lingering behind. You will be interested to know that I taught school for forty years and yours is the first letter of appreciation I ever received. It came on a blue, cold morning and it cheered me as nothing has for years. Willie, you have made my day.”
Staff, www.eSermons.com
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An Inventory of Blessings
Perhaps Daniel Defoe gave us some good advice through his fictitious character Robinson Crusoe. The first thing that Crusoe did when he found himself on a deserted island was to make out a list. On one side of the list he wrote down all his problems. On the other side of the list he wrote down all of his blessings. On one side he wrote: I do not have any clothes. On the other side he wrote: But it’s warm and I don’t really need any. On one side he wrote: All of the provisions were lost. On the other side he wrote: But there’s plenty of fresh fruit and water on the island. And on down the list he went. In this fashion he discovered that for every negative aspect about his situation, there was a positive aspect, something to be thankful for. It is easy to find ourselves on an island of despair. Perhaps it is time that we sit down and take an inventory of our blessings.
I well imagine that there are some of us here this morning that are long, long overdue in expressing our thanks to God.
Staff, www.eSermons.com
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To Be Sure!
I am always impressed with the litany-like phrases Martin Luther uses in The Small Catechism as petition by petition he explains the Lord's Prayer:
To be sure, God's name is holy itself ...To be sure, the kingdom of God comes of itself, without our prayers ...To be sure, the good and gracious will of God is done without our prayer ...To be sure, God provides daily bread, even to the wicked, without our prayer...
To be sure, to be sure, to be sure! God's gifts come to us despite our unfaithfulness and often without our prayers. Paul quotes an ancient Christian hymn in his second letter to Timothy: "If we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself (2 Timothy 2:13)." Our faithlessness and ingratitude cannot make of God something that he is not. To be sure!
All of which brings us to the heart of today's gospel. Rudolph Bultmann is quite correct when he notes that the emphasis of Luke's story is not the miracle of 10 lepers cleansed, but rather the contrast of gratitude and ingratitude depicted on the same dramatic canvas.
Luke draws the contrast all the more boldly when he notes that the man returning to give thanks was a Samaritan, a "foreigner." Always the master storyteller among the four evangelists, Luke, having already given us the story of the "Good Samaritan," now gives us the story of the "Thankful Samaritan."
Theodore F. Schneider, United the King Comes, CSS Publishing Company
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The First Billionaire
The very first person to reach the status of billionaire was a man who knew how to set goals and follow through. At the age of 23, he had become a millionaire, by the age of 50 a billionaire. Every decision, attitude, and relationship was tailored to create his personal power and wealth. But three years later at the age of 53 he became ill.
His entire body became racked with pain and he lost all the hair on his head. In complete agony, the world's only billionaire could buy anything he wanted, but he could only digest milk and crackers. An associate wrote, "He could not sleep, would not smile and nothing in life meant anything to him." His personal, highly skilled physicians predicted he would die within a year.
That year passed agonizingly slow. As he approached death he awoke one morning with the vague remembrances of a dream. He could barely recall the dream but knew it had something to do with not being able to take any of his successes with him into the next world. The man who could control the business world suddenly realized he was not in control of his own life. He was left with a choice.
He called his attorneys, accountants, and managers and announced that he wanted to channel his assets to hospitals, research, and mission work. On that day John D. Rockefeller established his foundation. This new direction eventually led to the discovery of penicillin, cures for current strains of malaria, tuberculosis and diphtheria. The list of discoveries resulting from his choice is enormous.
But perhaps the most amazing part of Rockefeller's story is that the moment he began to give back a portion of all that he had earned, his body's chemistry was altered so significantly that he got better. It looked as if he would die at 53 but he lived to be 98.
Rockefeller learned gratitude and gave back from his wealth. Doing so made him whole. It is one thing to be healed it is another to be made whole. It appears that the one leper who returned and threw himself at Jesus' feet in gratitude was not only healed he was saved by his thanksgiving. "Rise and go," Jesus said, "your faith has made you well."
Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com
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ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS NOT IN OUR EMAIL
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Step Into Your 'Adjacent Possibility' - Luke 17:11-19
Ever get overwhelmed? When my Gramma would get overwhelmed--with work, anger, excitement, whatever--she would exclaim: “I am just beside myself!”
What she meant was that there was just too much of what she was feeling to be contained by one person. To be “beside yourself” was not a good thing.
But what if where you are starting from is not the best place to be? What if where your life stands right now is not a good place?
Maybe if you could get outside yourself--if you could get out of the space your heart and spirit are inhabiting, if you could somehow “get beside yourself” instead of being stuck in the same old place, perhaps your life could be made better? Perhaps your life could be transformed?
The possibility of being “beside yourself” has gone from a quaint old saying to a new general law of physics. Theoretical biologist and complexity physicist Stuart Kauffmann has proposed what he calls “Adjacent Possible Theory,” or “APT-ness.” Kauffman decrees the “adjacent possible” to be the fourth general law of physics. The idea of the “adjacent possible” suggests that at any given moment there is a space around every person (and around every institution) of untapped potential. To enter into a new field of energy is the lure of the “adjacent possible.”
In other words, a halo of possibility and promise is beside yourself.
Think about your living room. Most of us have the same furniture, placed in the same spots, for years at a time. When the house gets crowded on game days or holidays, you know where people are going to end up, what the traffic flow is going to be like, where there are going to be “traffic jams,” where the favorite spot to hang out always is.
Kauffmann’s law of the “adjacent possible” says real change takes place when you re-arrange the current configuration of things, opening up a new possibility for movement and matter. Rearrange your living room furniture, and see what happens. Without even adding one new chair or table, the whole feeling of the room is changed. People move about in the room differently. They interact with others in new groups. The energy in the room flows in a new configuration. All that just by moving around furniture.
What could happen if you re-configured the space in your soul? The “adjacent possible,” the halo of promise that lies just outside your standard zone of existence, is waiting for your presence.
In today’s gospel text the “standard zone” inhabited by the ten lepers was a truly bad place to be. They were cast out as outcasts. As designated lepers they were required to stay outside the boundaries of the community, outside…
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The Disease of Leprosy
Lest we miss the drama involved, it might help to recall what kind of disease we are talking about. Leprosy is still a problem in India, of course, where Mother Teresa worked with lepers for many years. It still stalks parts of Africa and Asia. But leprosy has largely disappeared from the Western world, so we tend to forget what a terrible and terrifying disease it really is.
You can carry the disease for years before the symptoms appear, but leprosy first appears as nodules on your skin which grow larger and larger, until they force deep wrinkles all over your body. Then your lips, nose and ear lobes grow thicker, until your face begins to resemble an animal's. You get ulcerations everywhere, which cause your arms and legs to be horribly mutilated. You start losing your fingers and toes and as the disease continues to progress, you are left blinded.
As if the disease itself wasn't cruel enough, there was also the social ostracism. Even in the Bible, there were strict rules given for dealing with lepers (see Leviticus 13-14); their situation was even worse than what happens to many AIDS victims today.
Erskine White, Together in Christ, CSS Publishing Company
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The Old Farmer's Feelings
Perhaps you have heard the story of the old farmer who, with his wife, was celebrating fifty years of married life. Life on a farm can be tough; commitment is required. And you have to be frugal.
Their children gave them a party during which lots of friends congratulated the honored couple. They looked at old pictures, brought out old phonograph records. The fifty-year couple even danced a bit to the old, familiar music. When the party was over and all had gone home the happy couple found themselves alone. It was a tender moment. The old farmer, who was careful with his money and even more frugal with his words, felt moved to speak.
"You know, Ma, over these fifty years, sometimes I've loved you so much that I could hardly keep from telling you." She reached for a hankie, dabbed her eyes and said: "Thank ya', Pa."
Why are we so reluctant to let others know how we feel? Why are we so stingy and so slow to speak words that others long to hear, so private in saying things that cry out to be said?
Traditional
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Our Hearts Aren't Thankful Enough
The other day, I conducted an experiment. I was driving through town and I decided to take every opportunity I could to be a courteous driver. I would stop to let other cars make their turns and let pedestrians cross the street. I wanted to see how many people would say "thank you" for my little acts of kindness.
(By the way, I don't recommend that you do this experiment yourselves. If you start acting like a courteous driver and actually share the road with other people, the authorities might send you away for psychiatric observation. I can get away with it because I'm a minister and ministers are supposed to be nice to other people, but you might have a harder time explaining why you were driving so courteously.)
Anyway, how do you think my little experiment came out? Out of eleven people who benefited from my kindness on the road, only two nodded or waved to say "thank you." The rest kept on going, as if whatever I was doing for them didn't matter at all. I think most of us are like the nine lepers in the story, or the people I saw driving the other day. Our hearts aren't thankful enough. We don't say "thank you" often enough for the kindnesses, large and small, which are given to us every day.
Erskine White, Together in Christ, CSS Publishing Company
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Don’t Forget to Say Thank You!
When the great composer Henri Mancini turned sixty-five, his daughter, Felice, composed a little musical birthday card and sang it in tribute to her father. It goes like this:
“Sometimes - not often enough - we reflect upon the good things, and our thoughts always center around those we love. And I think about those people who mean so much to me; who, for so many years have made me so very happy. And I think about the times I have forgotten to say, ‘Thank You!’, and just how much I love them.”
So, before you rush off to see the priest; that is, before you become absorbed in trying to fulfill all of the expectations others have of you – including the church – take a moment to marvel at the beauty of God’s creation and bask in the warmth of God’s love, and be grateful.
Philip W. McClarty, Don't Forget to Say Thank You!
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Humor: A Hundred Dollar Word
Who is this man? He lived from 1865 to 1936. He was English, born in Bombay, India. He wrote poetry and is the author of books like Captains Courageous, How the Leopard Got His Spots, and the Jungle Books. If you guessed Rudyard Kipling then you were right. The now famous Jungle Book Stories have been made into a number of movie length films. Kipling’s writings not only made him famous but also brought him a fortune.
A newspaper reporter came up to him once and said, "Mr. Kipling, I just read that somebody calculated that the money you make from your writings amounts to over one hundred dollars a word." The reporter reached into his pocket and pulled out a one hundred-dollar bill and gave it to Kipling and said, "Here's a one hundred dollar note, Mr. Kipling. Now you give me one of your hundred dollar words."
Upon receipt of the money, Rudyard Kipling looked at the money, put it in his pocket and said, "Thanks!"
Vince Gerhardy, Dead Men Walking!
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Historical Background
There was open hostility among Jews and Samaritans in Jesus' day. Enmity had been brewing for centuries, and especially since the return of the exiles from Babylon in the sixth century B.C.E. Though it may be that by Jesus' day few remembered the stories of its origin, the hostility was mutually shared.
Believed by tradition to be the remnant of the lost tribes of Israel which disappeared after the fall of Samaria to Sargon II of Assyria in 722 B.C.E., the Samaritans had retained many of the traditions of their Hebrew heritage, including their version of the Pentateuch (the Torah) and festivals such as Passover. In 586 B.C.E. the Southern Kingdom, Judah, fell to the Babylonians and many of its leaders and people were carried into exile.
Upon the return of the exiles from Babylon in 538 B.C.E., the Samaritans offered their help in rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, a generous gesture that turned their back upon the loyalties of the earlier traditions of the Northern Kingdom and the ancient patriarchal tradition for worship at Shechem, the valley between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. Their offer was refused! Instantly there was hostility. The Samaritans countered by building their own rival temple on Gerizim, and by creating troublesome rumors about the exiles within the court of Cyrus, the Persian king. Though this Samaritan temple was destroyed by John Hyracnus in 128 B.C.E., the rivalry over these two sites raged on into Jesus' day.
Theodore F. Schneider, Until the King Comes, CSS Publishing Company
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Not One of Them Ever Thanked Me
Bishop Gerland Kennedy of California tells the true story of a shipwreck off the coast of Evanston, Ill, many years ago. The students of Northwestern University came to the rescue. One student, Edward Spenser, personally saved the lives of 17 persons that day. Years later, a reporter was writing a follow up story on the event and went to interview the now elderly Spenser. When asked what was the one thing that stood out in his mind about the incident; Spenser replied: “I remember that of the seventeen people I saved that day, not one of them ever thanked me.”
Staff, www.eSermons.com
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Have You Forgotten Something?
I can recall three rhetorical questions that accompanied me throughout my childhood. The first was, "Were you born in a barn?" That usually came when I left a door open, or didn't clean up my room.
The second was, "When will you ever grow up?" which was a question my sisters asked me as a carefully planned, relentless program of persecution.
The third one was, "Have you forgotten something?" That was the parental admonition, usually for not saying thank you after receiving some gift.
This last question is what I thought of when I read the New Testament lesson for this morning from Luke's gospel, the seventeenth chapter, the story of Jesus healing ten lepers. Only one comes back to give thanks. Ten were healed, but only the Samaritan came back. If my mother had been there, she would have said to the nine, "Have you forgotten something?"
Mark Trotter, How about Something Different?
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Religion Changes the Way We See the Facts
Rabbi Harold Kushner writes in his book, Who Needs God: "Religion is not primarily a set of beliefs, a collection of prayers or a series of rituals. Religion is first and foremost a way of seeing. It can't change the facts about the world we live in, but it can change the way we see those facts, and that in itself can often make a differences." [p.19 & 280-1]
I think that our text relates the typical pattern of God's activities throughout scriptures -- namely, God acts first. Then our proper response to God's actions is praise and thanksgiving -- to see God's hand in what has happened.
Brian Stoffregen, Exegetical Notes
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Boy Scouts Who Forgot Gratitude
I remember when I was in Cub Scouts a long long time ago we were having a meeting with parents in the basement of the church where we met. We had a speaker for some reason that night and I have no idea what he was talking about. But I do remember something that he did.
He had ten Tootsie Pop suckers and he asked who would like one. Well, if you know me you know I raised my hand. So ten of us went up and were each given a sucker and then we sat down feeling pretty special. That is until the speaker began talking again. He commented that no one said thank you when he gave them their sucker. And at that moment every one of us was embarrassed and ashamed (especially since our parents were there feeling embarrassed and ashamed too.) I have never forgotten that powerful object lesson.
t is very possible that this speaker got his idea from the story of the ten lepers. This text is a powerful object lesson. If you pay attention, it is a lesson that will stay with you the rest of your life.
Bruce Goettsche, Cultivating a Thankful Heart
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A Simple Word of Thanks
In the film The Remains of the Day, Anthony Hopkins plays a butler to a super-rich family. While researching this role, Mr. Hopkins interviewed a real-life butler. This butler told Hopkins that his goal in life is complete and total obsequiousness--a skilled ability to blend into the woodwork of any room like a mere fixture, on a par with table lamps and andirons. In fact, Anthony Hopkins said one sentence he will never forget is when this man said that you can sum up an excellent butler this way:
"The room seems emptier when he's in it."
The room seems emptier when he's in it. The goal is to do your work, fill your wine glasses, clear the plates and silverware without being noticed, much less thanked. But that's just the problem with routine ingratitude: it makes people disappear. You are the center of your own universe and others don't warrant entrée into that inner sanctum of yourself.
But a simple word of thanks makes people visible again, it humanizes them.
Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations
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Whole and Thankful
I grew up in a family which emphasized gratitude. Grace before meals, written thank you notes, hostess gifts, “please and thank you.” My mother raised us with the Bible in one hand and Emily Post’s Guide to Etiquette in the other. I have to admit there were days when Emily may have actually been the final authority, which makes one wonder why all four of mother’s kids landed in seminary rather than the diplomatic corps! Yet gratitude is at the heart of both gospel and good manners.
With a family full of clergy I sometimes am asked who gets to say grace at our reunions. Actually there is no jockeying for that role, no sibling-socking-it-out; we simply revert to our childhood blessing which we always said in unison at the family dinner table:
“We thank you God for happy hearts,
For rain and sunny weather;
We thank you God for this our food
And that we are together.”
We thank you God. It’s that simple. Yet for some reason as you and I whirl through busy and complicated lives, it’s not always that simple to get the words out. Our Gospel reading is perhaps an example. Ten lepers healed; we only hear of the gratitude of the one who turned back, praising God with a loud voice, fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, and gave thanks.
Linda Loving, Whole and Thankful, Holy Thankful
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One Hungry Beggar
D. T. Niles, the Indian theologian, once defined evangelism as "one hungry beggar telling another hungry beggar where to find bread." When we are grateful enough for the bread that we have received that we are willing to reach out to the lost and hurting and lonely and excluded ones around us, we will discover that we ourselves are being saved.
Larry R. Kalajainen, Extraordinary Faith for Ordinary Time, CSS Publishing Company
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Transactional Theology
Barbara Brown Taylor, a professor at Piedmont College and Columbia Seminary, in an article “Easter Preaching and the Lost Language of Salvation,” writes:
On the occasions when Jesus praises peoples’ faith, most Christians automatically assume that he means their faith in his divinity, which he then rewards by helping them out; but that is just another sorry example of transactional theology. According to this theology, if you believe the right things about Jesus, then he will help you. If you don’t, he won’t. I am not sure where this idea comes from, but in the first three gospels Jesus seems much more concerned with making people well than with making them believe in him. (p. 21)
Jesus does not proclaim himself, but the coming of God’s kingdom. The only thing people have to believe is that God can help them. In Luke’s gospel, when Jesus heals the ten lepers and the lone Samaritan among them comes back to say thanks, Jesus does not say, “Rise up and follow me.” He says, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” The faith that helps Jesus do his saving work; the faith that makes people well; is their full-bodied trust that God can act in their lives, both to forgive and to heal. (p. 22)
Barbara Brown Taylor, ‘Easter Preaching and the Lost Language of Salvation’, quoted by Don Fisher, Saving Faith
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Magic Words
When our grand-daughter Sarah was two years old, she was extremely active. She was always busy, always moving and always in a hurry… because at two years of age, she had already realized that there are so many exciting things to do and see and experience in this incredible world God has given us.
One day Sarah interrupted her play-time just long enough to run into the kitchen in search of a mid-afternoon snack. Hurriedly, she said to her mother: “Banana, Momma, Banana!”
Jodi, her mother, handed her a banana. Sarah quickly grabbed the banana and turned to rush back out of the kitchen. However, before she took very many steps, her mother said: “Sarah, come back. What are the magic words?” Sarah screeched to a halt, turned back around and said: “Please! Thank You! You’re Welcome! God Bless You! And I Love You, Mommy!”
At this point, Sarah got a second banana!... And a warm hug!
The magic words Sarah’s mother was looking for were “Thank you.” She got more than that… but those were the words she was looking for… because Sarah’s mother knows how important it is… for us to learn how to stop and say thanks.”
James W. Moore, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com
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Equipped for the Struggle
Daniel Aldridge used to be the Chancellor of the University of California at Irvine. In 1986, he gave a Commencement Address in which he talked about a graduate of Irvine who returned his diploma in the mail, with a letter saying he was returning his diploma because it hadn't enabled him to get a job.
Aldridge sent it back to him with a letter explaining what it means to be an adult and the meaning of a university. The purpose of a university is to help you become self-sufficient, to become concerned about and involved in society. A university is here to help you gain wisdom, morality, and maybe even, he concluded, the purpose of the university is "to equip you for the struggles of life, not to guarantee you victory."
Well, that's a model of faith as well. That's what faith enables us to do to continue the struggle, to keep on, to refuse to give up. Because, often we have to act in faith before the work of faith is actualized. As the lepers went their way they noticed they were healed.
Maxie Dunnam, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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A Thread of Grace
Recently I read a novel, which showed that people can see this truth even in dire circumstances. Mary Doria Russell’s A Thread of Grace tells the story of a group of Jewish refugees making their way to safety in Liguria, an area on Italy’s northeastern coast. What they did not know was that Mussolini had surrendered Italy to Hitler and Jews were now no longer safe even in Liguria. Terrible struggles take place as, in the death throes of WWII, Hitler’s officers attempt to bomb and capture Jews and those who are sheltering them. But the little known story of the war, told in this novel, is that some 40,000 Jews were protected from work camps and executions by these simple Italian peasants and priests, good people who selflessly sacrificed themselves to ease the suffering of others.
In a reflective passage towards the end of the novel, the rabbi who has lived through all the terror and travail, says, “There’s a saying in Hebrew, ‘No matter how dark the tapestry God weaves for us, there’s always a thread of grace.’ After the Yom Kippur war in ’43, people all over Italy helped us. Almost 50,000 Jews were hidden…. I keep asking myself, Why was it so different here? Why did Italians help when so many others turned away?” He shrugs and turns away. (New York: Random House, 2005, 421)
David Zersen, What Is Grace Calling You to Be?
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Continuing Gratitude
A friend began his ministry at little First Presbyterian Church in Aberdeen, Mississippi. His first year as pastor he was visited by three men inquiring about one of his members, a widow who lived by herself. Was she getting out? Were her friends in Aberdeen keeping in touch? Was there anything they needed to know? The three men explained the situation, gave him their cards—one lived in New Jersey, another in Oklahoma, the other in California—and he was told to call them if there was anything they could humanly do to make her life happier or easier.
These three men arrived each year bearing presents their wives had picked out in the shops of San Francisco and New York. The men had hired a family who mowed the woman’s yard, trimmed the bushes, and checked on tree branches and gutters. One of the men prepared the woman’s tax returns each year, another contracted repairs on her house or made them himself. Sometimes they helped her shop for a new car. They were meticulous in wanting to check on everything and anticipate every difficulty the woman might face.
Each year they visited the President of the Bank of Mississippi in Aberdeen—there was a regular turnover in young bank executives—passed out their cards, explained that he was to notify them of any worldly need this woman might have, and they explained to the Bank President the situation.
The situation was this: Sixty years ago the three men had been three soldiers standing on the ground floor of a house in Normandy just a few days after D-Day when a German potato masher grenade came bouncing down the stairs. A fourth soldier, the woman’s husband, threw himself on the grenade, absorbing most of its impact. The three men lived because of his death.
After the war was over in 1945 the three men began making their way to Aberdeen, Mississippi on a regular basis to make sure that this man’s widow would lack for nothing they had within their power to provide for her. They had been doing that for more than twenty-five years when my friend was pastor of First Presbyterian Church.
Isn’t that a remarkable story? I’ll tell you another remarkable thing: there were eighteen soldiers on the first floor of that house in Normandy. All eighteen of them were spared by the action of that one soldier’s leaping on a grenade, and after the war was over three of them made their regular pilgrimages to Aberdeen, Mississippi.
Three out of eighteen: that’s 16 2/3%. How difficult it is to imagine 100% gratitude.
What does it take for us to recognize that life is a gift, and the only possible human response is gratitude?
Patrick J. Willson, Deep Gratitude
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The Effect of Leprosy
Leprosy effect upon the body is devastating. Where it attacks it causes a loss of the sense of touch. That doesn't sound too bad but consider the implications. When you reach for the stove to pick up a frying pan that is hot you immediately drop it and put ice on the burn. You watch as your skin turns red and blister. Now, if you had leprosy you would grab the pan and feel nothing. You've lost your sense of touch. You carry the pan unaware of the damage it is doing to your hand. As you set the pan down and remove your hand several layers of your skin are left around the handle. But you feel nothing.
Philip Yancey in his great book, "Where Is God When It Hurts" tells the story of NBA basketball player Bob Gross. He insisted on playing in a key game despite a badly injured ankle. Knowing that Gross was an important part of the game, the team doctor injected Marcaine, a strong painkiller into three different places of his foot. Gross started the game, but after a few minutes, as he was battling for a rebound, a loud snap! could be heard throughout the arena. Gross, oblivious to the break, ran up and down the court twice more, then crumpled to the floor. He felt no pain, and yet a bone had broken in his ankle. By overriding pain's warning system with the anesthetic, the doctor had caused permanent damage and ended the basketball career of Bob Gross.
Leprosy has the same end result. It ends the life of the person it infects because it destroys the body’s ability to feel pain.
Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com, Yancy quote from Where Is God When It Hurts, p. 34.
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No One Should Carry a Burden Alone
Andrew Davison tells of visiting Dr. Albert Schweitzer, that great humanitarian, theologian, musician, physician and missionary at his jungle hospital at Lambarene, on the banks of Ogowe River. Schweitzer was eighty-five years old at the time. One event stands out in Davidson's mind.
It was about eleven in the morning. The equatorial sun was beating down mercilessly, and a group of visitors was walking up a hill with Dr. Schweitzer. Suddenly Schweitzer left the group and strode across the slope of the hill to a place where an African woman was struggling upward with a huge armload of wood for the cook fires. Davidson says he watched with both admiration and concern as the eighty-five-year old man took the entire load of wood and carried it on up the hill for the relieved woman.
When they all reached the top of the hill, one of the members of the group asked Dr. Schweitzer why he did things like that, implying that in that heat and at his age he should not. Albert Schweitzer, looking right at his guests and pointing to the woman, said simply, "No one should ever have to carry a burden like that alone."
King Duncan, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com
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Helping Others, Showing Gratitude
A man named John Canuso made a deal with God. His nine-year-old daughter, Babe, had just been diagnosed with leukemia, and as he knelt at her bed, he swore: "You save my kid, I'll dedicate my life." God did indeed save his daughter. Babe is now 26, married and the mother of a one-year-old boy, a child she thought she'd never have, after all the radiation and chemotherapy.
John kept his promise. John was a builder by trade. In 1974, the year his daughter became ill, he reached into his own pocket to renovate and furnish a rundown Philadelphia home that became the first Ronald McDonald House, a place where families could stay while their youngsters were being treated at Children's Hospital. John said, "Thank you, Lord. I'm glad you asked me to do something in my profession." Helping others was John's way of saying "thank you."
King Duncan, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com
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There Is No Superman
Just before takeoff on an airplane flight, the stewardess reminded Mohammed Ali to fasten his seatbelt. "Superman don't need no seatbelt," replied Ali.
"Superman don't need no airplane either," retorted the stewardess. Ali fastened his belt. I like that story for two reasons. One I admire the quick wit and response of the stewardess. Arrogant braggers need to be brought down to size.
Two, no matter who we are, none of us is self-sufficient. We can't make it on our own. There is no Superman. We better fasten our seatbelts. And one of the ways to do it is to practice gratitude.
Maxie Dunnam, Gratitude Takes Practice
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Humor: We're Getting a Divorce
An elderly man in Phoenix calls his son in New York and says, "I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; 45 years of misery is enough."
"Pop, what are you talking about?" the son screams.
"We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the old man says. "We're sick of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her." Then he hangs up.
Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. "Like heck they're getting divorced," she shouts, "I'll take care of this." She calls Phoenix immediately, and screams at the old man, "You are NOT getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back, and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?"
The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. "Okay," he says, "They're coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own fares."
www.Sermons.com
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Thankfulness Can Be a Matter of Perspective
How many of us have been jostled and crammed into a tiny airplane seat recently, only to lament delays caused by weather, extra fees demanded by the airlines for overweight bags, or the tiny bag of pretzels that have replaced meals on so many flights? It seems like the collective mood on airplanes is pretty grumpy these days.
But imagine what our ancestors just a few generations ago would have said if we could tell them about our ability to fly from city to city with such ease and frequency? Imagine trying to explain to a settler moving his family across the continent by wagon train that the trip could be done in a number of hours instead of months. Now think of the many citizens of this world who can not afford a luxury such as flight, who may not be able to freely visit family or do business across such vast distances.
Now think about the first time you looked out the window and saw the country sprawling out below you. Maybe it was nighttime and all the lights of the cities and towns were twinkling. Maybe it was daytime and you could see the hedgerows, highways, and the rivers delineating the landscape. Didn't you feel a sense of wonder? Don't you remember thinking, "Wow! That is unbelievable!"?
Along the way, many of us have lost the wonder of things like flying. We should try to keep things in perspective and remain thankful for the amazing things that we enjoy every day in our unbelievable present.
ChristianGlobe Illustrations Staff
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Let Us Show Thanks in Our Example
An international gathering of youth met for a full week to discuss how better to promulgate Christ's message to the world. Those assembled for the conference read many informative essays, heard many fine speakers, watched a few videos, and had ample time to discuss with each other. As the conference was beginning to break up and the those attending were packing to leave, a young woman from East Africa arose and said, "In my country when we hear that a pagan village is ready to accept the Gospel we don't send books, videos, a Bible or even an evangelist. Rather we send the best Christian family we can find because we have found that the example of a good family speaks louder and more clearly than all the books, speeches, and videos in the world."
The truly important things in life are generally the intangibles, like the way we present ourselves to others. The one that is often forgotten and undoubtedly the most important is our faith. It is only through faith that we come together as a community to give thanks to God this day. It is our faith in peoples, institutions, and ideas which allows our society to progress. As we gather around the dining room table and celebrate with family, friends, and loved ones, sharing the produce of the land, let us be mindful of the great gifts God has given us.
Richard Gribble, Sundays after Pentecost: Conversion to Christ
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For That I Am Especially Thankful
During a harvest festival in India, an old widow arrived at her church with an extraordinarily large offering of rice - far more than the poor woman could be expected to afford. The itinerant pastor of the church did not know the widow well. But he did know that she was very poor and so he asked her if she were making the offering in gratitude for some unusual blessing. "Yes," replied the woman. "My son was sick and I promised a large gift to God if he got well." "And your son has recovered?" asked the pastor. The widow paused. "No," she said. "He died last week. But I know that he is in God's care; for that I am especially thankful."
ChristianGlobe Illustrations
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Taking Our Blessings for Granted
A story is told of Abraham Lincoln. One day the President summoned to the White House a surgeon in the Army of the Cumberland from the state of Ohio. The major assumed that he was to be commended for some exceptional work. During the conversation Mr. Lincoln asked the major about his widowed mother. She is doing fine, he responded. How do you know asked Lincoln. You haven't written her. But she has written me. She thinks that you are dead and she is asking that a special effort be made to return your body. A that the Commander and Chief placed a pen in the young doctor's hand and ordered him to write a letter letting his mother know that he was alive and well.
Oh, the blessings that we take for granted. Oh, the wretchedness of ingratitude. It was Shakespeare who worded it more appropriately than ever we could. He wrote: Blow blow thou winter wind. Thou art not so unkind as man's ingratitude.
ChristianGlobe Illustrations
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God In the Ordinary
Once upon a time, there was a far-away land that was ruled by a vicious king. His iron hand reached into every corner of his subjects' lives. Every corner - except one. Try as he might, he couldn't destroy their belief in God.
In his frustration, he finally summoned his advisors and asked them: "Where can I hide God so the people will end up forgetting about him?"
One suggested hiding God on the dark side of the moon. This idea was debated, but was voted down because the advisors feared that their scientists would one day discover a way to travel into space travel and God would be discovered again.
Another suggested burying God in the deepest part of the ocean. But there was the same problem with this idea, so it was voted down.
One idea after another was suggested and debated and rejected. Until finally the oldest and wisest advisor had a flash of insight. "I know," he said, "why don't we hide God where no one will ever even think to look?" And he explained, "If we hide God in the ordinary events of people's everyday lives, they'll never find him!"
And so it was done. And they say people in that land are still looking for God - even today.
ChrstianGlobe Illustrations