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October 14, 2007

Fred Heard - October 14, 2007

Luke 17:11-19

It’s Thanksgiving—at least in this morning’s gospel. During bible study last Thursday most of our discussion centered on the idea that we should always remember to say thanks to God. Reality is that we do not. Are we more polite with our family and friends when it comes to saying thank you than we are with God? Did anyone ever fail to say thanks to you? How did it feel? The Trinity School children gave me a beautiful picture of St. Francis in my garden last Thursday. It truly is a magnificent photograph…but instantly they looked to me for my reaction and I smiled and said, “Thank you” several times. That is what they were looking for and they have been taught that they should expect that response.

In this morning’s gospel there is a story of ten lepers who were healed of leprosy and only one of them, a foreigner, remembered to thank Jesus. Lepers lose all feeling in their bodies. Their hands and faces are horribly disfigured. They cannot feel cuts or burns. In earlier times they wondered around in search of food. They begged for food and money. They were excluded from their own towns and homes. Only Christians were willing to care for them. The disease was very contagious and often the caregivers ended up getting it. They would often settle in with their former patients and there they would also die. There were no cures. Today there are very good drugs to treat this condition. In biblical times, lepers gathered around garbage dumps looking for food scraps. When they were in groups, they were required to shout “unclean” so people could keep away from them. So when this group of ten lepers heard that Jesus was coming to their area, they called out from a distance "Have mercy on us." There were times, according to the gospels when Jesus would touch and heal the leper. But in this case he told the ten men to go to the priests whose job it was to check and confirm that people did or did not have leprosy. As they went, they found that feeling had come back to their hands and feet, and they knew they had been healed. Nine of them went home.

One of them went back to Jesus and praised God with a loud voice. He fell at Jesus' feet and thanked him for saving him. Jesus asked "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?" Jews despised Samaritans for not being religious enough—pure enough—good enough—Godly enough. But this not-so-good man was the one who praised God—who praised God with a loud voice—who prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. The other nine were Jews, who should have known the Psalms of Thanksgiving. Like many people who are healed from dreaded conditions in our hospitals, they took the miracle of healing for granted and never thanked God for their healing. Jesus pointed out that the one man who gave thanks was a despised Samaritan.
Why does thanksgiving make us whole? If you think about it, faith which we discussed in last week’s sermon is being thankful to God. When you look at the beautiful leaves of fall or the flowers in the meadow, or a beautiful mountain or a stunning water fall, you can’t help but feel a sense of thankfulness and often we hear ourselves saying, “Thank you” to no one in particular. But you can't say thank you to chance, or to matter, or to energy. You can only say thank you to a person. And the Person you are thanking is God!" A very simple prayer is “Thank you God.”

During my political years, I spent a lot of time working with our prisons. I wrote the Oregon Community Corrections Act and founded Eastern Oregon Prison in Pendleton. I learned early on that the stability of a prison comes from those who are doing life terms for murder or others who will be in prison for 30 or 40 years. Once I had to go inside the walls representing the Legislature because they were about to riot and it was thought that I could reflect what we were doing in the Legislature. I met with the Lifer’s Club.—these are the meanest of the mean. But the prison is their home. They care about stability and do not want their home to burn down in a riot. They told me they had learned to live a fairly normal life because they know how to say, “thank you” and “excuse me.” I learned much the same thing when I did my Clinical Pastoral Education inside the Forensics Unit of the Oregon State Hospital. When “thank you” and “excuse me” are missing from the vocabulary—severe problems develop.

It is truly a bummer that our new rector has brain cancer. As we pray for him however, I wonder if we are thanking God for sending Mike and Julie, and Brendon and Kim to us. Obviously, this family is demonstrating on a daily basis what courage is all about and I find myself wondering if I could do the same thing if it was me. I wonder if we are thanking God for the leadership Mike has provided our parish with these new services and this new direction that is bringing new members through our doors each week? Much of what we have done since September 9 was long overdue. Many of us believe we were headed for some dark hole in the not too distant future. It took this man with the funny accent and great optimism to pull it off. The staff believes God was leading us in this direction. It took Mike’s vision and openness to pull it off. This man Father Mike is a very special priest and he is proudly our rector. 1 Thessalonians directs us to "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God." Thanksgiving makes us whole.

Thankful people look radiant. They are nice to have around. Grouchy, complaining people have a scowl on their faces and after a time it gets etched into the skin of their face. You can see across the street that they have a sour, crabby look.

I was at someone’s deathbed a couple of days ago and as I watched his wife she was filled with radiance, she was calm, she was rubbing his hand and his arm—she was a presence. She was telling me she is so thankful for his life and what he has done for his community and for her. I have watched his daughters as they walk their dad to the gates of heaven and they too are expressing great thankfulness for this good man and what he has done during his lifetime. He has made his mark. "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God."
Thanksgiving can become a way of life—and as I tell the children of Trinity School about prayer, it can be done at home or on the playground or in bed at night or in the office or while walking in the beautiful fall air. When we see someone we don’t like, think about something or someone you do like and be thankful. Smile to yourself and see what happens. In Alcoholics Anonymous we talk about “giving someone free rent in our head” and I guess I would add our heart.

Often when we are in a good mood and things are going well, we find it easy to give God thanks for this wonderful life. But where is God and where are you when things aren’t going so well? We might also think that it would be easy to thank God if we were healed of leprosy or cancer or some other horrible illness—but since we don’t have those health issues, we can thank God on another day. How is it possible to be thankful when our house burns down or a child dies, or we have financial reverses? In the middle of the crisis, you might have difficulty thanking God for anything. But see what happens if you begin thanking God even in the middle of the disasters in your life. You might have to force yourself—but do it. “Thank you God for seeing me through this mess.” “Thank you God for keeping my family whole.” “Thank you God for the sunshine today.” And this week, “Thank you God for the rain.” When we do this, we begin to change from the inside.

Thanksgiving is really free and so liberating. The alternative bitterness, anger, and grouchiness and complaining to all who will listen is not healthy for you or anyone else. Thanksgiving will turn you into a beautiful person.
Soon we will baptize a child and welcome with thanksgiving the newest member of our family to God’s table. We will follow that with our celebration of the Eucharist. Jesus took the bread and the wine and he gave thanks. The next day he would be condemned, tortured and hung on a cross. Jesus gave thanks…for this ministry that was to turn the world on its axis. In Greek Eucharist means to give thanks. As we take the bread and the wine, we are going to be thankful for all that God has given and provided for us.

Have you truly looked at your life and all that you have to be thankful for? Is there anyone that you could lift into a state of thanksgiving by simply saying thank you—I am glad you are in my life—I am thankful what you have done for me—I am a better person because you are in my life—Thank you for what you have given me or what about a special thank you to that teacher from long ago who made such a difference in your life? Is there someone at Trinity who deserves a word of thanks? People give time and money and effort to minister to the children of this congregation—to provide music—to take care of the buildings—to serve on committees. Could you bless someone here today by saying thank you?

Thanksgiving is the heart of our faith. It is the key to our wholeness as Christians. It is the heart of our church. Let us give thanks to God. AMEN

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