Sermon

Living from “Thank you”

Scripture Text:

Luke 17:11-19, 2 Timothy 2:8-15

Sermon:

The word “Eucharist” comes from the Greek word for “thanks.” Some children and some adults say “thank you” when they receive the bread instead of “Amen.”  But I think “thank you” is on all of our hearts in some way when we gather to receive the bread and the wine.  The word Eucharist, or “thanksgiving,” comes from the thanks that Jesus gives to God, when he said the blessing over the food at that last meal he had with his friends. So, our Sunday worship is a long dinner party – with lots of readings, singing, prayers, and then just a tiny, sacred meal, a tiny serving that is meant to fill us and to feel like a feast!  Because it’s a meal that Jesus is hosting, it’s also a meal where we can be changed.  It’s a banquet, but it’s also a time to open ourselves to how Jesus might change us, heal us, or call us, this week.

Martin Luther, the great theologian who really got the wheels of the Protestant Reformation moving almost 500 years ago, when asked to describe what true worship looked like, said: the tenth leper, turning back.   Turning back to Jesus.  Turning back to say “thank you.”  Turning back to praise God.  But saying “thank you” was not a requirement Jesus had:  all ten lepers were healed.  When the other nine don’t say thank you, Jesus doesn’t take away their healing.  But there is something full and especially whole in the tenth leper, who turns back and is praising God in this “loud voice”!  The tenth leper is also a Samaritan – an unclean man who is also an outsider.  A man who was used to being treated badly, even by the other lepers.  A man who probably had a lot to complain about really.

I don’t know about you, but I think it’s easier to complain than to be thankful. First of all, it’s funnier – if we complain about how our life is going, sometimes we can get people to laugh.  Or talking about how stressed we are can be a relief!  Someone else can share with us how worried or frustrated we are; maybe even think we are a little bit important, because we have so much stress. Or we complain about other people, traffic, the weather, politics… Even when we don’t share our complaints, sometimes it’s our worries and fears that drive our inner thoughts and prayers, instead of gratitude or faith.

What kinds of thoughts shape your daily life? How could a spiritual discipline of gratitude change you?

Paul was a Christian who practiced gratitude.  You may have noticed that in his letters, he almost always starts by giving thanks, and almost always ends by greeting people.

Paul wrote many of his letters from prison; and we hear in his second letter to his friend Timothy that he is in chains.  Now, you could say that’s he’s complaining a bit here:  talking about being chained like a criminal, endurance, and even dying.  But the thing is, for all that Paul talks about his troubles – and his letters are full of him talking about his troubles, which part of why I like him – he talked about them, not to complain (and I don’t think to brag, either), but because he felt so strongly that he was doing God’s work, even in his suffering.  His suffering, his trials, his imprisonment, were a joy to him, because they meant he was serving Christ.  Paul says to Timothy, “Remember Jesus Christ.”  “This is my gospel,” he says.  Just those few words.

One of my favorite little paintings of Paul shows him in prison, with a pen in his hand and a letter in his lap, and he’s looking out the prison window, lost in thought, and his face is full of wonder.  Now, I don’t say this to say that we should all go seek out traumatic experiences or go to prison, but to say that it is possible to find joy and gratitude in any situation…  especially if we have set ourselves to the task of serving God and following in the way of Jesus.  Especially if we have made our spiritual discipline to be like Paul’s: to remember Jesus Christ and look for him around us.  To be like the tenth leper, and turn back to seek him.

A medieval mystic, Meister Eckhart, once wrote, “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.”  We’re taught to say thank you from the time we are very young: I have heard many young parents say to their children, “What do you say?”  (“Thank you!”)  And you know, it’s easy to say “thank you” but hard to really make gratitude a spiritual discipline.

And yet, we tend to set our thoughts to certain frequencies, and our thoughts get stuck there.  A blogger I like tells this story:

A friend told… about the first summer she spent as a waitress.

Several times, she had tables of people who seemed really nice, with whom she had a great rapport, for whom she went the extra mile, and she’d think, “Wow, I’m going to get a great tip!”

And she wouldn’t.

Other times, she had tables of people who seemed indifferent or grouchy, and she’d think, “Wow, they’re going to stiff me.”

And they’d leave a generous tip.

She mentioned this observation to her manager. He said, “You’re only surprised because you’ve just started waitressing. You’ll see, almost always, people tip whatever they usually tip. They don’t tip more or less based on you and what you do.”

We don’t tend to react to situations for what they are, we tend to react to situations  based on the habits of thought we have in our heads.  How can we change those habits?  I think making gratitude into a spiritual discipline is a powerful choice to make in a world where cynicism, scorn, and mockery are so common.

I think of the miraculous idea of the writer, Dan Savage, in response to the five gay teenagers who have taken their lives over the past month or so.  Now, this is a bit of a vulgar, cynical guy and not exactly my favorite, but he decided to start a project on the internet, on YouTube, called “It Gets Better.”  He is encouraging adult gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people to record videos explaining to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender teenagers that if they are struggling with suicidal thoughts, or being bullied or harassed in their schools or churches, that “it gets better.”  For so many kids, who are on the edge of despair, this is a glimmer of hope and gratitude for who they are.  Gratitude, instead of fear.

The writer, Anne Lamott, says her favorite morning prayer is: help me, help me, help me;  and her favorite evening prayer is: thank you, thank you, thank you.

What if like the tenth leper, who had many things he could’ve complained about, we turn ourselves around, and turn ourselves to God?

What if we look for ways to say “thank you” and praise God, instead of getting stuck in seeing what’s wrong?  If we search for ways to Remember Jesus Christ, as Paul says?

If we come to this table to thank God, but also to open ourselves to how God might change us through that “thank you”?

Amen.

Uploaded on October 10, 2010 in by RevHeidi

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