On behalf of myself and the pastoral staff, I would like to. wish you and your families a blessed and joyful Thanksgiving!

Transcription

1 Remembering to Say Thank You, Luke 17:11-19 On behalf of myself and the pastoral staff, I would like to wish you and your families a blessed and joyful Thanksgiving! I enjoy every aspect of Thanksgiving except the leftovers. Do you know what the definition of leftovers is? (Bits of food kept in the refrigerator until they are old enough to be thrown away.) Do you know what an optimist is? It s a person who has a 28-pound turkey for Thanksgiving and the next day asks, What s for lunch? Cartoonist Bill Keane just passed away at the age of 89, In one of his Family Circus cartoons, it s the day after Thanksgiving and Billy is looking at the table full of food as he says, We asked God to bless this last night! Being thankful is not always as easy as it sounds! All of our Scriptures this evening are about remembering because you see, 1

2 Thanksgiving is really about exercising our memory. In our Old Testament reading, Moses is addressing the Children of Israel after they have been freed from slavery in Egypt and have been wondering in the wilderness for 40 years. They are just about to enter the promised land. As you may recall, there had been plenty of grumbling and complaining. As they stand at the very edge of the promise land, about to see their new homeland, Moses fears that when the people arrive in the promise land, they will forget all that God has done for them. He says: For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey. (You get the picture) 2

3 But then he says: Remember, remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives this to you Moses is simply saying: As we enter this land, OPEN YOUR EYE S TO GOD S BLESSINGS. Remember from whom they came. Remember that all that we have, all that we are, and all that we will ever need, God provides! There is an old Chinese proverb that says: When you drink from the well, remember the spring. (repeat) Thanksgiving begins with remembering from whom it all comes. So often, I think we focus on what we don t have, that we fail to remember and recognize the blessings that are right under our noses. One day, a very wealthy father took his son on a trip to the country for the sole purpose of showing his son how it was to be poor. They spent a few days and nights on the farm of what 3

4 would be considered a very poor family. After they returned from the trip, the father asked his son how he liked staying at the farm. It was great, Dad! the son exclaimed. Surprised at his son s response, the father asked, Didn t you see how poor people can be? Oh, yeah, said the son. So what did you learn from our trip? asked the father. The son responded: I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond what we can see. We have servants who 4

5 serve us, but they have neighbors and they all serve each other. We buy our food at the store, but they grow theirs fresh. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them. Needless to say, the boy s father was speechless. Then his son added, It showed me how poor we are. Thanksgiving begins with opening our eyes to the blessings all around us and remembering from whom they all come. But there are times when it is tough to be thankful. All of us have gone through the deep waters of life often enough to know how hard it can be. It is hard to be thankful when you are sick. It is hard to be thankful when we don t get the job we had our heart set on. It is hard to be thankful when we lose someone we love. 5

6 Yet, in our second reading, St. Paul writes: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Notice he doesn t say, give thanks for all circumstances, but rather give thanks in all circumstances. In other words, Remember that you can find something to give thanks for in all situations. Think of the pilgrims that first Thanksgiving. Half their number had died, they were facing incredible hardship in a strange new land; but still they gathered to give thanks to God for his bountiful goodness. Paul was able to remind us to give thanks in all circumstances, because he knew, as we do, that whatever pain, suffering, or loss we are experiencing in our present situation, it is only temporary. We need to remember the words of Psalm 30: Weeping may remain for the night, but joy comes in the morning. 6

7 I know it has been a hard year or two for some among us Loved ones have been buried, jobs have been lost, families have fractured, the future may even seem overwhelming to us. Yet, Paul reminds us, that as we feast together tomorrow we should remember that we can still give thanks in the midst of some very difficult circumstances, because God is good he is a God of love and hope and promises new life. Finally, in our Gospel story, we find one of the most basic lessons in thanksgiving. Jesus had healed ten people of the most dreaded disease of his day leprosy. They were on their way to the temple to show themselves to the priest who could declare them well and restore them to a place in their community. Our gospel tells us that only one remembered to turn back and express his gratitude to God. He fell at Jesus feet and thanked him. 7

8 How many of the men do you think felt gratitude as they walked away from Jesus, completely healed of this horrid disease? I think they all must have felt some degree of gratitude. But only one remembered to come back and thank Jesus. The last verse of our gospel says: Jesus then looked down at the one man and said, you can get up now and go on your way. Your faith has made you well. Notice that the one leper who returned, received something special. In English, our words heal and save come from one Greek word, which means to make whole. The one man who returned to say thank you was healed in more than his body, He was healed in soul and spirit as well. You see, thankfulness, gratitude is meant to be expressed. It is an important part of what makes us healthy and whole people. Have you ever known anyone who was just a miserable 8

9 person to be around most of the time? Chances are, they are a person who does not know how to express gratitude. Remembering to return to God often to say thank you, to express gratitude, is a significant step toward wholeness. Thanksgiving is an exercise in memory. It is about Remembering to open your eyes to God s blessings. It is Remembering to give thanks even in difficult times. And Remembering to return to God often to say THANK YOU. Chuck Swindoll told the following story of a man he once visited in a dismal veterans hospital: The day I arrived to visit, I saw a touching scene. This man had a young son, and during his hospitalization he had made a little wooden truck for his little boy. At that time, children were not allowed into the ward. 9

10 So an orderly brought the gift down to the child, who was waiting in front of the hospital with his mother. The father was looking out of a 2nd floor window, watching as his son unwrapped the gift. The little boy opened it and his eyes got wide when he saw the wonderful little truck. He hugged it to his chest. Meanwhile, the father was walking back and forth, waving his arms in the window, trying to get his son s attention. The little boy put the truck down and reached up and hugged the orderly and thanked him for the truck. And all the while the frustrated father was going through these dramatic gestures, trying to say, It s me, son. I made the truck for you. I gave that to you. Look up here! Swindoll said, I could almost read his lips. Finally, the mother turned the boy s attention up to the 2nd 10

11 floor window. It was then the boy cried, Daddy! Oh, thank you! I miss you, Daddy! Come home, Daddy. Thank you for my truck. And the father stood in the window with tears pouring down his cheeks. How much like that child we are. May we remember to look up to look up to the heavens, and say thank you to God, not just tomorrow, but every day of our lives. Thanks be to God! Pastor Brent Campbell Thanksgiving Sermon, 2011 Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Madison, WI 11

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