I Want To Be Thankful But...

Sermon-20 Pentecost Proper 23-Oct. 10, 2010
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”
Have I mentioned that I just returned from Scotland and France?
There were some moments that were so special on that trip, I was so often brought to tears. Going to Scotland there were 12 of us, and we arrived on two separate dates, and all walked up together at the same hotel at the same moment. I was so grateful, so relieved-but then I began thinking about where were we going to eat lunch.
A few days later we arrived in a little town of Melrose in southern Scotland, and there was a drum and bagpipe competition going on. We had just enough time to throw our luggage in our room and dash out to the street for the 15 or so bands who were competing to go marching by. It was exquisite, and I said a prayer to God thanking him for letting us see and experience this beautiful moment. And as I was watching and filming these wonderful bands going by, I realized that I needed a heavier sweater than the one I had on, and I was wondering if I had time to go back up to the room to get it.
Later in the trip we came to the top of the highest point on the walk, WideOpen Hill. It’s about 1207 feet up and it was kind of an arduous climb. We were standing at the top taking pictures, congratulating each other on how great we were, enjoying this amazing scenery. And I said a prayer thanking God for this great opportunity and the strength to get there, but then I had a blister that was starting and I was beginning to worry about the walk down.
Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"
“But the other nine, where are they?” I know where they were. They were showing themselves to the priest-like Jesus told them; or they were making plans for their new life-rejoining society and once again being part of a community. Or they were thinking about how they were going to earn a living, now that they no longer would be begging.
In other words, they were doing what all of us do when we are overwhelmed with thanksgiving and joy-they were thinking about the million and one things that will or might or could happen next.
Barbara Brown Taylor in her book The Preaching Life contrasts the actions and attitudes of the nine lepers with those of the one who returned.“Those nine presumably Jewish lepers were doing what they had been told, and they were trying in their own way to fulfill expectations and duties. "Ten were healed of their skin diseases, but only one was saved….Ten behaved like good lepers, good Jews; only one, a double loser, behaved like a man in love." She goes on to describe the difference, and to realize that "I know how to be obedient but I do not know how to be in love".
"I know how to be obedient but I do not know how to be in love".
Do you know how hard it is simply to give thanks? You may think you’re the only one who has trouble doing this, but how hard is it for us simply to savor some act, some event for very long at all, to take some moment, some experience that’s wonderful, and just be grateful for more than a minute? Remember the old Chevy Chase movie, National Lampoon’s Summer Vacation? He is taking his kids on their first real summer vacation, and they go to the Grand Canyon. They stare at this great wonder of the world, and after about 5 seconds he says, “well, that’s great, we have a lot to see-let’s go.”
These 10 people, 9 Jews and one non Jew would travel around in a group because it was safer. Because they were lonely, depressed and defeated. They had a disease that was slowly, painfully, killing them and they stayed with each other for support, protection, and help as they died. "The regulations of Numbers 5:2-3 specified that lepers should be put out of the camp. Leviticus 13:45 repeats that command and adds that lepers should wear torn clothes, let the hair of the head hang loose, and cry ‘Unclean, unclean’ when approached.” That’s a living death. And suddenly, out of nowhere, they were saved. Out of nowhere they were rescued and given their lives back-and in that moment they had to be overwhelmed. They must have ALL been so incredibly thankful. So where were the other 9? Why did only one come back to Jesus to give thanks? Why did only the Non-Jew, only the outsider, only” this foreigner”, as Jesus says, return to praise God?
It is hard to live a thankful life. I know. I struggle with this, regardless of the incredible blessings I have received. Why is it so difficult to be grateful? Why is it so hard to live a life of gratitude? Most Christians I know, will all say that they have been very blessed, that they are thankful for all that God has given them. I hear this all the time. I say this all the time. So why, why is it so much easier to be the 9 who walked away? The Rev. James Liggett, a priest in Midland , Texas, once wrote, “ No, the issue wasn’t gratitude. The issue wasn’t feeling good about Jesus or anything like that. The issue was that those who had received so much were running so hard in the wrong direction. They were so full of what they had received, of their gift, that there was just no room for the giver, the source of the gift. They weren’t ungrateful, they were just busy. That’s all; they were just terribly busy. There we are. There is our world. There is our life, in one small, bitter nutshell.”
Kate Huey, a United Church of Christ Commentator that I quote almost every week wrote this: “Sometimes it takes someone else, unexpected, to open our eyes to blessings and wonders in our lives. A person on the margins, on the outside, may have a better vantage point to look inside and see the heart of the matter. When has someone else, unexpectedly, helped you to see something important?” (Text for Preaching). Sometimes someone has to wake us up and say, “Life is different now, you’re alive, your life is a gift.”
It is not easy to live a life of thankfulness. There is a reason why 9 kept on walking. There is a reason why I seem to be able to stay grateful for only a few minutes at a time. There is a reason why we can go from incredible gratitude to worrying about everyday life so quickly. I think it’s because living thankfully is so hard, it takes so much work.
How many times have you come to church and been told to be thankful? 5? 10? 1000? How often, as a Christian, do you hear the message that we should have a grateful heart? You want to, you want to live thankfully, but life keeps getting in the way, right? WE FORGET. WE GET DISTRACTED. WE GET BUSY. BAD THINGS HAPPEN. Linda Loving, a Wisconsin priest said, “I believe gratitude is not so much a behavior as it is a grounding. Gratitude is not so much an act as an attitude, a frame of mind. Consider the words from First Thessalonians: “Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.: Give thanks in all circumstances. Not just when the leprosy is healed but also when you discover more chemo is needed. Not just when you exchange wedding vows but also when you exchange the damaging words of your first lovers’ quarrel. Not just when the unexpected promotion comes, but also when the unexpected layoff occurs. All circumstances. Giving thanks in all circumstances because God knows where we are. God knows how we feel. God knows our next breath. How extraordinary to be so known, so loved, so healed. I believe we are most whole when we hold our stance of gratitude in the world knowing we are held by the Holy.”
It is not easy living a grateful life. It is hard being thankful for very long. So if it’s so hard, why try? Why work so hard at a life of gratitude? For me, I guess it’s because I want to. Living like the 10th leper, the outsider, the one who turned and came back looks so much richer, so much fuller, so much more like life-than living like the 9 who kept going. I don’t care how hard it is, I want to be thankful in all things. I know how tempting it is to be distracted and preoccupied with life, but I want to live like one who knows how precious their life is. I know what it is to live an obedient life . Theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote: “Only they who give thanks for little things receive the big things. We prevent God from giving us the great spiritual gifts he has in store for us because we do not give thanks for daily gifts.” I want to live like the one who realizes that he has been given life-I want to live like the one whose faith has made them well.