How Do You Say Thank You?

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

Stewardship 2 – 22 October 2017

Texts: Luke 17:11-19, 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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For today’s Gospel reading, we are taking a trip out of the Gospel of Matthew and over to the Gospel of Luke. The texts we’ve read today are actually those assigned for Thanksgiving Day. I re-appropriated them for today because of the connection between stewardship and thankfulness. More on that in a bit.

Today’s story about Jesus healing ten lepers is quintessential Luke. The gospel writer Luke was a physician, and so in his writing, there is often a focus on the healing work of Jesus. Today’s story of healing is a nice story on the surface, but underneath the surface are some important undercurrents.

The first is that we hear that Jesus is heading toward Jerusalem. He’s heading toward his own death, and he knows this, for by this point, he’s already predicted his death and his resurrection to his disciples.

He’s traveling between Samaria and Galilee – so right along the edges of what was considered safe territory for a Jew to be traveling. Which leads to another important undercurrent: that the Jews in Jesus’ time hated the Samaritans. So, not only is Jesus traveling near Samaria, but then, on his way, he heals these ten lepers, and we find out that at least one of them is a Samarian.

Not only that, but the good guy in the story is a Samarian. Remember the parable about the Good Samaritan? The good guy in that story is a Samaritan, too (another story that is only found in Luke). So it seems to me that Luke really wants us to understand that God does work in unexpected and mysterious ways.

What do you mean Jesus heals a Samaritan? What do you mean it’s the Samaritan who turns around and offers thanks and praise to God for his healing? Does God really accomplish such works in us, and…in others?

When you receive a gift or if someone does something nice for you, how do you say thank you? 

Do you ever forget to say thank you? 

There are different ways to show thankfulness when a person gives us something or does something nice for us. The trick is in the remembering – remembering to send that card or email or text. To say thank you takes our intentionality.

Likewise, there are different ways to show thankfulness to God, but here again, the trick is in the remembering. To say thank you, even to God, takes our intentionality.

How we take care of and use what God has given to us is one way in which we show intentionality. Beyond that, though, I’d say that generosity from a thankful heart takes intentionality – like Paul says in today’s lesson from 2 Corinthians: “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind…” and then he goes on to say that God loves cheerful givers. It is one thing to be generous; it is another to be cheerfully generous out of thankfulness for the gifts I have.

If I’m honest, Paul’s admonition about being a cheerful giver has always annoyed me a little, but that changed for me this past week. I was sitting in a drive-through line at Starbucks, and I wasn’t in such a good mood. I looked behind me and the person in that car looked like they were having a bad day. You know how you can just tell by looking?

As I sat there, this idea about being a cheerful giver came into my mind, and I realized that I could do something to try and improve the day of this person behind me, so when I got to the window I paid for their order. I don’t know if her day got better or not – it’s not like I asked her – but I know my mood was lifted because I was able to give something away. I also know that I was surprised that this verse came to my mind in that setting, and surprised at the cheerfulness that accompanied my giving.

There’ve been other times that I’ve been the recipient of that particular gift. I’ve gotten up to the window of the drive-through, and the person ahead of me has already paid for my order. Whenever that’s happened, my whole day has been transformed by the simple act of someone’s generosity. Perhaps you have seen or given or received similar generosity in your lifetime.

We are cheerful givers if we are cheerful recipients of the gifts we have. Cheerfulness doesn’t have to do with being perky and all smiles – rather, it’s an attitude of joy that comes from realizing that everything we have is from God, who loves us.

But Paul also lifts up the intentionality that is to be a part of our generosity. Today, you’re receiving pledge cards for 2018, and I’m not asking you to fill these out now – but I am asking you to take these home. Some people love using pledge cards, and others never use them. If you aren’t used to filling out a pledge card, that’s OK. Regardless, I invite you to use this as a tool as you pray about what your financial commitment to Our Redeemer will be next year. This is a tool for intentionality.

Next week is Reformation Sunday – a day upon which we will celebrate the reforming and renewing work God has done in the Church. Here at Our Redeemer, we will also collect these cards and the ministry commitment forms, and with thankful hearts, we will offer all of our commitments to God, the one who heals us and the one who loves us. God is the one to whom we offer our thanks and praise – and in so doing, we are just like that tenth leper who turned around to say thank you to Jesus.

Lastly, as your pastor, I want to say thank you. For your commitment to this congregation, whatever that may be.

Thank you for your witness to the love of God, and your faithfulness in living out the gospel. You are a blessing.

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My Soul Magnifies the Lord!

My soul magnifies the Lord!

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, Year B – 31 May 2015

Marks of Discipleship: Prayer

Text: Luke 1:39-57; Psalm 113:1

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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When I was a church musician and attended church music conferences, one of the opportunities available was signing up for a Master Class. So, if you were an organist, for example, and wanted to have some time at the keyboard with one of the Master Organist workshop presenters, that was your chance. It was a chance to learn from the masters – from those who’ve proven themselves to be fantastic performers at their craft.

I have a recording of a Master Keyboardist named Glenn Gould, and the recording is Mr. Gould playing Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Pretty early on after purchasing it, the more I listened to this recording, the more I believed that I was hearing something over the music. Like, a voice – an other-worldly voice, humming – one that certainly didn’t belong in a recording of piano music.

The more I’ve listened to this recording in my earbuds (rather than over speakers), the more I’ve realized that what I’m hearing is Mr. Gould himself humming along with what he’s playing. In one place, I can hear him ticking off some articulated notes with his tongue. What I am hearing is a master at work with his craft.

As we think about prayer – and learn about it as disciples of Jesus – we do well to learn from Master Pray-ers. Martin Luther was a Master Pray-er. A friend of his overheard Luther in prayer one day, and this was his observation: “Good God, what spirit, what faith was in his words! He prayed for things with such reverence-as befits God-and with such hope and faith that he seemed to be holding a conversation with a father or a friend…My soul was set on fire with such singular passion to hear him speak with God in such a friendly, serious, and reverent manner.”[1]

Martin Luther used the psalms a lot in his prayers. We believe the psalms were meant to be sung, originally, but if you read them, they are also prayers in addition to being songs – prayers for help, prayers for comfort, prayers for strength.

The psalms are full of all kinds of prayers, but they are also full of praise to God: for deliverance from danger, for God’s mercy and goodness, for God’s steadfast love and faithfulness. As we read or sing these psalms, we are listening to and singing words of Master Pray-ers from ages past.

We’ve spent time the last couple of weeks talking about praying according to God’s will, and how the Spirit guides our prayers and intercedes when we don’t know what to pray. However, our prayers are not always to be about asking God for something. Our prayers ought also to include praise of God – as an example, I give you our psalm today, Psalm 113, which at the beginning, says, “Give praise, you servants of the LORD; praise the name of the LORD.”

Throughout Scripture, we have the words of Master Pray-ers, like the prayer of Hannah in today’s Old Testament lesson. Or, as I said, in the Book of Psalms. Whenever we read the prayers contained in Scripture, we are listening, or overhearing what they prayed and how they prayed.

Today, we are remembering the Visitation of Mary, the Mother of our Lord, to her relative, Elizabeth. For some context: Mary has just found out that she is pregnant with Jesus, and she goes to visit Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist. As the women are greeting each other, the Spirit fills Elizabeth, who praises Mary for her willingness to be such a servant of God.

Mary responds with this wonderful prayer of praise – what we call the “Magnificat” because of how the first phrase of her prayer appears in Latin. “My soul magnifies the Lord,” Mary says, “and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior…” and then, she goes on to praise God for all God’s mighty deeds: God’s favor to her, God’s mercy, and God’s faithfulness to the lowliest people in society.

In the Magnificat, we are hearing the words of a Master Pray-er, and how she praises God. Mary lifts up God’s character. God’s character that is unchanged by the two thousand years that have passed from her lifetime to ours. Mary praises God for God’s on-going care for those who are often neglected, and she praises God for sending the child that she is carrying in her womb – the child she realizes will be the Savior of all humankind.

We are certainly called to pray to God, offering God our prayers for healing or peace or whatever else may be on our hearts. But – just like the prayers we read from the Master Pray-ers - our prayers should also be filled with our words of praise: for God’s great love for us, for God’s faithfulness and steadfastness, and for God’s provision.

I gave you a prayer challenge last week, to pray for people around you and also to work your way through the prayer list. This week, I challenge you to make a list – either in writing or not – of everything for which you are grateful. And then, spend some time giving thanks and praise to God. If you need an example to guide you, I suggest you turn to the psalms. The last five psalms, especially, are full of praises.

“Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good!”[2]

Amen.

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[1] Quoted by Timothy Wengert in Martin Luther’s Catechisms: Forming the Faith, Fortress Press, pp. 69-70.

[2] Psalm 135:3

"Now, What Do You Say...?"

C Lectionary 28 – October 13, 2013

Text: Luke 17:11-19 – Healing of Ten Lepers

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Grace and peace to you, from God our Father, and the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

On Wednesday morning this past week, I found myself feeling very melancholy. I had no good reason to feel that way: it was a beautiful Fall morning; the allergies I’d been fighting were finally less oppressive; and I was looking forward to our Pet Blessing that evening. Yet, for whatever reason, melancholy set in.

During some time of prayer and Bible reading that morning, I pressed into the melancholy some, using this verse from Psalm 42 as my guide: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?”

Apparently the psalmist knew melancholy, too!

I then wrote two lists. The first list was the stuff that was hanging over my head, weighing me down. Getting it out on paper helped me to pray about it more clearly, and – lo and behold! – it all got lighter. It was still there, but it didn’t weigh so much. I felt the melancholy beginning to lift.

After some prayer, I started the second list - what I was grateful for, in that moment. Things like: Steve, Max, our home, the upcoming Animal Blessing, the arrival of Fall, and on and on. I found that giving thanks was easier than I thought it would be, given my earlier mood. My perspective had changed somewhere along the way, and I was able to turn to God in prayer, but also turn to him in deep gratitude. The melancholy was gone by now, cast away by my thoughts, prayers, and words of thanksgiving.

Our gospel lesson today from Luke 17 about the ten lepers healed by Jesus is an extraordinary story. Our term, “leprosy” covers a host of skin diseases – so when we hear that someone was a leper, we don’t know exactly what was ailing them. Whatever the case, people suffering from skin diseases were outcasts for the duration of their illness – they were required to be quarantined from others. Not until the priests checked them over were they allowed to return to their regular lives. Often, in their exile, they formed communities for themselves, fulfilling the adage that “misery loves company.”

So, Jesus is on the road, and he encounters these ten lepers, who cry out to him for mercy. He hears their cries and tells them to go and show themselves to the priests, and – just like that – they’re healed. And nine of them go off, presumably obeying Jesus’ instructions to see the priests and be restored to their normal lives.

And then we hear of this one fellow.

We don’t know much about this fellow. We don’t know if he had been a leper for ten days, ten weeks, ten months, or ten years. We do know that for however long he was deemed “unclean” by the priests, he had been cut off from his family members, friends, religious community, and society at large.

So this one fellow out of the ten realizes he is healed, he realizes that a miracle has been done, and then – he realizes that he has some unfinished business. It’s almost as if his mom or dad is standing there with him, saying what parents often say to their children when someone has given them something: “Now, what do you say?”

The text says that this one fellow turns back to Jesus, full of praise and thanksgiving. What’s remarkable to me is that this one who has been separated from society – for ten days, ten weeks, ten months, or ten years – he doesn’t dwell on that. He doesn’t sit around and complain about the time he lost. He’s too full of thankfulness!

And then Luke gives us this extra bit of information: “He was a Samaritan.”[1]

Why this added note? Well, Luke is giving us another example of the wideness of God’s mercy. Think of a person or a group that you find difficult to love; a person or group that you cannot stand; a person or group that you mistrust with everything in you.

To the Jews, those were the Samaritans. There was such animosity between these two groups that in healing a Samaritan, Jesus was crossing difficult and painful cultural boundaries. Then to have a Samaritan come back and thank Jesus? Ludicrous.

And yet, he does. This is a story, then, about the wideness of God’s mercy extending even to those we don’t expect – and a story about those we don’t expect giving thanks and praise to God.

In turning back to Jesus, this one leper hears Jesus say to him that he has been made well – other translations say that he was “saved.” Now, all ten of them were cleansed of their skin ailments, but only this one was “made well.” It would seem that only this one experienced the deep joy that comes when we are deeply grateful.

For when we are deeply grateful, we find it difficult to be anxious; we find it difficult to find fault in others; we find it difficult to feel melancholy. When we are deeply grateful, as this one leper was, we find that our hearts overflow with thanks and praise to God, the giver of all good gifts.

Being thankful takes some intentionality. That leper - once he realized what had happened to him - he then had to turn around and go back to Jesus in order to thank him personally. In order to be thankful, we must first realize what gifts we have been given, and then we must turn from whatever is holding our focus in the moment: be it fear, or bitterness, or jealousy, or complacency, and, turning back to Jesus, we offer our thanks and praise to God.

“O give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever.”[2]

Amen.

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[1] Luke 17:16

[2] Psalm 136:3