Preached by the Reverend Doctor Kathleen A. Bishop at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, November 26, 2006, at the 8:40 am service.
The Light of the Ages
Joel 2:23, 26-27
23“Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the Eternal, who has given you the autumn rains in righteousness, and who sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. 26You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of Almighty God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. 27Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Eternal your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be ashamed.”
The Light of a Teacher of Truth
I Asked for Wonder
Who is worthy to be present at the constant unfolding of time? Amidst the meditation of mountains, the humility of flowers — wiser than all alphabets — clouds that die constantly for the sake of His glory, we are hating, hunting, hurting. Suddenly we feel ashamed of our clashes and complaints in the face of the tacit glory in nature. It is so embarrassing to live! How strange we are in the world, and how presumptuous our doings! Only one response can maintain us: gratefulness for witnessing the wonder, for the gift of our unearned right to serve, to adore, and to fulfill. It is gratefulness which makes the soul great.
The Light of the Master Teacher
Luke 17:12-19
12-13Ten lepers, keeping their distance, approached Jesus: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14When he saw them, he said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean.
15One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, loudly praising God. 16This Samaritan fell down at Jesus’ feet, thanking him.
17“Weren’t ten made clean?” asked Jesus. “Where are the other nine? Is it only the foreigner who returns to give thanks to God?
19“Get up!” he told the man. “Be on your way! Your faith has made you well.”
An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day. Did any of you do that? Not me!! Erma Bombeck made this great observation. Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Halftimes take twelve minutes. This is not a coincidence.
Last Sunday we set aside just one evening to remember the victims of hate crimes at our Transgender Day of Remembrance. Last Thursday we had a Thanksgiving Service and a great dinner following that to give thanks for each other and for this church.
Did you know that the Pilgrims made seven times more graves than they made huts? Nevertheless they set aside a day of thanksgiving.
Some have said that the reason our country has been so prosperous is that we are one of only a few who set aside one day a year to give thanks for the good that we have and the good that we are about to receive. Meister Eckhart said, “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you’, that would suffice.” And it has sufficed for over 200 years for our country; now we need to make better use of it in our own lives!
Joseph Murphy writes about the “The Miracle of ‘Thank You’” and the “Value of Gratitude” in his book Your Infinite Power to be Rich. He writes, “You must remember that without the thankful heart you become dissatisfied and disgruntled regarding your present condition and circumstances. If you fix your attention on poverty, lack, loneliness, squalor, meanness, and the difficulties and problems of the world, your mind takes the form of all these things, based upon the law that that to which you give attention, you also experience.” (page 176)
But if we focus on Meister Eckhart’s prayer of “thank you” and do as Murphy suggests, “The grateful man continually and invariable expects the good things of life and his expectation inevitably takes material form. It is necessary and essential to adopt the habit of being grateful for all the good you receive; in other words, give thanks continually.” (page 177) Then guess what — good things will enter your life daily!
Murphy suggests that we take ten or fifteen minutes two or three times a day and sit down quietly and affirm boldly, “Thank you, Father, for thy riches now”, and to continue in that relaxed and peaceful manner until the feeling or mood of thankfulness dominates your mind. When fear thoughts come to your mind immediately say, “Thank you, Father”, as often as necessary. Know that if you keep up this grateful attitude you will soon have reconditioned your mind to the idea of health, wealth, and happiness as your birthright from our Father in heaven.
Notice, however, that the Thank You always comes before the good, not after it, and when it does your good will be permanent not transitory because it comes from God not from man.
I remind you of our scripture reading from Luke 17: 15 & 17 which said, “15One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, loudly praising God. 16This Samaritan fell down at Jesus’ feet, thanking him. “17Weren’t ten made clean?” asked Jesus. “Where are the other nine? Is it only the foreigner who returns to give thanks to God?”
As our scripture reading suggests, Jesus was a little upset when only one of the ten who were healed came back to say thank you. I would not be surprised if their healing did not last. But there were two women who 2,000 years after Jesus’ death did give thanks during a time of incredible need and they were given just a glimmer of peace.
Corrie ten Boom and her family worked in the Dutch underground. In 1944 they were arrested and put into the Ravensbruck concentration camp. She tells of the time she and her sister were forced to take off all their clothes during Nazi inspections at a death camp. Miss ten Boom stood in line feeling forsaken and defiled. Suddenly she remembered that Jesus had hung naked on the cross. Struck with wonder and worship during that seemingly forsaken moment, ten Boom leaned forward and whispered to her sister, ‘Betsie, they took His clothes, too.” Betsie gasped and said, “Oh, Corrie, and I never thanked him.”
Few of us have lived through this type of life experience and yet they did what most of us do not do in our times of need — give thanks! No, what most of us do is complain or cry or feel sorry for ourselves or get angry and lash out. But we would never think to give thanks to God or to Jesus.
Thanksgiving does not require bounty — just recognition of what God has already done for us…given us life, liberty, and the country in which we can pursue happiness.
John F. Kennedy said, “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” Being thankful and grateful is a way of life, a way that leads to wholeness, health, prosperity, and joy. Those who are grateful and thankful seem to be happier, and more fun to be around. They live a more balanced life, they are healthier in mind, body, and spirit, and they give us hope for a better world.
As it says in Psalm 95:2 “Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving.” And in I Thess. 5:18 it says “…in everything give thanks.”
If you want those around you to do better there is a simple recipe you can use: just mix together a pinch of praise, a tablespoon of thanks, and a grain of gratitude apply it to the problem, wait a few minutes and watch what happens.
It has been said, “Behavior that gets rewarded, gets repeated.” When we reward someone with praise, thanks, and gratitude they feel good about themselves, their job, and their relationship with you.
Thanksgiving is a time for us to look at the blessings we have received this year, to give thanks for them, and look toward others that will be coming to us in the future. W.T. Purkiser said, “Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”
The measure of our thanksgiving will grow and grow as we apply the recipe I have given you: mix together a pinch of praise, a tablespoon of thanks, and a grain of gratitude, apply it to the problem, wait a few minutes, and watch what happens.
And then Jesus will be looking down on you as the foreigner who came back and gave thanks to God.
And this is the Truth, as I know it…
