My Pleasure

Rob Bruce

Lectionary Single Sermon • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

Luke 17:11–19

Thankfulness

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ENTRANCE

GATHERING & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Happy Thanks Giving!

Folks helping

Do not forget to make reservations

Questions

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Rob

OPENING PRAYER Liturgist

Lord of bounty and blessing, we come to you this day in gratitude for all that we have been given. We are grateful for the blessings and for the opportunities to be of service to others in your holy Name. Bless each of us here, that we may become truly blessings to others. For we ask this in Jesus’ Name. AMEN.

MUSIC 2 Songs

PROCLAMATION AND PRAISE

PASTORAL PRAYER Liturgist

God of infinite patience and power, how it must try your patience to watch us hurl ourselves into a season of greed and grumbling. Your blessings, your bounty, have been poured out to us that we may be strengthened to be your people in service to others. Yet we persist in attaching ourselves to the great “gimmies” of our world--“gimmie toys, gimmie wealth, gimmie power.” Today we have gathered here with an opportunity to step out of the race to possess, to praise you and thank you for the wonderful ways in which you have blessed our lives. We spend a lot of time looking for the big blessings, when all around us are the delightful blessings of everyday living--family, home, friends, the ability to enjoy laughter and share tears. There are so many ways in which you have touched our lives with your love. Help us develop for all of our lives an attitude of gratitude, never failing to thank you each day for your love and your blessings. Help us reach out to one another and to all those in need with this compassionate love. For we ask this in Jesus’ Name, AMEN.

THE LORDS PRAYER Liturgist

Scripture

Luke 17:11–19 NRSV

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 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?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING Rob

Bounteous God, you have lavished your finest gifts on each one of us. We thank you for the many ways in which you have blessed our lives--with love, hope, friends, our church, and so many other things that we cherish. Help us be a blessing for others--that they may come to know you and rejoice in your love. Give us hearts of courage and confidence to step out into the world in service, bringing hope where there is doubt, peace where there is strife, love where there is discord. These things we pray in Jesus’ Name, AMEN.

CHILDREN’S VIDEO

Introduction

The famous theologian Karl Barth commented that the basic human response to God is thanksgiving not fear and trembling, not guilt and dread, but thanksgiving. I think more people would come or stay in church if they knew that. Or heard it preached.

I ran across this quote,

“To practice thanksgiving intentionally changes an individual life, to be sure. It also changes the character of a congregation. When Christians practice thanksgiving, they come to worship not just to “get something out of it,” but to give thanks and praise to God. Stewardship is transformed from fundraising to the glad gratitude of joyful givers. The mission of the church changes from ethical duty to the work of grateful hands and hearts. Prayer includes not only our intercessions and supplications, but also our thanksgivings at the table.”

Thanksgiving, then, is an expression of faith, and that is exactly what is going on with this leper.

Exegesis/Application

We are going to look at this a little differently. Instead of focusing on the leper we will focus on how Jesus responds to the leper. We are going to explore the idea of saying thanks for thanks. That is we are going to see what Jesus can teach us about accepting thanks! It is often difficult for us to accept thanks from someone. It makes us a little uncomfortable. If humility is a virtue, then it is very difficult to accept praise from someone else because it might make us conceited or prideful. Yet, psychologists tell us that accepting thanks is very important for ours and others well being.

If we do not accept thanks that is devaluing the other’s feelings! People need their feelings affirmed. I have friends that have told me while growing up their parents would say things like, “that’s silly to feel that way” or something to that effect. When we are told something like that we feel like we are being disvalued, that we do not matter, that our feels are inconsequential. I see this happen in marriages a lot as well. One spouse will not affirm the feeling of the other.

Dr. Pat Lynch, a noted business consultant says we should embrace the role as benefactor. By doing this we do not devalue the gift given and the thanks received. Second, when we receive the expression of thanks it allows the person expressing thanks to reciprocate in a small measure for the benefactors act of kindness. She recommends when receiving thanks, let the other person express their thanks, and value what they have to say! Let them do all the talking and when they are finished say, “You’re welcome.” Or you could even say “thank you” thanking them for their thanks!

Let’s look at Jesus here. he does not down play the tenth leper’s coming to thank him. In fact,Jesus builds him up more! You see, if we have trouble receiving thanks, then suddenly the gift becomes all about us! But, in reality the gift is about the receiver and the thanks is about the receiver it is not about us! We should give thanks for their thanks. Jesus blesses this man for his thankfulness by giving him something the other 9 did not receive. Jesus says, ‘“get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” The greek word for well here can also mean saved! So not only was the man cured of his skin decease, he was made well, or whole, spirtually as well as physically, his faith has saved him. Jesus does not say to him, well that’s my job, I am the son of God. or no problem. He has thanks for the lepers thanks!

Jesus really makes a point of this when he says, “where are the other nine?” “Were not ten made clean?” Jesus is surely affirming this man’s gratitude and emotion. it is not about what Jesus did, it is about the gratitude the man is showing. On top of this, Jesus demonstrates inclusive love, by validating this Samaritan as a human being. A Samaritan, who was seen as the lowest of the low by most! The were considered ethnic mongrels and religious heretics by most of the Jews. The nine Jewish lepers do not return to give thinks, but the lowly Samaritan does.

So, how can we be more accepting of another’s thanks for what we have done? Well, I think we can learn something from Chic Fil A. I know, I kid a lot about how they say my pleasure when I say thank you, but I have to tell you they are on to something.

Fast Company had this to report, “At the end of each transaction at Chick-fil-A, you don't hear, "You're welcome," "Glad to help," or "Come back and see us." You hear these two words: "My pleasure." It's distinctive and classy, the sort of service you expect at a much fancier and expensive establishment, like Ritz Carlton, which is where Cathy says his father got the idea.

Cathy goes on to say in the article, “The main idea of "servant leadership," says Cathy, is that leaders serve the staff. Managers treat their employees how they want those employees, in turn, to treat customers. "If we have to keep telling people what to do, it means we're not modeling the behavior ourselves," says Cathy. "If we're living it every day, we don't need to talk about it."

When you do something for someone, you are serving them. When they recognize what you have done, we must value the way they feel. Jesus did it for this leper,. Can you imagine how he felt when Jesus sent him on his way. Not only was he cured of a skin disease, he had been made a whole human being once again. Yes thanksgiving is a sign of faith! We don’t know what tone Jesus uses as he questions the whereabouts of the other nine. Is he sad? angry? flabbergasted? What he does make clear is that this most unlikely one, this double outcast, has been embraced by grace. “Get up and go,” he says, “your faith has made you well.”

This faith was demonstrated in thanksgiving. We can ask does thanksgiving follow from faith? Or is thanksgiving itself an expression of faith? As one commentator says, “

If thanksgiving reveals humility of spirit and a sensitivity to the grace of God in one’s life, then is there any better measure of faith than wonder and thankfulness before what one perceives as unmerited expressions of love and kindness from God and from others?”

Don’t devalue another's expression of thanks for what you may have done in serving them. Recognize their emotion of gratitude and be grateful for it and affirm it. Join with me in pledging to never reply “no problem” again. But let us instead pledge to let them now how much their thanks is appreciated, because it is with pleasure that we serve them. And in the process, we both become more like Christ.

Thank you McEver Road you are unafraid, generous and faithful. I want to say thank you to my wife Sherry who loves me unconditionally. I want to say think you to my children who have grown into amazing adults and parents.

And in this time of uncertainty, polarization, and unrest I want to thank the one that is our creator, sustainer, and savior. The one in these turbulent times can even command the wind and the seas. Peace be still Jesus commands and it is so. Like the leper I kneel at his feet and thank him. I give thanks for Thanksgiving.

SENDING FORTH

BENEDICTION Liturgist

Beloved of God, place your whole trust in God’s absolute abundant love. Feel the powerful presence of God in your life and know that God’s blessings are with you. Go in peace, and may God’s peace always be with you. AMEN.