A Place for you to be Found

Rev. Harriette Cross First United Methodist Church of Wilmington September 15, 2019 Luke 15:1-10 Year C Children’s Time….. "'Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?' " Theme: Separation from God; children of God. Visual Aid: A cardboard box containing lost and found items (perhaps a sweater or cap, a pencil, a comb, and so forth). "How many of you have ever heard of a lost and found box, at your school or daycare center?" Several children raise their hands. "Have any of you ever lost anything and then found it again?" Again, several children raise their hands. One of the more outspoken ones says, "I lost my blanket once; it took two days to find it!" I suspect there is an interesting story here, but rather than get into unknown territory I just tell him I'm glad he found it after it was lost. "It's difficult to lose something you really care about, isn't it -- especially if you don't ever find it again. When I was your age, the whole idea of a 'lost and found' box just didn't make any sense to me. Obviously if something was lost, it was lost; if something was found, it was found. How could something be both lost and found? "Finally it dawned on me one day that in order to be found and get taken to the 'lost and found' box, an item first had to be lost by someone else. And since the person who lost it didn't know it had been found, it was still lost. Then the combination of 'lost and found' at last began to make sense. "Have any of you ever gotten lost in a department store or a grocery store?" Once again, several hands go up. Acknowledging their responses with a nod, I continue. "It's a frightening experience, isn't it? I used to be afraid that I might get lost like that when I was your age. I knew if I did, someone would eventually take me to the store's office. Then the store manager would use a microphone to ask in a loud voice, throughout the store, 'Would Kathleen's parents please come to the office. We have your child.' I did NOT want that to happen, so I was careful not to let my parents get away from me whenever we went shopping. Besides, if I did get lost and taken to the manager's office, what guarantee did I have that my parents would even know how to find the office? And if they couldn't find it, I'd really be stuck! It was better not to get lost in the first place. "You know, sometimes people get lost from God, just like in the store. At first I thought, 'God doesn't have a lost and found box to look in. And God doesn't have a store manager either.' Can't you just hear the announcement? 'Would God please come to the office? We have your child.' "However, I was talking with a friend the other day about these ideas and she said, 'But God DOES have store managers, lots of them!' She pointed out that every time any one of us knows of a friend who is hurting and feeling alone and we ask God in our prayers to be with that person, we are, in effect, doing the same thing the store manager would have done. We are saying, 'God, my friend is feeling lost and needing you right now. Won't you please come be with my friend?' "Well, eventually I did get lost in a store -- but it was only a couple of years ago." The children greet this confession with looks of surprise. "That's right!" I assure them. "I was an adult! I had been shopping with my husband and we had gotten separated. I really didn't want to go to the manager and hear the announcement: 'Would Mr. Fannin please come to the office. We have your wife!' "While I was looking for my husband, it occurred to me that he was probably looking for me too. Therefore, it would make more sense if I just stopped where I was and waited for him to find me. I did; he did. "I think sometimes our relationship with God is like my experience in the store. Something catches our attention and we wander away; often we don't know how to find our way back. But we are all children of God, and we need to remember that God is searching for us just as we are searching for God. Sometimes all we have to do is stand still and stop looking long enough to be found." CSS Publishing Company, Inc, Cows In Church, by B. Kathleen Fannin Luke 15:1-10 Common English Bible (CEB) Occasions for celebration 15 All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. 2 The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose someone among you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them. Wouldn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the pasture and search for the lost one until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he is thrilled and places it on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes both heart and life than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to change their hearts and lives. 8 “Or what woman, if she owns ten silver coins and loses one of them, won’t light a lamp and sweep the house, searching her home carefully until she finds it? 9 When she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, joy breaks out in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who changes both heart and life.” Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Stewardship moment We have the opportunity to join with God in providing for the poor and the oppressed. Our Gifts carry God’s mercy to people who don’t know God’s love in their life in any way. Because we have been blessed by you O God, We are delighted to share. Because there are many who do not enjoy your bounty, we search for ways to help them. Thank you for showing us how to give. As we give let us celebrate with you in helping others find their way. Sermon……… Many years ago a friend of mine who was a high school teacher went to the nearby city for a Saturday shopping trip. She and her young son, who was about 4, were in Woolco and they became separated. By the time she discovered that he was not where he was supposed to be an announcement came over the loud speaker - it was his voice - he gave his name and where he was from (though not exactly as an adult would pronounce the names) My name is ............. and I’m from ............. (adult translation My name is ............ and I’m from .................) for privacy reasons the names have been removed from the internet version and then said, “My mother is lost”. Well, by the time she arrived at customer service to collect him, every colleague from her school was there waiting for her and laughing. Seems that everyone from ............... went to Woolco to shop on Saturdays (I shopped there too, except I went on Mondays!) “My mother is lost” - as far as the little boy was concerned, that was the truth. His mother had wandered off and left him all alone in the aisle with the cars and trucks. All of us are familiar with the feeling of losing something or someone in our lives. All of us are familiar with the feeling of finding something or someone in our lives. I think losing something is one of the hardest things for me to do. Whenever I lose something, there is this urge to replace it, I don’t want to feel the emptiness of doing with it. I am learning to deal with it, sometimes you cant replace every single thing that you lose. Luke is actually the only person who reports these three stories of lost things. I think Mark or Matthew reports two of these stories. But Luke 15 is a story of a shepherd losing a sheep, a woman losing a coin, and a father losing a son. Apparently God hates to lose things also, because Jesus uses these stories to tell about God’s love for us. God always loves us, sometimes some of us, as a matter of fact, all of us get lost in the store by ourselves and we lose our way. Jesus wants us to know that is the whole purpose of Jesus mission here on earth. God feels a sense of emptiness when we are not close to him in relationship, and Jesus came to bring us closer to God. Life is a story of being lost and getting found. It is a story of grumbling in emptiness and celebrating when found, it is a story of feeling empty and then rejoicing. We all have a place in that story. But I think just like to little boy in the first story, sometimes, especially in the church we may be a little confused about where we fit in in the story. Are we the one who is lost, or are we the one who lost something. I wasn’t going to use this story, but it makes a wonderful point. What the World Expects of the Church On a cold, dreary December evening, several hundred people gathered at a large downtown church in Winston-Salem to celebrate the Christmas season. I had gone down a long hallway to help a small boy who was pushing against massive oak doors trying to get outside. The boy appeared to be about 2 years old. He was crying as if his heart would break. I picked him up, thinking he belonged to someone at one of the Christmas parties. Investigation, however, revealed nothing. I rushed outside and spotted an old-model car speeding away in the darkness. Gradually, it began to dawn on me that the child had been abandoned. I made a few calls, and soon the church was filled with people wanting to help in any way they could. Within moments, the local TV stations interrupted their usual programs to ask if anyone knew the identity of the little boy. The next morning, one of the city's newspapers had the child's picture on the front page. Under the picture there was an article describing the events of the evening before. The reporter began his story with this striking line: "Someone trusted the church last night, and the church came through!" It will be a long, long time before I can forget that newspaper headline. So much of the world's future depends on the faithfulness of the "People of God" to the "Great Commission." There is a deep hunger across our land as countless people grope for answers to the deepest questions of the human spirit. The message of Christ speaks to these questions, bringing hope and light to people who now stumble in the dark and live in despair. Our world will be changed as the hearts of people are changed. Evangelism is no longer an option for the church. It is essential to the survival of our world. The line in that Winston-Salem newspaper is a haunting reminder of what the world expects of the church. "Someone trusted the church last night, and the church came through!" May that always be true! Bishop Ernest Fitzgerald, "Someone Trusted the Church," Michigan ChristianAdvocate, May 5, 1997, p. 8. Unfortunately, sometimes in the church, we get convinced that we are the ones who find everyone, and that everyone else in the world that is lost. We know everything about Christ and it is our job to find everyone else. We become like the pharisees that Jesus would have been telling this story to. Even we in the church get lost sometimes. As a matter of fact we are like this little boy. Which Color Would You Be? Ralph Milton tells of the teacher who, for reasons of her own, asked the kids one day, "If all the bad children were painted red and all the good children were painted green, which color would you be?" Think about it. What color would you be? Red or Green? It is a tough question isn't it when you pose only two options. One very wise child answered the teacher: "Striped" The reason I am going on about this point is simple. It seems to me that in the frame of the story - everyone but Jesus is striped. It is the same in the world today. We are a curious combination of the lost and the found. We are striped. We are, in some sense, not completely complete. It is hard language, this language of lost and found, especially for folks in the middle, as most of us are most of the time. It seems too absolute. Rarely are we completely lost. And rarely are we completely found. There is always a part of us that needs to be dragged and cajoled into the light, and there is always a part of us that is already there in the light. For some it is more and for some it is less, but always some part. The wonderful thing is - that God wants us to enter fully into the light. The wonderful thing is that God wants to bless us all richly to keep us safe, to make us strong, to help us be like a Shepherd who really cares for his sheep, or like a poor widow who really values all her coins. Richard Fairchild, Seeking the Lost When I went to visit the Vatican, I took a tour of St. Peter’s Basilica. Even though it is the center of the Catholic Church, there is also a worshipping congregation in the building. The sanctuary as you can imagine is huge and has a lot of history. I don’t remember all of the technical terms of the parts of the sanctuary. I think it is over the altar, there are these four huge post in a square with a dome over it. I want to say there is a fence the connects the post, and there is a opening in the front for one person to come and kneel and pray. As each of us kneeled in that open space, the tour guide encouraged us to look at the fence and to notice that there were 99 candles on the fence surrounding us. The 99 candles represented the sheep in this story who were found, and as we kneeled next to the candles, we were the hundredth sheep that the shepherd has found – welcome home. At some point in each of our lives – Jesus says to each of us – welcome home. I have been looking for you all of this time, I am so glad that you returned to the fold. We are all sinners, Jesus welcomes us all home. Create Him Not The love of God is indescribable but a old Jewish legend does a pretty good job. It describes what happened when God created man. The legend says God took into counsel the Angels that stood about his throne. The Angel of Justice said; 'Create him not … for if you do he will commit all kinds of wickedness against his fellow man; he will be hard and cruel and dishonest and unrighteous.' The Angel of Truth said, 'Create him not … for he will be false and deceitful to his brother and even to Thee.' The Angel of Holiness stood and said; 'Create him not … he will follow that which is impure in your sight, and dishonor you to your face.' Then stepped forward the Angel of Mercy, God's most beloved, angel, and said; 'Create him, our Heavenly Father, for when he sins and turns from the path of right and truth and holiness I will take him tenderly by the hand, and speak loving words to him, and then lead him back to you.' Brett Blair, Sermons.com There is just one more thing that I want to point out about this story of being lost and being found. First of all the first two stories, of the sheep and the coin, neither intentionally ran away, and neither of them did anything to get found. Jesus did all of the work. But the other thing in common in all of these stories is that these were not lone items. The shepherd had 99 other sheep, he could have done without the 100th one. The woman has 11 other coins, if she lost one she would not have been totally broke. Even the father has two sons, one who was very faithful. But they could not deal with the emptiness of losing something. The Paradox of Christian Life There's a strange paradox about the Christian life. Often, it's more about being lost than found. It's more about feeling incomplete than whole. It's more about feeling excluded than included, because many of us live in those places most of the time. But that's why we need redemption. That's why conversion is at the heart of who we are, because we all get lost in the desert, even when we're part of the fold. And we all need someone out there, willing to go looking for us. We're always in the process of trying to turn back, to find our way home again. And it's a struggle. But it's a joyful struggle, because repentance is a joyous activity. It's the endless way that we turn back toward the truth and wholeness. How great is that? And life becomes this process of shouldering one another, of walking each other home. And sometimes we're the carrier, and sometimes we're being carried. But all the time, it's a movement toward wholeness, toward being included again, toward being under one roof again. A sheep. A coin. Two sons. Us. And what joy at being found. Edward Beck, The Joy of Being Lost and Found Finding that one, made the situation whole and complete. That missing son coming home meant that they could be family again. We are found in the spirit of God – God is happy, but we are whole and complete. And that is ultimately all that God wants for us – is wholeness in mind, body and spirit and even in the community of the church. May we all live in the wholeness and wellbeing of God! Let us pray. Amen. Additional illustrations…….. God Loves Me There is a wonderful story about Maya Angelou. She was an active member of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco before her death. She wrote that when she first came to San Francisco as a young woman she became sophisticated. She said that was what you were supposed to do when you go to San Francisco, you become sophisticated. And for that reason she said she became agnostic. She thought the two went together. She said that it wasn't that she stopped believing in God, just that God no longer frequented the neighborhoods that she frequented. She was taking voice lessons at the time. Her teacher gave her an exercise where she was to read out of some religious pamphlet. The reading ended with these words: "God loves me." She finished the reading, put the pamphlet down. The teacher said, "I want you to read that last sentence again." So she picked it up, read it again, this time somewhat sarcastically, then put it down again. The teacher said, "Read it again." She read it again. Then she described what happened. "After about the seventh repetition I began to sense there might be some truth in this statement. That there was a possibility that God really loves me, Maya Angelou. I suddenly began to cry at the grandness of it all. I knew if God loved me, I could do wonderful things. I could do great things. I could learn anything. I could achieve anything. For what could stand against me with God, since one person, any person, with God form a majority now." Mark Trotter, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com The Church Is No Place for Joy In church the other Sunday I was intent on a small child who was turning around smiling at everyone. He wasn't gurgling, spitting, humming, kicking, tearing the hymnals, or rummaging through his mother's handbag. He was just smiling. Finally, his mother jerked him about and in a stage whisper that could be heard in a little theater off Broadway said, "Stop grinning! You're in a church!" With that, she gave him a belt on his hind side and as the tears rolled down his cheeks added, "that's better," and returned to her prayers. I wanted to grab this child with the tear-stained face close to me and tell him about my God. The happy God. The smiling God, the God who had to have a sense of humor to have created the likes of us. Erma Bombeck Create Him Not The love of God is indescribable but a old Jewish legend does a pretty good job. It describes what happened when God created man. The legend says God took into counsel the Angels that stood about his throne. The Angel of Justice said; 'Create him not … for if you do he will commit all kinds of wickedness against his fellow man; he will be hard and cruel and dishonest and unrighteous.' The Angel of Truth said, 'Create him not … for he will be false and deceitful to his brother and even to Thee.' The Angel of Holiness stood and said; 'Create him not … he will follow that which is impure in your sight, and dishonor you to your face.' Then stepped forward the Angel of Mercy, God's most beloved, angel, and said; 'Create him, our Heavenly Father, for when he sins and turns from the path of right and truth and holiness I will take him tenderly by the hand, and speak loving words to him, and then lead him back to you.' Brett Blair, Sermons.com Unconditional Love What is your view of God? The scowling judge waiting to convict you? The disapproving parent whose love you have to earn? Your view of God affects every decision and relationship in your life. Kathleen Chesto wrote to Catholic Digest to tell them about an incident that occurred in her family. Her five-year-old child approached her one day in the kitchen and asked, "Mom, is God a grown-up or a parent?" Mom was a little puzzled by the question. "I'm not sure what you mean," she said. "Is there a difference between a grown-up and a parent?" "Oh yes," her five-year-old answered quickly. "Grown-ups love you when you are good and parents love you anyway." I know this sounds trite to some of you, but have you ever really come to appreciate the wonder of God's unconditional love? I dare say that there are some people in this room who don't really believe in unconditional love. You have never received it, and you have never given it. Some of you are still trying to earn your way to heaven. And you are expecting others to earn their way as well. Relax, my friend, and let God love you. Jesus is trying to tell us in this parable that God's love doesn't depend on our goodness; it depends on God's character. Here is this truth expressed in I John 4: 10, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." King Duncan, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com From Table Manners So if I were putting together a sinners table at the Huddle House, it might include an abortion doctor, a child molester, an arms dealer, a garbage collector, a young man with AIDS, a Laotian chicken plucker, a teenage crack addict, and an unmarried woman on welfare with five children by three different fathers. Did I miss anyone? Don’t forget to put Jesus at the head of the table, asking the young man to hand him a roll, please, and offering the doctor a second cup of coffee before she goes back to work. If that offends you even a little, then you are almost ready for what happens next. Because what happens next is that the local ministerial association comes into the restaurant and sits down at a large table across from the sinners. The religious authorities all have good teeth and there is no dirt under their fingernails. When their food comes, they hold hands to pray. They are all perfectly nice people, but they can hardly eat their hamburger steaks for staring at the strange crowd in the far booth. The chicken plucker is still wearing her white hair net, and the garbage collector smells like spoiled meat. The addict cannot seem to find his mouth with his spoon. But none of those is the heartbreaker. The heartbreaker is Jesus, sitting there as if everything were just fine. Doesn’t he know what kind of message he is sending? Who is going to believe he speaks for God if he does not keep better company than that? I saw them eating and I knew who they were. Barbara Brown Taylor, "Table Manners," article appearing in The Christian Century, March 11, 1998, page 257 In 1988, the poet Carol Wimmer, became concerned about the self-righteous, judgmental spirit she was seeing in some people because she felt strongly that being judgmental is a perversion of the Christian faith. So, she wrote a poem about this. It’s called “When I say I am a Christian” and it reads like this: “When I say, ‘I am a Christian,’ I’m not shouting, ‘I’ve been saved!’ I’m whispering, ‘I get lost!’ That’s why I chose this way. When I say ‘I am a Christian,’ I don’t speak with human pride. I’m confessing that I stumble – needing God to be my guide. When I say ‘I am a Christian,’ I’m not trying to be strong. I’m professing that I’m weak and pray for strength to carry on. When I say ‘I am a Christian,’ I’m not bragging of success. I’m admitting that I’ve failed and cannot ever pay the debt. When I say, ‘I am a Christian,’ I don’t think I know it all. I submit to my confusion asking humbly to be taught. When I say ‘I am a Christian,’ I’m not claiming to be perfect. My flaws are far too visible, but God believes I’m worth it. When I say, ‘I am a Christian,’ I still feel the sting of pain. I have my share of heartache which is why I seek His name. When I say, ‘I am a Christian,’ I do not wish to judge. I have no authority – I only know I’m loved.” James W. Moore, quoting Carol Wimmer, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Looking for Me! There's an old, old story, that I think is still funny. The phone rings and a little boy answers in a whisper: "Hello?" The caller says: "Hi, is your Mommy there? "Yes!" "Can I talk to her?" "No!" "Why not?" "She's busy." "What about your Daddy, can I talk to him?" "No! He's busy." "Well, is there anyone else there?" "My little sister." "Is there anyone else there? Another adult?" "Uh, huh. The police." "Can I talk to one of them?" "No, they're busy." "Is there anyone else there?" "Yes, the firemen." "Can I talk to one of them?" "No, they're busy, too." Caller: "Good heavens, your whole family is busy, the police and fire departments are there and they're busy! What's everybody doing?" The little boy giggled and whispered: "They're looking for me." Today's passage of Scripture is about searching and finding. And that's an old story that illustrates the frantic nature of people who have lost something and are in search of it. Billy D. Strayhorn, Finders, Keepers

Don't Blame me

September 27, 2015 Mark 9:38-50 Don’t Blame Me Year B 18th Sunday After Pentecost Have you ever tasted gravy with no salt in it. it is like eating a grey or brown blob of nothing. But put a little salt in it and it makes all the difference in the world. Salt can add flavor to a lot of things. Jesus calls us the salt of the earth – the world is the gravy and those who follow Jesus are the salt. The flavor of God. Today I want to start at the end of the scripture where Jesus tells us to maintain your salt and keep the peace. Paul says to use your salt and keep your faith. The world is changing – we don’t put salt on everything anymore. I don’t even use salt anymore. There was a time when I did not even have salt in the house, and as time went on, I do. Our bodies need salt – salt is a part of who we are – it is a part of our earth. It is no wonder Jesus would use salt as an image of who we should be to the world. Someone said that salt is sort of like the soul of dead meat. A piece of meat with no salt will rot and decay. Take that same piece of meat and rub it in salt – and it will maintain it freshness. When Jesus tells us to be the salt of the earth- that was his intention. – be the soul of dead meat. Last week I told you that the first time that I read the gospel – I was scared into being a Christian. Jesus threats scared me into wanting to be a good person. This is one of those scriptures that scared me. It was the threat of going to hell for doing the wrong thing. All throughout the gospels, Jesus has much more to say about going to hell then he does about heaven. He wants to make sure that hell is a place that you do not want to go. To sin is terrible but to teach another to sin is infinitely worse. O. Henry has a story in which he tells of a little girl whose mother was dead. Her father used to come home from work and sit down and take off his jacket and open his paper and light his pipe and put his feet on the mantelpiece. The little girl would come in and ask him to play with her for a little for she was lonely. He told her he was tired, to let him be at peace. He told her to go out to the street and play. She played on the streets. The inevitable happened—she took to the streets. The years passed on and she died. Her soul arrived in heaven. Peter saw her and said to Jesus, “Master, here’s a girl who was a bad lot. I suppose we send her straight to hell?” “No,” said Jesus gently, “let her in. Let her in.” And then his eyes grew stern, “But look for a man who refused to play with his little girl and sent her out to the streets—and send him to hell.” God is not hard on the sinner, but he will be stern to the person who makes it easier for another to sin, and whose conduct, either thoughtless or deliberate, puts a stumbling-block in the path of a weaker brother. Being the salt of the earth means being the one who makes a difference. A positive difference in someone elses life. Changing the Signs William Barclay, a British theologian, tells the following story in his commentary on this Biblical text. He told a story about someone changing signs. That is, at an intersection of the road, one sign would point to the city of Seattle and another sign would point to the city of Tacoma. And the boy wondered to himself: How many people could I send down the wrong road if I changed the signs? Your very life is a sign post with a sign on it. Are you sending people down the wrong road or the right road? Being salt of the earth means leading people to the ways of God. Jesus was that if you mislead another’s faith, it will be better to have a millstone wrapped around your neck and for you to be thrown into the sea. That was a common punishment in Jesus time. When someone was a threat to the community, they would be thrown into the sea. We don’t do that to people anymore. Not physically, but spiritually we do it all of the time. Everytime we gossip, we don’t hold people accountable. We see something going wrong and we don’t try to stop it. We are putting a milstone around the spirit of others. We are not being the salt of the earth. If it is not enough to be threatened with hell, Jesus says if your hands, your feet, your eyes cause you to sin, then you need to cut it off. Many in the present generation would not agree to have surgery for any reason. My uncle got gangrene in his leg, and refused to get help, because he felt that he would not be any good without it. My cousin needs a knee replacement and yet refuses to have surgery. I hope that I never have to make a decision like that about my body parts. But once again in Jesus day – he knew a lot of people who had lost a leg or a foot or even an eye to an accident or even due to a punishment. In those days, if you were a thief you would get your limbs cut off. Jesus knew that the greatest sins that we commit are either with our hands, our feet and our eyes. We work with our hands. But the hand also has another special purpose. When you meet someone – what is the first thing that you give them? You give them your hand as a sign of welcome. You can do things with your hands, but you can also not do things with your hands. You can work and make things happen, or you can fold your hands and refuse to do anything. You can extend your hand and welcome people, or you can refuse to extend your hand and make watch them fall We go places with our feet. We can either go to the right places or the wrong places. We can use our feet to walk into the church, or to walk into the club. We can use our feet to go to the produce section of the grocery store and get healthy vegetables, or we can use our feet to get pizza. You have heard the term vote with your feet – we make choices with our feet and where they take us. We sin with our feet and the places we go. And it has been said – that blind people do not commit crimes of passion. We react to what we see with our eyes. We develop our desires and passions based on what we see with our eyes. Back in the day, it was believed that the eyes were the keys to the heart. If you wanted to know how someone really felt, all you needed to do was look in their eyes. Jesus says if your hands and your feet and your eyes cause you to sin, then cut them off. And most of us would rather die then lose a limb. More importantly though I think that when we do sin – we blame the sin on our hands, our feet, our eyes, - and not the heart inside that controls them all. We continue to blame the outside forces – and not take responsibility for our feelings, our thoughts, our spirit. What Jesus is really saying to us – is that we need to get rid of anything in our lives that stand in the way of us worshipping God. Hell – true hell is living outside of the will of God. As long as we ignore God’s plan for our lives – then we are miserable in this life and the next. Faith in God is a total commitment – and it requires all of your spirit all of your soul. A fellow by the name of Ed Peterman tells a story from his childhood, when he grew up on a farm in Preble County Ohio. His family discovered they had some rats in the barn, so his parents got some traps. One night they baited them with cheese, and set them out around the barn. The next morning young Ed went out to see if they had caught anything. The first traps he examined were empty. When he came to the last trap, he saw something strange. The trap had been sprung, and while there was no rat in it, he noticed that it did hold the severed leg of a rat. He ran to tell his parents about this unexpected finding. They followed him back to the barn. When they got to the trap with the rat's leg in it, his parents just nodded and smiled knowingly. "What happened?" Ed asked them. "Tell me what happened!" So they told him. The trap had caught the rat by the leg. The rat knew that its life was at risk, so it chewed off its own leg to escape. "That's the way rats are," his father said. "Better to go on living with only three legs, than to die with all four." Ed just stood there for a while, marveling at the courage it took for the rat to choose to survive by chewing its leg off and leaving it behind. It makes one wonder whether we would have the courage to do what the rat did. If you were caught in a life-threatening situation one day, would you be able to cut part of yourself off and leave it behind in order to go on living? That's one of those things we never truly know, unless and until we actually faced that situation. Would I be able to surrender a hand or a leg, a memory or a grudge, an obsession or a long-held opinion, if my life were at stake? Or would I cling desperately to the futile memory of how things have always been before, and so bring about my own death? Jan Campbell “Cut It Out” The analogy of an operating room, where radical surgery must be performed, is a most useful way to understand this Scripture. Most of us today would accept the notion that the whole body is worth more than any of its individual parts, and when we develop a cancerous tumor on eye, hand, or foot, we cast aside “the offending member” — with regret, of course; but we operate on the assumption that it is better to enter life without the diseased organ than not to live at all. If a troublesome organ hampers our life or threatens our very existence we eliminate it. We recognize the principle involved. When a gall bladder or appendix is so badly diseased that it gives us no peace, we cut it out. When a hand or foot is diseased beyond help, we are not loathe to amputate in order to save everything else. When a tumor is malignant and threatens to take our entire life away, we are not hesitant to say to the surgeon, “Cut it out!” It is far better to leave behind the tumor than to threaten one’s whole existence. We understand the principle involved. And what is true in the physical realm, translates over into the spiritual realm. If there is something in our lives: some habit, some action, some attitude, that gets between us and God, we must “cut it out.” Donald B. Strobe, Collected Words, www.Sermons.com God wants us to live our lives in freedom. He wants us to get out of the trap. He wants us to run free. Look at what is holding you down – and let it go – and go on with your life. With all of this talk about millstones around our necks, and losing limbs – what is the good news that Jesus is trying to tell us. Transform Your Heart Gregory of Nyssa, a fourth century church father said, “God never asks his servants to do what is impossible. The love and goodness of his Godhead is revealed as richly available. It is poured out like water upon all. God furnished to each person according to his will the ability to do something good. None of those seeking to be saved will be lacking in this ability, given by the one who said: ‘whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward.’” Ask the Holy Spirit to transform your heart by the fire of his love that you may wholly desire what is good for your neighbor. Gregory of Nyssa, a fourth century church father's comments on this passage. Being the salt of the earth is not about the hard and difficult things – that we have to agonize over – it is about the things that are obvious and right in front of your face. Jesus also says that if you just give the person in front of you a cup of cold water when they are thirsty that you will be rewarded. Being a Christian is not about the hard things, it is about the easy things that you could do every day. It does not take a lot to say I love you. We use our hands, our feet, and our eyes everyday. We can do right just as easy as we can do wrong. We can help people or we can stand by and let the world run its course. Being the salt of the earth – means making a difference in the little things that God puts in front of you every day. Salt is sodium Chloride. Salt Sodium is an extremely active element found naturally only in combined form; it always links itself to another element. Chlorine, on the other hand, is the poisonous gas that gives bleach its offensive odor. When sodium and chlorine are combined, the result is sodium chloride. What is sodium Chloride? Salt. Common table salt. The substance we use to preserve meat and bring out its flavor. Love and truth can be like sodium and chlorine. Love without truth is flighty, sometimes blind, willing to combine with various doctrines. On the other hand, truth by itself can be offensive, sometimes even poisonous. Spoken without love, it can turn people away from the gospel. When truth and love are combined in an individual or a church, however, then we have what Jesus called "the salt of the earth," and we're able to preserve and bring out the beauty of our faith. Be the salt of the earth – and make a difference. Amen. Object: tape player or radio that plugs in, tape of pleasing music, volunteer to hold the cord of tape player or radio CHILDREN'S SERMON by Angela Akers Good morning, boys and girls. I brought some music for you to listen to today. (Have volunteer start the tape player) Isn't that pretty? This tape player is very handy. I just plug it in, pop in a tape, push PLAY, and out comes the music. (Have volunteer pull plug on tape player) Hey! What happened to our music? Somebody unplugged the tape player. Well, we'll just plug it back in and listen some more. There, that's better. Oh, I love this part! Listen really carefully. (Volunteer pulls plug again) What in the world is happening to my music? Oh, the tape player is unplugged again. Boy, that's frustrating! This tape player is in perfect condition, it's all ready to play beautiful music, but if it's unplugged from the wall, it just won't play. That's because all the power for the tape player comes from the power source in the wall. Without its main source of power, the tape player won't work. If it's plugged in, then it has all the power it needs. But if it comes unplugged, then it loses all its power to play beautiful music. Have you ever thought of yourself as a tape player? Our power for living a good, happy life comes from God. But sometimes we can become disconnected from God, just like this tape player was unplugged from its power source. You know what "œunplugs" us from God? Sin. Sin is what separates us from God. Sin unplugs us from our true source of power, God. (Plug in tape player and start the music) Things like lying, stealing, being mean to other people, gossiping about other people all these things are sins. (Pull the plug) They "œunplug" us from God and keep us from living good, happy lives. Let's pray and ask God to take away our sins and keep us "œplugged in" to Him. ……Extra illustrations There is an old eastern fable. A man possessed a ring set with a wonderful opal. Whoever wore the ring became so sweet and true in character that all men loved him. The ring was a charm. Always it was passed down from father to son, and always it did its work. As time went on, it came to a father who had three sons whom he loved with an equal love. What was he to do when the time came to pass on the ring? The father got other two rings made precisely the same so that none could tell the difference. On his death-bed he called each of his sons in, spoke some words of love and to each, without telling the others, gave a ring. When the three sons discovered that each had a ring, a great dispute arose as to which was the true ring that could do so much for its owner. The case was taken to a wise judge. He examined the rings and then he spoke. “I cannot tell which is the magic ring,” he said, “but you yourselves can prove it.” “We?” asked the sons in astonishment. “Yes,” said the judge, “for if the true ring gives sweetness to the character of the man who wears it, then I and all the other people in the city will know the man who possesses the true ring by the goodness of his life. So, go your ways, and be kind, be truthful, be brave, be just in your dealings, and he who does these things will be the owner of the true ring.” A missionary tells a lovely story. She had been telling a class of African primary children about giving a cup of cold water in the name of Jesus. She was sitting on the verandah of her house. Into the village square came a company of native bearers. They had heavy packs. They were tired and thirsty, and they sat down to rest. Now they were men of another tribe, and had they asked the ordinary non-Christian native for water they would have been told to go and find it for themselves, because of the barrier between the tribes. But as the men sat wearily there, and as the missionary watched, from the school emerged a little line of tiny African girls. On their heads they had pitchers of water. Shyly and fearfully they approached the tired bearers, knelt and offered their pitchers of water. In surprise the bearers took them and drank and handed them back, and the girls took to their heels and ran to the missionary. “We have given a thirsty man a drink,” they said, “in the name of Jesus.” The little children took the story and the duty literally. Edward F. Markquart, Millstones All too often, gossip, silence, and exclusion serve just these purposes, cutting off the prophetic from the congregation. This is what the Apostles were doing to this one man “caught healing.” They were demanding that Jesus hobble his powerful works because he wasn’t one of them. We can stop our pettiness by taking four actions: 1. Get out in the harvest; Recognize the crisis in harvesters and the ripeness of the harvest. If you don’t bring the harvest in during its due season, it will not just sit out there and stay ripe. This is the harvest time and we need laborers. Let’s be one and pray for more! 2. Quit defending the faith and take the offense in outreach; Rest with Gamaliel, the wise Pharisee who trained Saul. In Acts 5:38 he said that God doesn’t need us to defend his name; he is quite capable of that himself. If someone’s work is of God, it will continue. If not, it will cease. 3. Recognize the signs of pettiness in our life and flee them; If we are surrounded by ducks and quack; it usually means we are a duck. If those around us are petty and small, guess what... We must flee such people! Instead, we should move in the company of giants, heading towards the outer boundaries of our “known world.” If we seek out people who don’t have time or use for gossip, then we will be forced to live at their level. They will hold our behavior and conversation to a higher standard and we will either grow to meet those standards or begin talking behind their backs as well. Let us hope it is the former. 4. Maintain the habits of faith. We must maintain the habits of faith; a. Pray constantly, b. Hunger for God’s Word, c. Maintain a small group of accountability, and d. Be in personal relationship with “least of these.” Attending to these habits keeps us from becoming small-minded and hard-hearted. Jerry Goebel, Stumble The Fellowship of the Bearers of Cold Water An old man named Calvin had lived a good life as a farmer for years. One day an evangelist came to the community, and, in the course of his stay, visited Calvin and asked him what denomination he was. Calvin answered the question like this: "When my grain gets ready for selling, after I've harvested it and packaged it, I can take it to town by any one of three roads ” the river road, the dirt road, or the highway. But when I get my grain to town and go to the buyer to sell him what I have, he never looks at me and asks, ˜Calvin, which road did you take to get your grain to town?' What he does do is ask me if my grain is any good." Friend, is your grain good - the grain of your discipleship? That's all that really matters. When we get to Heaven we will probably find some (Roman Catholics) and some (Baptists) and some (Presbyterians). And they'll be just as surprised to see us as we will to see them. But we will all belong to just one fellowship. Let's call it the Fellowship of the Bearers of Cold Water. We will all be people who have lived out our discipleship through acts of kindness to others. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Staff, www.sermons.com. Adapted from a sermon by David H. Johnson. Frederick Buechner defines the Kingdom of God in this way: “It’s like finding a million dollars in a field, or a jewel worth a king’s ransom. It’s like finding something you hated to lose and thought youUd never find again - an old keepsake, a stray sheep, a missing child. When the kingdom really comes, it’s as if the thing you lost and thought you’d never find again is you.” (Frederick Buechner, WISHFUL THINKING, New York: Harper and Row, 1973, p. 50) Escaping the Rat Traps

We are in this thing together

Matthew 18:15-20 We are in this thing together 13th Sunday after Pentecost Year A Disharmony in Worship There was a church where the pastor and the minister of music were not getting along. As time went by, this began to spill over into the worship service. The first week the pastor preached on commitment and how we all should dedicate ourselves to the service of God. The music director led the song, "I Shall Not Be Moved." The second week the pastor preached on tithing and how we all should gladly give to the work of the Lord. The director led the song, "Jesus Paid it All." The third week the pastor preached on gossiping and how we should all watch our tongues. The music director led the song, "I Love to Tell the Story." With all this going on, the pastor became very disgusted over the situation and the following Sunday told the congregation that he was considering resigning. The musician led the song, "Oh Why Not Tonight?" As it came to pass, the pastor did indeed resign. The next week he informed the church that it was Jesus who led him there and it was Jesus who was taking him away. The music leader led the song, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Of course I can be grateful that I have a wonderful relationship with both of our music directors. And they always try to match the songs with the message of the sermon. But I think that every now and then, that it is important for us to think about who we are in life. To take account of who we are as a community. And to check our thoughts and actions up against the bible. A church is a community of people. What makes us different from others, is that we order ourselves, not according to what people think. But what Jesus thinks. Yes we have the book of discipline, that tells us what it means to be a united Methodist church. But we don’t gather every Sunday to read and review what the book of discipline says, we gather to see what the bible says. Today I want us to look at the gospel of matthew, and what Jesus says about what it means to be the church. Some people question chapter 18, because they wonder, how can Jesus talk about the church, when the church was not fully formed. And we have to remember that the church was formed according to Jesus word, not the other way around. We are the church because Jesus calls us the church. In his words he gave us special powers as the church to do the work of God on earth. And that special power is the power to forgive and to reconcile. Every community has things some type of conflict going on. We would not be a community if we didn’t. I am sure that there are some rumblings going on now, as quiet as it is kept. But the problem is that those rumblings can be a result of unresolved issues. And those unresolved issues start to fester into wounds. And what do we tend to do when we are wounded. We blame, we point fingers. Instead of dealing with people, we avoid them. Nothing get done, because we have decided that we don’t want to work with that person. I guess I have been on roll in using C.S. Lewis as an example. He was an interesting person. He didn’t not become a committed Christian until his wife died. And in dealing with that grief, he also struggled with God, and what it means to live a godly life. He came out with a good inner understanding of what it meant to be human and Christian at the same time. Are You Willing to Live in Hell? In his book The Great Divorce, C. S. Lewis, the great Christian apologist, draws a stark picture of hell. Hell is like a great, vast city, Lewis says, a city inhabited only at its outer edges, with rows and rows of empty houses in the middle. These houses in the middle are empty because everyone who once lived there has quarreled with the neighbors and moved. Then, they quarreled with the new neighbors and moved again, leaving the streets and the houses of their old neighborhoods empty and barren. That, Lewis says, is how hell has gotten so large. It is empty at its center and inhabited only at the outer edges, because everyone chose distance instead of honest confrontation when it came to dealing with their relationships. “Look, she’s the one who said that about me. Let her come and apologize!” “We may go to the same church, but that doesn’t mean I’ve got to share a pew with that so-and-so!” “It’ll be a cold day in July before I accept his apology.” That’s all well and good, I suppose... if you don’t mind living in hell. Are we really so willing to give up our relationships with others – relationships that have come about and been forged by our desire to follow Jesus? Nowhere, and I do mean nowhere, in the New Testament gospels will you find Jesus saying that the first order of things is always to be right. But he does have a great deal to say about forgiveness, about relationship, about reconciliation, about service and humility and vulnerability. He makes it sounds like family, doesn’t he? Randy L. Hyde, Two or Three That is the problem with this model of reconciliation in the church. Jesus says that if we have a problem with someone, that first we should go directly to them, not to our friends and supporters, but to them and to correct the issue. If that does not work, then bring two or three other church members with us and discuss the issue. If that does not work, then band them from the community. We never get to the third step, because people would rather walk away, then experience forgiveness. They would rather stand in the periphery than reconcile. We lose our power as a special community, because we lose our people. The blessing of God are in our ability to forgive one another. In order to have a relationship with anyone, you have to be able to forgive. We have to be able to reconcile with one another and to move forward. The secret to being a church, a special community is that we are a forgiven people who have worked to forgive others. Any relationship requires a time of understanding and forgiveness. We have to pray for those who have walked away, and work with those who are still with us. A congregation is not to be like the secular world. Instead of suing or chastising, the faithful are to give the offender a chance. Yes, they are to be confronted, but not humiliated in public. Rather than be judged or prosecuted they are to be given a chance to repent. The church is to avoid embarrassment and help people feel less ashamed. This requires great sensitivity. The way of the church is through reconciliation. For to be redeemed means to help a person return to wholeness and to be at peace with one’s self and one’s neighbors. Therefore, the church is to make every effort to give those who stray an opportunity to right their wrongs. Yes, we have standards. Yes, there are things that people do to one another that are harmful. Yes, even some behavior can damage the life of the church. Nevertheless, the church is being faithful when its people make every effort to offer love, forgiveness and support. In Matthew, Jesus describes a process that is different from the tradition of the times. Instead of casting stones, rushing the accused off to a local authority and making a person’s shameful act front page news, the faith community makes an intentional effort to give the offender a chance to turn their life around. Keith Wagner, Living Without Shame When Bill Clinton met Nelson Mandela for the first time, he had a question on his mind: "When you were released from prison, Mr. Mandela," the former President said, "I woke my daughter at three o'clock in the morning. I wanted her to see this historic event." Then President Clinton zeroed in on his question: "As you marched from the cellblock across the yard to the gate of the prison, the camera focused in on your face. I have never seen such anger, and even hatred, in any man as was expressed on your face at that time. That's not the Nelson Mandela I know today," said Clinton. "What was that about?" Mandela answered, "I'm surprised that you saw that, and I regret that the cameras caught my anger. As I walked across the courtyard that day I thought to myself, ‘They've taken everything from you that matters. Your cause is dead. Your family is gone. Your friends have been killed. Now they're releasing you, but there's nothing left for you out there.' And I hated them for what they had taken from me. Then, I sensed an inner voice saying to me, ‘Nelson! For twenty-seven years you were their prisoner, but you were always a free man! Don't allow them to make you into a free man, only to turn you into their prisoner!'" You can never be free to be a whole person if you are unable to forgive. Our prayer for those who are not here, for those who are on the sidelines, those who are not ready for reconciliation, for those who are blaming others, for those who cannot accept forgiveness, is that they will be free to become whole and complete persons. And we cant be whole unless we are forgiven and reconciled. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Salvation is dependent upon our relationships, with ourselves, one another and God. The relationships that we form on earth, will last in heaven. What we bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and what we free on earth will be free on heaven. Is it worth taking any burden with us when we go to heaven. We Must Be Saved by Hope Reinhold Niebuhr, in The Irony of American History, writes, "Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime: therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone, therefore we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness." Jerry L. Schmalenberger, When Christians Quarrel, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. Whenever we come together, even if it is only two of us, Jesus comes with us. When we agree in integrity as a community, God agrees with us. Let us remember to be the church at all times, to love one another, God is present in our love. Let us pray…. Children’s Sermon…… On Picking Your Battles by King Duncan Passage: Matthew 18:15-20 • Lectionary: Proper 18 Item 2 of 22 | Back to Results Object: a smoke detector with battery (might want to test it beforehand) Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you have seen one of these around your house? Can you tell me what it is? That's right, it's a smoke detector. A smoke detector can sense if there is smoke in the air. Usually, if there is smoke in the air then that means there is a fire nearby. And a fire can be a very dangerous thing. So we keep smoke detectors around the house to let us know if there is a fire starting somewhere. If smoke gets around a smoke detector, it makes a loud noise. You might want to cover your ears for this, okay? (Wait until the children and congregation have covered their ears, then push the little test button on the front of the detector to set off the alarm) Wow, that's loud! That noise lets us know that there is smoke in the air, so we need to check and make sure nothing is on fire. The smoke detector is there to protect us, to let us know about a fire early enough that we can stop it. Don't you wish we had something like a trouble detector in church? Just like a smoke detector warns us that there might be a fire starting, a trouble detector would let us know if problems were about to start in church. Sometimes, people in church hurt one another's feelings, or say bad things about each other. Sometimes, people in church argue with one another or get mad at each other. That's how trouble starts in the church. And God doesn't want that kind of trouble in the church. God wants us to love each other, to treat each other with kindness. God wants us to listen to one another and to work together. The best way to keep trouble from starting in the church is for us to love one another, and to talk about our problems with each other. Then we won't need a trouble detector in our church, because we'll be doing what God wants us to do. Collected Sermons, King Duncan, Dynamic Preaching, 2005, 0-000-0000-20 Extra sermon illustration…….. Corporate Effects of Sin A man is on a boat. He is not alone, but acts as if he were. One night, without warning, he suddenly begins to cut a hole under his seat. The other people on the boat shout and shriek at him: "What on earth are you doing? Have you gone mad? Do you want to sink us all? Are you trying to destroy us?" Calmly, the man answers: "I don't understand what you want. What I'm doing is none of your business. I paid my way. I'm not cutting under your seat. Leave me alone!" What the fanatic (and the egotist) will not accept, but what you and I cannot forget, is that all of us are in the same boat. Elie Wiesel, Parade Magazine.

Thankfulness as a path of Faith

October 14, 2007 October 13, 2013 – retooled and repreached Thankfulness as a path of faith 2 Timothy 2:8-15 Luke 17:8-19 Year C Makeover’s have become really popular these days – their lives. Extreme makeover is not just a show about houses that have rebuilt – but about people who have been rebuilt. We hear the stories of their past- we hear their dreams for being fixed – we watch their progress as they go through countless surgeries or other things will totally erase their past. We celebrate with them as their share with the community the new them – after they have lost weight, or whatever they needed to do. There are a lot of shows that use this as a concept – but I would imagine that an even more exciting show – would be extreme makeover follow up – what happens to these people after the show- how do they deal with the changes after all of the excitement is over with. Do they become the person they were before the makeover? Or do their lives really change. And are they really emotionally prepared for these changes. Afterall, the changes that are made are always cosmetic changes – things are fixed on the outside – but who these people are on the inside is never addressed. What inner habits may have created the outer reality is never addressed. What scars have been permantly formed from being the person they are, is never even talked about. But I think that for ages, we have all bought into the concept of living happily ever after – but we don’t want to hear the real story of what that means. Imagine being a young man, in the prime of your life, just married the woman of your dreams, and one day she notices some white spots on your neck – and your life as you know it is over – because she has to report to the community and the priest that you have leprosy – and have to immediately move away from the community. Or imagine that your first child has been born two months ago – a son to carry on your name – and you too are diagnosed with leprosy- Or after a long period of trying to find your life work – you realize that you want to go into farming with your father – and as you celebrate your new found life – you lose it to leprosy. The laws in the book of Levitcus are very clear – if anyone notices a swelling in his skin or a scab or boil or pimple with transparent skin they are to be brought to the priest for examination. If the spot turns white – or if it looks more than skin deep, then the priest must declare him a leper. It could happen to anyone at any time in life. If they were a leper- the most important thing was protecting the rest of the community from they – so they were to live outside the gates of the city. They were to keep their distance from everyone and to declare to all that they were one of the untouchables. Life as they knew it was over – no family, no job, no meaning in life. Just gathering together with other lepers – totally dependent on the goodness of others to live. I could imagine that anyone in this condition would think of themselves as likely candidates for an extreme makeover. Even back in that day – they had heard of an extreme makeover – they listened to that man Jesus as he talked about makeovers. They listened to his sermons as he talked about being restored to community. How even though the whole world treated them as outsiders, that there was a God who loved them and would treat them like anyone else. No one really knows why Jesus would have been in this no man’s land on his way to Jerusalem. He was somewhere between Galilee and Samaria. Galilee was the home of the Jews, the people he was trying to reach with his message. Samaria was the home of their cousins – those who were no longer considered Jews. Yet Jesus noticed that these were the people most likely to listen to his message and to apply it to their lives. So as he was traveling to Jerusalem, this was the perfect place to stop and to preach. As he passes by the lepers – they cry out – Lord have mercy on us. To ask for mercy is to ask for what it due to you – what you deserve but for some reason it has been denied you- They wanted their lives back – they wanted the right to return back to their lives, their wives, their children, their jobs, their community – all the things that made life worth living. They had heard enough to know that Jesus had the power to give them just what they asked for. With no special potions, no special words – Jesus tells them that they will be healed. All they need to do is to show themselves to the priest, so that they can be restored into community. They don’t even question Jesus – they immediately go back to their lives. Only 1 returns to thank Jesus for what he has done. Jesus gives him an additional blessing and tells him that his faith has made him whole. The others are healed on the outside – and yet Jesus knows that this one has been made whole on the inside too. Jesus was in between Galilee and Samaria – his audience was mixed – we really have no idea how many of the lepers were Jewish and how many were Samarian. We never hear what happens in their lives after they return. What we do know that the one who thought to return to thank Jesus was a Samarian. Maybe he did not have a priest to return to. Maybe he did not have a family or life to return to. Maybe his mom had always taught him to say thank you – we don’t know what it was that made this one leper out of ten return to Jesus. What we do know is that this one was different – when all ten asked for mercy – nine were looking for cosmetic changes. Leprosy back then was understood as any type of skin condition. One was looking for changes in mind, body and spirit. Nine lepers were looking to get on with their lives – one wanted to live. Nine were looking for the acceptance of society – one was looking for the acceptance of God. One was looking for their past to be restored – one was looking toward the future. Nine were looking for changes – one was looking to be transformed. He was changed from the inside out. He was not the same person that he had been. He knew that from this moment on, once he had been touched by Jesus – things would never be the same. His life would be so much more than those dreams of the life that had been taken away from him. God had shown him a love that he could never imagine in a million years. When you look at your life, which one are you – one of the nine or the one who stood out? Bear in mind that in those days- to say thank you was the last thing that you said to someone when the knew the relationship was over. If you knew you would never see the person again – you said thank you. The nine others had their lives restored – they were a part of the community again – they probably were not quite ready to saw good bye to Jesus Nine Reasons They Did Not Return Why did only one man cleansed from leprosy return to thank Jesus? Someone has made a list of nine suggested reasons why the nine did not return: One waited to see if the cure was real. One waited to see if it would last. One said he would see Jesus later. One decided that he had never had leprosy in the first place. One said he would have gotten well anyway. One gave the glory to the priests. One said, "O, well, Jesus didn't really do anything." One said, "Any rabbi could have done it." One said, "I was already much improved." That's not surprising, is it? I doubt that more than ten percent of us are ever truly grateful to God. In fact, it often seems that the more we have, the less gratitude we feel. King Duncan, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com – whereas the one – realized that no matter how hard he tried – things would never be the same for him- he could never go back to the man he used to be. That gesture of thanks seemed to really make a difference to Jesus. But this is not a sermon on gratitude – but on faith. 4 men were standing on the el platform, when one fell in the path of an oncoming train. The other three immediately went into action and grabbed the man and put him back on the platform. The three became instant celebrities. They were interviews by all of the news shows, they received a letter from the mayor, people on the street would walk up to them and say thank you for what they had done. One day they were interviewed by a talk show host who asked if they had ever heard from the man rescued. As a matter of fact they hadn’t. the man never even bothered to say thank you. I am sure he was thankful, he was grateful, he was glad to have his life. But he never bothered to say thank you. But this is not a sermon about being thankful, it is a sermon about being faithful. It is our faith that makes us well. Now Thank We All Our God You can even be thankful during the most difficult of circumstances in life. It's true! We see an especially inspiring example of a brave and thankful heart in the story behind one of the church's most popular hymns, "Now Thank We All Our God." This particularly hymn was written during the Thirty Years War in Germany, in the early 1600s. Its author was Martin Rinkart, a Lutheran pastor in the town of Eilenburg in Saxony. Now, Eilenburg was a walled city, so it became a haven for refugees seeking safety from the fighting. But soon, the city became too crowded and food was in short supply. Then, a famine hit and a terrible plague and Eilenburg became a giant morgue. In one year alone, Pastor Rinkart conducted funerals for 4,500 people, including his own wife. The war dragged on; the suffering continued. Yet through it all, he never lost courage or faith and even during the darkest days of Eilenburg's agony, he was able to write this hymn: Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and voices, Who wondrous things hath done, In whom the world rejoices ...[So] keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed, and free us from all ills, in this world and the next. Even when he was waist deep in destruction, Pastor Rinkart was able to lift his sights to a higher plane. He kept his mind on God's love when the world was filled with hate. He kept his mind on God's promises of heaven when the earth was a living hell. Can we not do the same - we whose lives are almost trouble-free, compared with the man who wrote that hymn? Whom can you say "thank you" to? Erskine White, Together in Christ, CSS Publishing Company I am sure that we can all identify with these stories. Some probably were healed – some did go on with their lives – some were genuinely grateful for being saved on that night, some probably even remembered that courageous seminary student who saved them. They just never got the chance to say thank you in person to him. Having no idea of what difference it would have made in the life story of the one who gave his legs, his hopes, his calling to save them. We are all grateful for the saviors that God has sent into our lives – who have given us life in so many ways. We really are grateful in our hearts – even though we don’t think to say it with our lips. Today is a perfect day to write a note, to make a phone call, to take someone out to lunch – to say thank you for all of the in our life. But this is not a sermon about being thankful – this is a story about being faithful. This is not a sermon about the nine lepers who went on with their lives – it is a sermon about that one who had been transformed and given new life by Jesus Christ. Jesus told the Samaritan- that his faith had made him well – not his thank you. It is our faith that makes us well- not our thank you’s. The more faith is focused on Christ – the easier it is for us to remember to say thank you for each and every gift that we have been given. Faith is about what we do with our whole lives, not just how concerned we are about our present condition. Someone pointed out that in Matthew – Jesus says that we should be made perfect. By perfect who means whole and complete. We are thankful when one thing in our lives has gotten better, when we get what we ask for or what we need. Being faithful means that we are healed and complete in mind, body and soul. We are grateful for everything, not just the things in our lives that we have. We give all of who we are to Christ, not just our thanks. This is not a sermon about being thankful, but about being faithful, being whole, thanking God with all that we are. Greg Anderson, in Living Life on Purpose, tells a story about a man whose wife had left him. He was completely depressed. He had lost faith in himself, in other people, in God--he found no joy in living. One rainy morning this man went to a small neighborhood restaurant for breakfast. Although several people were at the diner, no one was speaking to anyone else. Our miserable friend hunched over the counter, stirring his coffee with a spoon. In one of the small booths along the window was a young mother with a little girl. They had just been served their food when the little girl broke the sad silence by almost shouting, "Momma, why don't we say our prayers here?" The waitress who had just served their breakfast turned around and said, "Sure, honey, we pray here. Will you say the prayer for us?" And she turned and looked at the rest of the people in the restaurant and said, "Bow your heads." Surprisingly, one by one, the heads went down. The little girl then bowed her head, folded her hands, and said, "God is great, God is good, and we thank him for our food. Amen." That prayer changed the entire atmosphere. People began to talk with one another. The waitress said, "We should do that every morning." "All of a sudden," said our friend, "my whole frame of mind started to improve. From that little girl's example, I started to thank God for all that I did have and stop majoring in all that I didn't have. I started to be grateful." We all understand and appreciate the importance of gratitude. How it can radically change relationships. In fact, one of the first things we were taught and that we teach our children is to express their gratitude. Someone gives them some candy and we say: “Now what do you say?” And the child learns from an early age the answer “Thank you.” And certainly we all know as adults that we appreciate being thanked. Yet, when it comes to giving thanks to our heavenly father, we so often miss the mark. And when it comes to giving our thanks to God, I don’t suppose there is any story in the Bible that is so endearing to us, so timelessly appropriate, as the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers. We have all heard the story many times, but like so many Bible stories, we never tire of it… Christ is always faithful, Christ always hears our cries of mercy. Christ always gives us love and life, but it is our response to Christ that gives us transformation and new life. It is our desire to say thank you that indeed makes the world a wonderful place to live for all people. What do you have to be thankful for today? How will you choose to live a thankful life today? Ten Broken Pencils by WESLEY T. RUNK Passage: Luke 17:11-19 • Lectionary: Proper 23 Item 3 of 20 | Back to Results Then said Jesus, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Objects: Ten pencils with broken points and one pencil sharpener. Lesson: Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you like to write with pencils? (Let them answer.) Good pencils are very hard to find. Whenever I am looking for a pencil, I either cannot find one, or when I find the pencil, it has a broken point, or has never been sharpened. Do you have that problem? (Let them answer.) I have a little story to tell you about ten pencils that I found around my house, and every one of them was either broken or had never been sharpened. This is their story. I found these pencils in different places. One of them was on my dresser, several of them were in a kitchen drawer where they had been for several years. I even found one of them on the kitchen floor beneath the refrigerator. It seemed like everywhere I went I found a pencil, but all of them were broken in one way or another. On a shelf in a beautiful tea cup, I found some paper clips, rubber bands, and another pencil. Of course it was broken also. There were others in different places, like on top of the washer, since someone had forgotten to empty his pockets before sending his slacks to the laundry. There was another on my workbench, one in the garage, and a couple behind the cushions of the couch. Every one of them was broken, and they looked sad in their terrible condition. A pencil is meant to have a sharp point and to write; to leave them in this kind of condition was awful. So I decided to do what I thought should be done. I got out my special pencil sharpener and went right to work. Soon each pencil I sharpened looked happy and relieved to be back at work again. I could hardly work fast enough, I felt so good. But as I finished sharpening one and putting it down, it would disappear before I could pick up another. All ten pencils were sharpened like they had never been sharpened before, and not one of them who left even said thank you. Excuse me, that isn't true. There was one that said thank you. The one that I found on the floor under the refrigerator. It came back to tell me how grateful it was for what I had done for it. You know the story of my pencils is not original. Jesus told a similar story about something even more important. He told about healing ten men, only one of whom thanked God for what happened. I hope that you remember the story, but I hope even more that you remember to thank God every day for the wonderful things that he does for you. That is one of the most important parts of our life - to be grateful to God, and to praise him for all of the glorious things that he does to help us. CALL IN THE CLOWNS!, WESLEY T. RUNK, C.S.S. Publishing Co., 1988, 1-55673-071-3