SETTING THE CONTEXT
This psalm gives voice to the thankfulness of sinners who celebrate that the Lord is a God of mercy, compassion and grace. God has expressed God’s characteristics of steadfast love and compassion (which is translated mercy in our Bible translation) in all of the Lord’s dealings and ways with people. Those dealings are recited, remembered and celebrated in the psalm. Listen for them as we join our voices with generations of our brothers and sisters in faith.

Read Psalm 103:1-18 responsively from the UM Hymnal 824

The story I am about to read is about 10 lepers. Leprosy was a dreaded, feared, deadly disease. It was one of the most feared diseases in the ancient world. The attitudes were like those towards AIDS in this country some 20 years ago. It is how AIDS is feared in Africa today. The law handed down from Moses in the Book of Leviticus chapter 13 has very detailed and specific instructions on how the priest will determine is someone has leprosy and when they have been healed. Anyone that the priest declares as unclean or leprous, “must tear your clothes, leave your hair uncombed, cover the lower part of your face and go around shouting, “I’m unclean, I’m unclean! As long as you have the disease, you are unclean and must live alone outside the camp.” (Leviticus 13:45-46) Only the priest can declare someone clean again and give them the ability to return to the life of their families and community. One of the lepers was also a Samaritan. The hatred between the Jewish people and Samaritans was well documented, long-standing and fierce. The division went back to 722 B.C. almost 750 years before the time of Christ.^[i]  Who in the story expressed an attitude of gratitude?

Read Luke 17:11-19

THE SERMON
I deeply appreciate the life the military gave me as I was growing up. My father was a career Army officer and so I grew up in the military. Over the course of my childhood, we lived in 2 foreign countries and numerous states.  I think every person should have the experience of living in a foreign country; it helps you to appreciate things you normally take for granted. You can get some of the same sense from traveling, especially if you stay away from Americanized hotels and live more like the people in the host country. One of the things living in a foreign land highlights is the freedom and character of our country that we often take for granted. We have a sense of security here that many many people do not have. We have a police force and a military that are stable and that will protect us to the best of their abilities. We take for granted that they will not try to overthrow our government. We have a country that values people enough that we have said all people no matter what their circumstances deserve certain things and so we have a government-sponsored safety net. This is why we do not see children abandoned on our streets when their family is unable to care for them or dies. On this weekend before Veterans Day, it is so appropriate that we take time to think about this great country we are blessed to live in and those who have protected our way of life from aggression. It is appropriate to have an attitude of gratitude.

One night while we were in Ethiopia, we had a craving for ice cream so one of our hosts, a young man named Samson, walked us to one of only two places in the city that serve ice cream. You see ice cream is too expensive over there for most people, so they just don’t eat it. Anyway the place was closed so we sat down at a table and talked for a while. Kathy, one of our team members turned to Sammy and said, “we really want to help the children, but sometimes people like us who want to help do things or buy things that really aren’t that helpful. Is there something that the children need or could use that we are missing? Is there some way we can help the children more?” Sammy responded in his quiet gentle voice. Incredulous he said, “Look, you are providing these children with a home, a place to live, with food, with clothing, with the opportunity to get an education. This is more than so many other people have here. What more do they need?” Sometimes we keep thinking we need more, more, more, but really isn’t there is a point where we have enough? I wish I had recorded this conversation because his manner, his voice, his words conveyed an attitude of gratitude.

In Luke’s gospel story of the ten lepers, each leper was physically healed. There must have been Jewish people in the group because they followed the Law of Moses by going to the priest. Their healing came in their obedience to Jesus. He treated them as if they were already healed by sending them to the priest and in their act of obedient faith, in trusting Jesus to heal them on the way, their healing happened.^[ii] They all received physical healing, but only one had an attitude of gratitude. Only one returned to thank the One who made him whole. It was not one of the chosen ones of Israel who returned, it was the outsider, the hated one. As Biblical scholar, Fred Craddock noted in his commentary on the Gospel of Luke, the people of Israel, those who had a special place in God’s plan for the world, took the Lord’s saving grace for granted. They took God’s steadfast love and compassion for granted; they took God’s healing touch for granted. The outsider was the one with the attitude of gratitude. And that attitude brought him more than physical healing it brought him spiritual healing. The verb translated “made well” in verse 19 is the same word that is often translated, “to be saved” so one could read Jesus’ words to the thankful Samaritan as, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has saved you.” We are saved through faith by grace. (Ephesians 2:8) The Samaritan remembered the source of his healing and because of that recognition and his thankful attitude, he deepened his connection to God. His wholeness was both physical and spiritual. “Bless the Lord, O my soul! And all that is within me, bless his holy name!” (Psalm 103:1)

It is easy for those of us who have been in the church for a long time to take God’s amazing grace for granted. It is easy for us to become like the other nine lepers. Maybe it’s because we get so used to living in God’s steadfast love that it becomes like the air we breath so much a part of our lives that we stop seeing it. Perhaps we lose sight of our sins, after all I try to be a nice person- to live a good life. I don’t think I’m a terrible sinner. I try to do the right things. I try to live a good life, but we tend to overlook the “not-so-terrible” sins we commit. We don’t think of our gossiping or complaining about another person as sin. We don’t think about our over-consumption and selfishness as sin. We don’t think about the hundreds of little ways we do harm. Martin Luther said, “Jesus came to save sinners, so I’d better be one.” Now that statement bugged me a bit until I thought about it more deeply. It doesn’t mean that I should go out and intentionally sin, but it does mean that I need to be honest about my failings, about my inability to live up to the image of God, my need of God’s amazing grace and forgiveness. The sign of a person who is living a Biblical life is an attitude of gratitude. It is a person who recites, remembers and celebrates God’s goodness, compassion, mercy and steadfast love to generations of people who didn’t deserve it, who didn’t earn it but who received it extravagantly given. Psalm 103 gives voice to that attitude of gratitude, to that thankfulness for who God is and how God is toward us. “Bless the Lord, O my soul! And forget not all God’s benefits!”

Living with an attitude of gratitude is something we decide to do. I’m afraid for most of us (myself included), our tendency is to take things for granted, to take the blessings in our lives for granted until something stops us and reminds us how blessed we truly are, something like a trip or an illness or a hardship. We sing a lovely song on Saturday nights and the song goes, “Count your blessings name them one by one, count your blessings see what God has done. Count your blessings name them one by one, count your many blessings see what God has done” that is how we cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Recite them, remember them and celebrate the One who gave them. This attitude of gratitude is like a match, it lights the fire of the Spirit within us, and then it ignites the Beacon of Hope that we are called to shine. As we get up and go on our way, let us take with us an attitude of gratitude. Amen.

Sermon delived by Rev. Nancy Cushman on November 9, 2008.