Deuteronomy 8:1-10; Philippians 4:6-20; St Luke 17:11-19
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
“The Church lives in thanksgiving” wrote Alexander Schmemann. “It is the air she breathes.” Which is to say the Church lives from the super abundance of the gifts showered upon her from above by God our Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by His Holy Spirit. Unceasing. And unlike the world that is blind to the gifts, and has a Day of Thanksgiving with no one to truly thank, no one to call upon in “prayer, praise, and thanksgiving,” the Church sees them, celebrates them, joys in them, in short, “receives them with thanksgiving.” And so because God continues to give in perpetual grace, His people live in perpetual thanksgiving and confession.
Moses leads the way for us tonight with the first reading. A reminder to the Israelites of the Lord’s provision for their journey. The Lord God always leads His people from here to there. And along the way He takes the time to catechize them that their life isn’t lived by bread alone, by the earthly gifts which He delights to give them. But instead that they live by every Word that He speaks to them. For His Word is, after all, the cause of all creation and His gifts in which they delight.
Even more than that, already leaning into our Gospel text - the Word made flesh and His atoning sacrifice upon the Cross - is the only thing that keeps the world spinning and the universe traveling on. All good gifts from above come down to you by way of and through the Good and Perfect Gift of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
That’s way, actually, that our Lord warns the Israelites that when things get more settled for them, as they are for us, a good land with brooks, fountains, valleys, wheat and barley, vines and figs, olives and honey; a land where you can eat without scarcity. Don’t forget, He warns, that you are still a people on pilgrimage. That this isn’t home. And remember to bless the Lord for the good land that He has given you as you journey on with Him.
As it was with the Israelites, so it is with us. With Luther we are reminded that the good gift of daily bread includes to much more than the loaf. Its everything that goes into the loaf: “good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like” (SC III). On and on it goes. All gifts. All showered down from our Father in heaven through His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, with His Holy Spirit. the Church rightly sees such gifts and raises her thanks to God not merely one day a year, nor even one day a week, but everyday, continually, “at all times and in all places.”
St Paul jumps in with our Epistle reading exhorting us not only to thanksgiving, but warning us concerning anxiety. Wise words, not only now on the cusp of the holiday/family/festive meal season, a time when expectations are high, anxieties are even higher, and we can easily loose sight of what is truly important: to fix your hearts and minds on that which is true, honorable, just, pure, love, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy. What else is this dear Christians than to mediate on God’s Holy Word? His blessed Sacraments? These are the holy day and Christmas gifts we give our children year round: the joy and edification of the Small Catechism, the life-long sturdiness of good hymns and reverence liturgy. Again, it is realizing from Whom our daily bread comes and receiving it with thanksgiving. You see this exemplified not only in St Paul but also in the Samaritan leper.
Before we turn to the Gospel text, consider those two men for a moment: St Paul and the Samaritan leper. The latter, on account of his leprosy, is cut off from the community, from the
Temple, from the other items included in daly bread: “house, home, land, animals, money, gods, a devout wife, devout children, devout workers.” He is still supported in his bodily needs, but lacks the joy and benefit of family and community.
St Paul, on the other hand, though travels the lonely way of the Apostle of the Lord, missionary in foreign lands to Gentiles and Jews, is surrounded by the compassion and joyful community of the Church. He has been taught contentment, and unlike the impish Israelites, seems to have learned his lesson. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Yet he is ever so thankful for the shared fellowship in suffering with the Christians from Philippi. He is well supplied by the gifts they have sent via Epaphroditus. In this way, says Luther, “we become daily bread unto one another.” His Name is hallowed without our prayer, His kingdom comes without our prayer, His will is done without our prayer, but as He does not despise His good creation, but uses means to bring the preaching of His holy Name, the coming of His kingdom in water and Word, bread and wine, and the doing of His will, so He uses means to bring daily bread. The Lord has provided for St Paul. He has given him a Christian community in which he joyfully receives, thankfully praises, and loving gives. He has done no less for you.
We give thanks to God our Father tonight for the great provision He has granted to us that we were able, by His grace, to pay off the Organ Loan. You will remember that this was a $160,000 loan, intended to be repaid according to a 15year mortgage. It has been paid off in 5 years. Thus do we give thanks to God that His Word which has gone forth from this Pulpit and Altar has not returned to Him void, but has accomplished the purpose for which He sent it: the creating and sustaining of saving faith which has yielded abundant fruits of love and charity.
So too in our third reading. This leprous little church, a congregation of ten, unclean sinners, calls out in mercy to the One from whom all good gifts come. And in the words of the Kyrie, they intoned together, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. They chant in unison for the common necessity of the Lord’s mercy.
And as it was for the Israelites and for St Paul, the Lord Jesus heard their prayer and answered. Go and show yourselves to the priests. The whole congregation, having heard the command of Christ, go, and do as He says. They have faith in Jesus and His Word.
It is while on their way that they are all cleansed. For “God certainly gives daily bread to everyone.” But only one, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praise God with a loud voice, and fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks. The others had faith for a time. But as soon as their need was met, that faith vanished. They probably always remembered the Rabbi who healed them, but that was all they wanted.
But the Rabbi stood there asking, Where are the nine? You see, He has more gifts to give. More than manna and clothing and shoes and turkeys and pie. More than all those First Article gifts. But no one came back for the rest, to give glory to God except this foreigner. The foreigner, the Samaritan, comes back. In faith he returns to the true Temple, falls down in worship and praise, prayer and thanksgiving, and more he gets. Your faith has saved you.
The Lord always has more. That is His way. More than you can ever imagine. Gifts abounding. Superabundant in grace. It is as I shared with the catechumens a few weeks ago: faith is like the empty trick or treaters bag. And you come here and receive what the Lord has to give. Forgiveness of sins. Amen. In the bag. Life and salvation. Amen. In the bag. Mercy, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, self-control. Amen and amen. In the bag. Take and eat, the Body of Christ. Amen. In the bag. Take and drink, the Blood of Christ. Amen. In the bag.
This is the way of faith, beloved. To return again and again and receive what Christ Jesus, from His Cross, by His innocent suffering and death, by His glorious resurrection and ascension, and by His coming again, continues to give. For in the end He gives you nothing less than Himself, for He is, as Luther put it in the Large Catechism: “an eternal fountain that gushes forth abundantly nothing but what is good.”
Tonight and tomorrow, beloved, the liturgy continues as you gather at your tables, some of His gifts before you, others of His gifts around you, His great gift within you, your table and your life is connected here to the Lord’s Table and His Life. Not just on Thanksgiving or the Lord’s Day, but everyday. “The Church lives in thanksgiving.” Not only here in the divine liturgy, but out there, in the liturgy after the liturgy, as you become daily bread unto one another. Always returning here, as the Samaritan, to Jesus, who bestows ever anew and always, forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
“The Church lives in thanksgiving” wrote Alexander Schmemann. “It is the air she breathes.” Which is to say the Church lives from the super abundance of the gifts showered upon her from above by God our Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by His Holy Spirit. Unceasing. And unlike the world that is blind to the gifts, and has a Day of Thanksgiving with no one to truly thank, no one to call upon in “prayer, praise, and thanksgiving,” the Church sees them, celebrates them, joys in them, in short, “receives them with thanksgiving.” And so because God continues to give in perpetual grace, His people live in perpetual thanksgiving and confession.
Moses leads the way for us tonight with the first reading. A reminder to the Israelites of the Lord’s provision for their journey. The Lord God always leads His people from here to there. And along the way He takes the time to catechize them that their life isn’t lived by bread alone, by the earthly gifts which He delights to give them. But instead that they live by every Word that He speaks to them. For His Word is, after all, the cause of all creation and His gifts in which they delight.
Even more than that, already leaning into our Gospel text - the Word made flesh and His atoning sacrifice upon the Cross - is the only thing that keeps the world spinning and the universe traveling on. All good gifts from above come down to you by way of and through the Good and Perfect Gift of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
That’s way, actually, that our Lord warns the Israelites that when things get more settled for them, as they are for us, a good land with brooks, fountains, valleys, wheat and barley, vines and figs, olives and honey; a land where you can eat without scarcity. Don’t forget, He warns, that you are still a people on pilgrimage. That this isn’t home. And remember to bless the Lord for the good land that He has given you as you journey on with Him.
As it was with the Israelites, so it is with us. With Luther we are reminded that the good gift of daily bread includes to much more than the loaf. Its everything that goes into the loaf: “good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like” (SC III). On and on it goes. All gifts. All showered down from our Father in heaven through His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, with His Holy Spirit. the Church rightly sees such gifts and raises her thanks to God not merely one day a year, nor even one day a week, but everyday, continually, “at all times and in all places.”
St Paul jumps in with our Epistle reading exhorting us not only to thanksgiving, but warning us concerning anxiety. Wise words, not only now on the cusp of the holiday/family/festive meal season, a time when expectations are high, anxieties are even higher, and we can easily loose sight of what is truly important: to fix your hearts and minds on that which is true, honorable, just, pure, love, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy. What else is this dear Christians than to mediate on God’s Holy Word? His blessed Sacraments? These are the holy day and Christmas gifts we give our children year round: the joy and edification of the Small Catechism, the life-long sturdiness of good hymns and reverence liturgy. Again, it is realizing from Whom our daily bread comes and receiving it with thanksgiving. You see this exemplified not only in St Paul but also in the Samaritan leper.
Before we turn to the Gospel text, consider those two men for a moment: St Paul and the Samaritan leper. The latter, on account of his leprosy, is cut off from the community, from the
Temple, from the other items included in daly bread: “house, home, land, animals, money, gods, a devout wife, devout children, devout workers.” He is still supported in his bodily needs, but lacks the joy and benefit of family and community.
St Paul, on the other hand, though travels the lonely way of the Apostle of the Lord, missionary in foreign lands to Gentiles and Jews, is surrounded by the compassion and joyful community of the Church. He has been taught contentment, and unlike the impish Israelites, seems to have learned his lesson. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Yet he is ever so thankful for the shared fellowship in suffering with the Christians from Philippi. He is well supplied by the gifts they have sent via Epaphroditus. In this way, says Luther, “we become daily bread unto one another.” His Name is hallowed without our prayer, His kingdom comes without our prayer, His will is done without our prayer, but as He does not despise His good creation, but uses means to bring the preaching of His holy Name, the coming of His kingdom in water and Word, bread and wine, and the doing of His will, so He uses means to bring daily bread. The Lord has provided for St Paul. He has given him a Christian community in which he joyfully receives, thankfully praises, and loving gives. He has done no less for you.
We give thanks to God our Father tonight for the great provision He has granted to us that we were able, by His grace, to pay off the Organ Loan. You will remember that this was a $160,000 loan, intended to be repaid according to a 15year mortgage. It has been paid off in 5 years. Thus do we give thanks to God that His Word which has gone forth from this Pulpit and Altar has not returned to Him void, but has accomplished the purpose for which He sent it: the creating and sustaining of saving faith which has yielded abundant fruits of love and charity.
So too in our third reading. This leprous little church, a congregation of ten, unclean sinners, calls out in mercy to the One from whom all good gifts come. And in the words of the Kyrie, they intoned together, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. They chant in unison for the common necessity of the Lord’s mercy.
And as it was for the Israelites and for St Paul, the Lord Jesus heard their prayer and answered. Go and show yourselves to the priests. The whole congregation, having heard the command of Christ, go, and do as He says. They have faith in Jesus and His Word.
It is while on their way that they are all cleansed. For “God certainly gives daily bread to everyone.” But only one, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praise God with a loud voice, and fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks. The others had faith for a time. But as soon as their need was met, that faith vanished. They probably always remembered the Rabbi who healed them, but that was all they wanted.
But the Rabbi stood there asking, Where are the nine? You see, He has more gifts to give. More than manna and clothing and shoes and turkeys and pie. More than all those First Article gifts. But no one came back for the rest, to give glory to God except this foreigner. The foreigner, the Samaritan, comes back. In faith he returns to the true Temple, falls down in worship and praise, prayer and thanksgiving, and more he gets. Your faith has saved you.
The Lord always has more. That is His way. More than you can ever imagine. Gifts abounding. Superabundant in grace. It is as I shared with the catechumens a few weeks ago: faith is like the empty trick or treaters bag. And you come here and receive what the Lord has to give. Forgiveness of sins. Amen. In the bag. Life and salvation. Amen. In the bag. Mercy, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, self-control. Amen and amen. In the bag. Take and eat, the Body of Christ. Amen. In the bag. Take and drink, the Blood of Christ. Amen. In the bag.
This is the way of faith, beloved. To return again and again and receive what Christ Jesus, from His Cross, by His innocent suffering and death, by His glorious resurrection and ascension, and by His coming again, continues to give. For in the end He gives you nothing less than Himself, for He is, as Luther put it in the Large Catechism: “an eternal fountain that gushes forth abundantly nothing but what is good.”
Tonight and tomorrow, beloved, the liturgy continues as you gather at your tables, some of His gifts before you, others of His gifts around you, His great gift within you, your table and your life is connected here to the Lord’s Table and His Life. Not just on Thanksgiving or the Lord’s Day, but everyday. “The Church lives in thanksgiving.” Not only here in the divine liturgy, but out there, in the liturgy after the liturgy, as you become daily bread unto one another. Always returning here, as the Samaritan, to Jesus, who bestows ever anew and always, forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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