Thanks for Nothing!

Here is my sermon for Thanksgiving.
I hope it is helpful and a blessing to you.

John 17:11-19

Day of Thanksgiving      

November 20/21, 2012      

Redeemer, Olathe, KS & Good Shepherd, Fremont, NE

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen

“Thanks for Nothing!”  I’m sure you’ve heard that phrase before. 

And, very rarely, is it a good thing to hear. 

Not only is it sarcasm,

but it almost always is an unveiled display of displeasure concerning your contribution or input to a given situation.

But when we see ourselves as God does through Christ, we can thank our savior that because of Him God sees NOTHING wrong with us.

Let me repeat that:  God sees nothing wrong with us!

Therefore we can pray, “Dear God, thanks for nothing…thanks for holding nothing against us.”

Our Gospel lesson today tells the story of the 10 lepers.  And, as I have spent the last 6 ½ years in Olathe, I think I might now know where the story for the Wizard of Oz may have come from.

Jesus was traveling in the country between Jerusalem and Samaria when these 10 lepers approached him and asked for his mercy.

This could have been alms to help them buy food,

Or, possibly, a place to find shelter, or salve for their wounds

Or, perhaps, they might have heard about Jesus and his miracles and hoped that he would actually heal them of their disease.

They were just as hapless and helpless as Dorothy, the Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man

Well, Jesus simply told them to present themselves to the priest (the wizard?)

There was a law banishing lepers from within the city walls as a way to prevent epidemics from spreading to the general populace

Therefore, there had to be someone who would determine who could and could not be considered part of  the community fellowship

And the priest was the only one in town who had that authority to declare a person healed—who could allow them to go back home. 

Because, as we all know, (click your heels three times) “there’s no place like home”.

And, so, it made sense to these men when Jesus sent them away with these words.

If they wanted to be accepted back inside the city walls, they had to see the priest

If they wanted their old life back they had to prove they were clean.

And maybe, just maybe, this Jesus had enough clout that the priest, when he heard they had been sent by Jesus, would let them go back home.

Well, along the way, something amazing happened; they were cleansed!  Healed!

However, the only one who returned to thank Jesus was the Samaritan leper.

At first glance it would seem that the other nine were not thankful for being healed

But I don’t think that this was the case.

Most people can be thankful about the good things in their lives, even those other nine lepers.

But being full of thanks wasn’t what made the Samaritan leper special to Jesus

What made him special was that he returned to give thanks to the one who made him whole again

He didn’t keep his thanks to himself.  He gave it back to the one who had filled him with such a blessing.

We can apply this concept to our lives as well.

These next few days the vast majority of households in this country will be celebrating a day of thankfulness

They might be saying to each other, “We don’t have everything, but we’ve got enough.”

 Or, “We’re sure glad we aren’t as bad off as “those” people.

But that feeling of thankfulness is not what is so special about any of those celebrations. 

What will make our day special to us and to God is not our being full of thanks (or turkey and stuffing, or anything else, for that matter)

But our giving of that thanks to God

That is, we are aware of, acknowledge and express appreciation to the one who is the Giver of Good Things

The Samaritan leper was the only one of the 10

 who gave thanks as a result of his being full of thanks

And this, I think, is what pleased Jesus so much.

It’s not that Jesus needed the recognition or the appreciation

It’s not even that they were required to offer it—for they were all still healed

But Jesus does want to hear that we know our freedom from sin and our healing comes from God

Just as a mother and father desire the love of their child, God desires our worship and thanks.

In their eyes, the lepers’ very lives were in the hands of the priest

Only he could declare them as clean or unclean.

But this Samaritan didn’t go to the priest

to prove and receive his bill of good health

and restore his newly “clean” place back in the community of the Jews.

Because, despite how healthy he might appear, he would always be “unclean” as a Samaritan.

As a Samaritan, the words of the Wizard, I mean, the priest, were worthless to him.

Being declared physically unclean by another man who detested him for who he was held no value to him

But giving thanks to the one who made him whole and gave him back his life, well, that “was a horse of a different color!”

Surely, the other nine were excited as they realized they were healed

I’m sure they ran all the way to the temple so that they could get the official word as soon as possible

They had families and livelihoods to tend to.

They had lost time to make up for

They had lots of living to catch up that they were sure they had missed out on while they were banished from their friends and family, left to rot outside the city walls.

But then what?

The Samaritan, on the other hand, was moved to action

Upon realizing he was well again, his first thought was not about himself,

He didn’t go around bragging about his newfound wellness.

He didn’t try to make up for lost time.

Once he was healed, he knew that Jesus was the reason

And so he returned to the one who gave him his life;

 Who performed the miracle by which he knew that no matter what others thought of him,

 he was clean, and well and whole by the miracle works of Jesus

He wanted to go back to Jesus and say, “Thanks for nothing!”  

Thanks for taking away all that made me unacceptable

Thanks for taking away all that kept me from earning my way in life

Thanks for taking away that which kept me from those I love.

Thanks for taking away that which gave me continuous reminders of my wretched, stinking, scar covered and scabby self.

Thanks for making sure there was nothing on me which makes me objectionable before the sight of others.

“Thanks for nothing!”

You and I are that Samaritan.

In the Old Testament God told the Israelites to shun those who did not follow his commandments,

especially his desire that they should remain a pure race of people.

Because his promise of a Savior would be fulfilled through that special nation.

But in the New Testament Jesus points out that since he had fulfilled that prophecy, there is no longer Hebrew or Gentile

Now, there are Children of light

and children of darkness

Before we became part of the Body of Christ, we were like the Old Testament Samaritans

We were unclean and unholy and infected with sin, instead of leprosy

Like the Samaritans who could not come to God in his temple, we too had no ability to know God

We were just as grotesque to God as those lepers appeared to the other townspeople.

We were just as separated from God and his Church as those lepers were from the people of Jerusalem.

And we too were outcasts, because

God hates sin and is not found where sin pervades

The apostle John writes in his first epistle, “Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the begging.  The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.”  And, by implication, the children of the devil.

And just like those four hapless souls who trekked down that yellow brick road, our salvation cannot not be found in anything we do.

It’s found in what we believe;

It’s found in the faith that has been placed within us from the Holy Spirit.

It’s too bad that sin doesn’t leave a physical mark on us like leprosy does.

If those who live in sin and separation from God showed on their bodies the result of sin,

they would be grotesque and ugly, indeed!

And then, perhaps, one could see more clearly the need for cleansing and healing.

And we could know for certain who was and was not saved.

But, thankfully, we are not separated from God, nor grotesquely maimed by sin.

Because Jesus took away our sin by his excruciating death on the cross,

 only the perfect Son of God could live through that separation

and make atonement for all sin.

Because, through our baptisms,

we are Christ’s Body here on earth,

we are seen by God as that sinless person born of God

and not the sinner born of the devil.

And instead of telling us to go to the priest,

 he tells us to go to the Father to be declared righteous.

We go to Him to ask for his forgiveness,

to ask for him to declare us as clean

and free of the sores and scars of sin

And as we are on that trip to go see the Father and ask for his forgiveness, a wonderful thing happens to us;

We notice that all those sins are gone.

We notice that they have all been washed away by that great act of redemption Christ carried out on the cross for us.

And you and I become pure, healthy, and presentable to God the Father as his Children of the light.

We can be thankful because there is NOTHING evil for the Father to see in us any longer.

Instead of going to the Father to beg for mercy as leprous sinners,

We show up at this throne as perfect in his sight; sinless and saintly.

As people who are perfected in the sight of God, what then is to be our response?

Quite frankly, as Christians, even we have a common tendency to overlook the obvious, just as the lepers did.

We sit in church and thank God for his forgiveness and for making us his children, 

but we forget at what great cost that kinship cost him; the loss of his very own Son.

We forget to thank him for his sacrifice in addition to the gifts he gives

As we think about giving thanks this weekend, just about everyone in our country will come up with a laundry list of things they are thankful for

But very few will actually give thanks for them or for the most important gift they have been given:

Forgiveness by grace through faith

Which was won by Jesus on the cross at Calvary

At this time of national Thanksgiving we are given the privilege of not only giving thanks to God for all the good things he has blessed us with, but also for the things we no longer have

We can give thanks that we have nothing to feel guilty about

In Christ we can give thanks that we have nothing blotting our record before God the Father for which he would require penance or satisfaction.

We can give thanks that on Easter morning a tomb with nothing in it sealed our fate as ransomed souls who one day will be with God in heaven.

We can give thanks that on the last day, when Christ comes with trumpets sounding and an army of angels at his side, our graves will be found to have nothing in them as well

Because we will have been raised from the dead

And placed at the seat of honor on God’s right hand side.

And in the midst of all that earthly nothingness, we will finally realize the complete fullness, the “everything” that God has in store for us in heaven.

And now you know what it means to faithfully say to God, “Thanks for nothing?” no, “Thanks for everything!”

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

The Obligitory Election Cycle Non-Sermon

In today's blog:  How you should vote and why you should be concerned about the latest Pew Poll on Religious affiliation.

Its that time again when we are on the cusp of electing a new President, all of our Representatives to the House and 1/3 of our Senators.  Its an anxious, yet at the same time, exciting time to be an American.

In times like these I often get asked, "Pastor, who do you think I should vote for?" or, "What do you think about ...xyz issue?"  Questions which I try my best to dodge, lest my political leanings would obscure the grace of Christ I preach, but more on that later.

As a church we are non-political.  Yet, as Lutherans with an understanding of Luther's Two Kingdoms theology, we believe that each of us is called to be active in the political process.  What does that mean?  Well let me give one example:  As a church we may value all life and we might preach against certain laws which degrade life or put it at risk, but we can not officially endorse specific candidates.

Why not?  Well, the main reason explained to me is that we would risk loosing our tax exempt status as a religious institution.  I haven't checked that out fully, but I would venture to guess that its a protestant dodge to committing to anything controversial.  After all, we often see the Roman Catholic bishops and priests and non-denominational preachers using their bully pulpits for political action and non of them have gotten in trouble with the IRS--yet.

The point is, as Luther explains in his explanation of the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer (in both his small and large catechisms) we are to ask God for our daily bread which includes good government.  We are praying that God would give us leaders who would not molest or harm us and our free exercise of our religion.  In Luther's day there were no elections, so perhaps this prayer was prayed more fervently as kings fell from and ascended to their thrones.

But in 21st century USA, God has placed a great amount of that selection process into the hands of us, the voters--so then, when we pray to God for daily bread, we pray that he would move us, and others, to vote for those who would best serve the people they rule over so that we might obey and follow them as the authorities they have been appointed to be.

This brings us to my next point.  One of our Redeemer members, Bryan Hileman, was reading the KC Star this AM where they had an article about the most recent Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey (you can also click on the title to read it) in which for the first time in its history, Protestants no longer are in the majority.  No big deal, right?  We are a pluralistic society in which all views are tollerated and, even, accepted, right?

Well, yes, but I feel this trend is very disturbing to us a the Church because it convicts us not doing what Christ has called us to do as believers, AND, it also means that we have, potentially, abdicated our influence in providing godly leaders.

"Come on Perry.  Aren't you on a bit dramatic?"  No, and hear me out on this.  As protestants we are defined by the fact that we preach that the grace of God is free in Jesus Christ--that there is nothing man can do to merit eternal life and salvation.  We are the only branch of Christianity which preaches this and Christianity is the only religion which does not center salvation on the works of the self.  We believe that we have the best-option, if you will, of all the flavors of religion at the spiritual soda fountain.  We are the (fill in the name of your favorite ice cream flavor here) and the rest of the choices are like rubarb-onion-sardine slush.  Yet, we are not moving the product.  It sits in the cooler while all the other, clearly inferior, choices are being scooped up like mad.

Why?  We have been hiding our flavor in the back, where no one can see it and where no one can taste it.  We have been so content to sit with our brand of faith, hording its delicious goodness, perhaps even afraid that it will run out (did we forget about the feeding of the 5000?) that we just stopped passing it around.  After all, we were in the overwhelming majority for 200 years, why would we worry about sharing grace when "everyone we know" already has it.  Well, clearly, they don't.  And that has political implications.

If people who truly know and understand grace are no longer in the majority, it will be that much more difficult to elect those who do.  Even now, none of our Supreme Court Justices are protestant and nearly have of them are ready to retire, ready to be replaced.  When someone knows grace, they give grace.  When someone does not know grace, they live under the Law.  And someone who is weighed down by the Law will tend to make others bend and bow to that law that they so loathe themselves.  And that's the kind of rule that our forefathers sought to escape when they fled Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

So the long and short of this little note today is you need to go out and vote this November.  Vote for those who you feel will uphold and support the kind of life that you value and uphold living under the Grace of Christ, rather than the laws of men.  But more importantly, in order to make that choice easier, perhaps we should be more focused on our first calling; to make disciples of Jesus Christ, by sharing that most-important gift of all with everyone we know--the Grace of Jesus.

Blessings on your deliberations and my God bless each one of you with his grace.  And, may God Bless America through your votes.

Is New Really Better? Well, no, and, yes! A comparison of CFL's and Baptism

This might get a little long but, trust me, there is a point.  Skip to the end if you want to preview that point.

I get a newsletter from my electric company every once in a while telling me how wonderfully they supply power to my home and how worthy they are of my $188/mo.  Today's email featured CFL's and the fact that incandescent bulbs have been declared illegal within a couple of years and you can't even get 100 watt versions anymore. 

This really bummed me out.  I recently got a pretty good deal on some CFL bulbs and now I know why.  They are terrible.  I bought two types; 13 watt (replaces 60 watt standard bulbs) and replacements for the spot-lights in my kitchen and bath.  I think the worst part is that they don't work right away.  When I flick the switch there is now this 1/2 second delay between power to the bulb and its lighting up.  Mind you, a 1/2 second won't kill anyone.  But then when they finally fire up, they aren't really working either.  They cast such a dim light that you can actually look up at them and see the coiled inner bulb inside the reflector housing of the spotlight.  It takes 1 to 2 minutes for them to finally create enough heat or whatever is needed to get them to shine at their fullest potential luminosity.

And then there is disposal--nothing lasts forever, you know.  Did you know that these things have mercury in them and that you cannot, legally, dispose of them in the trash in many states?  And even if it is legal where you live, would you want to knowing the horrible things it does to the environment and your health?  (read more about it here and here).

But as I read further, there were more problems.  How many times have we been changing a bulb when it slips out of our fingers and breaks on the tile/wood floor?  Well, if this happens to you with a CFL bulb, you might as well call in a Haz-mat team and declare your home a Superfund Cleanup site.  Here is the nonchelant way in which they instruct you to do your own cleanup.  Note, they come from the EPA!!   That's right, the Environmental PROTECTION Agency.

It would seem that in our human quest to be better, cleaner, more efficient, whatever, that we are willing as a society to overlook some very sobering facts.  Facts that could be quite deadly if not taken seriously, yet, it would seem to me that they haven't been taken seriously.  After all, how many Americans are going to add a third bin in the Garage?  TRASH-check, RECYCLE-check, TOXIC WASTE-what?!?!?!  I know our trash service doesn't pick that up, so who is really going to dispose of those things properly.  I suspect we will all do what we always to.  Feign ignorance and just hide our dirty little secrets in the trash.

We do this spiritually as well.  We  say we're sorry, but do we really mean it.  We pretend that we didn't mean to cheat on our taxes or that we were only going "5 or 10 over" the speed limit as if its a fluid or relative guideline which slides depending upon  our personal wants or needs.  We do this will all of the Law.  We don't put God first, and we seldom love our neighbors as ourselves.

But God offers the greatest clean-up plan out there--its called grace.  What's that?  Its the free gift of forgiveness available to all people because of what Jesus did on the cross in our place.  He paid for our sin.  He is the haz-mat containment unit which mitigates our sin.  He allows us to enter God's presence and his kingdom without us stinking up the place, because the stench of sin has been removed from us.  Of particular help in understanding this is the beautiful act of Baptism whereby all sin that we inherited from our fore-bearers, all the way back to Adam and Eve, is literally washed away from us.  The one toxin which could keep us out of heaven, is mitigated forever.  No sticky tape, no wet paper towels, no evacuations of the house.  Just pure, unadulterated love and forgiveness.

That kind of mercy is not only refreshing, but powerful--trans-formative even.  Having been transformed, then, you now look for a way to live in that new state of Grace.  You ask questions like, "How can I show God how much I appreciate what he has done for me?" and, "who can I share this wonderful feeling with?" and, "who do I know who doesn't have this grace?  How can I share God's mercy with them?"

Each of us who has been baptized is this new creation--we have been born again.

Don't feel it?  Don't worry, that doesn't mean you aren't forgiven or that you are not a new being, but perhaps its just been awhile since you spent time considering it.  Each of us moves through life at such a fast pace, that perhaps we have feigned ignorance about just how far from the depths of hell we have been snatched.  Maybe we haven't truly prepared ourselves before confession and absolution?  Maybe we haven't really considered what it took to place the body and blood of Christ in that bread and wine?  But, maybe, the next time we replace that old light bulb with the new one, we will.  And when we put things in perspective, the grace and mercy we receive in Absolution and Holy Communion is just that much sweeter.

Peace today.
Perry