"A Game-Changing Attitude"

Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – September 8, 2013

Centenary United Methodist Church

Psalm 66:1-8; Luke 17:11-19

 

    Our lesson today is the well-known episode of the ten lepers. We remember from the story that only one of the nine returned to thank Jesus for radically changing his life.   In some respects, we would be hasty in our response if we judged the nine men too harshly.  We may be more like the nine than most of us realize.  

    Think about this -- could anyone be cured of leprosy and not feel excitement and gratitude? All of them felt this way. No doubt, they could hardly wait to be examined by the priests so that they could go home to their families. Try to imagine those family reunions!

    What distracted them from expressing their gratitude to Jesus? What distracts us from being more appreciative?   For example, how many of us have been thoughtful enough to write the surgeon who performed a procedure on us? How many of us take the time to tell the road crew how much we appreciate their filling in the pothole in front of our house?

    A number of people remain cynical and say things like, “I think I thanked that surgeon enough with what I had to pay him.”  Regarding the pothole, “Well, it is about time!  That hole has been there for over a year."

    If we are really honest with ourselves, we take most of our blessings for granted.  In fact, most of us only think about how convenient and beautiful traffic signals are, when we drive up on one that is dark and people have stopped taking turns.  And yet, who among us would ever think that gratitude is not among our values?

    Among the markers that tell us that a gracious spirit is not automatic is how easily we allow little things to upset us.  For example, how many men respond creatively when they tear a shoelace while getting dressed for work?  How many women getting ready to leave for Hamilton respond with patience when one last glance in the mirror reveals a coffee stain on their blouse?  They find themselves mumbling, “This is not going to be a good day.”  Why do we allow minor pauses in life to set the tone for the rest of our day? The nine lepers were in a hurry and so are we.

    Let us consider the one leper that returned immediately upon noticing that his lesions had disappeared.  His first response was to find Jesus and thank him. He did not need a second opinion from the priests. His primary impulse was to find Jesus, throw himself on the ground at his feet and express his profound appreciation.  Luke added an interesting piece of information to his story.  He said, “This man was a Samaritan.” Jesus never missed an opportunity to address his own people’s race issues.

    The people that have developed gratitude as a game-changer know that for every inconvenience there were hundreds of days when there were none. They understand that for every rude word others have spoken to them, there were hundreds of people who have been polite and courteous. They realize that all of us have moments when we are not at our best, and they are prepared to absorb all the imperfections of others with a patient spirit.

    One of the lessons my parents modeled for all of us was how to express gratitude. When someone complimented us, dad would say, “Now, what do you say?” Following our birthdays, Christmas mornings or any occasion when we received a gift, my mother would say, “Don't forget to write your thank you notes.”  Not only did she furnish packets of “thank you” cards, but she would remind the four of us every day until the task was done. 

    I can remember sitting at my desk with the list of people I had to write, what each had given to me and no thoughts would come. There was never any question that I was happy to receive their gifts, but having to express my gratitude in writing created resistance and frustration.  In fact, I even dreaded having to do it.  Why?  Expressing gratitude in this fashion had not yet become an automatic response in my life.  

    When we complain about inconveniences or detours in our schedules, we are telling the universe how fragile we are, how intolerant we have become when people do not live up to our expectations, and how limited we are in having patience with life’s sudden changes.  We reveal our limited perspective on the much bigger picture.  We only give voice to how unhappy we are when an unanticipated event evokes the drama of our impatience.

    There was a time when I resented people throwing trash out of the windows of their cars.  After arriving in Bermuda/st1:place>, a teacher gave me an entirely different point of view.  I do not know his name, but he devotes a lot of time picking up what careless people discard.   He patiently does his best to keep Bermuda beautiful instead of allowing resentment to take root in his spirit.

    One day after watching Lois stooping repeatedly to pick up trash, he presented her with one of these grabbers that are given to knee and hip replacement patients.  Someone told me that he used to be the President of Bermuda College.  Both of us have become disciples of this man since we met him.  He lives his dream of keeping Bermuda beautiful instead of becoming frustrated by what he cannot change – the lack of thoughtfulness in some people.

    Bermuda has had an enormous impact on us.  We are enormously grateful to be living here.  We now consider it a privilege to pick up trash because of this man.  We enjoy planting new flowers, trees and shrubs in the yard and to do everything possible to maintain the beauty of our gardens. We treat our home like it was ours.  We know the privilege it is to live here and we have recognized that Bermuda is only on loan to all of us for a season. 

    Complaining, blaming and looking for flaws in others go away when gratitude has become a game-changer.  The world is not greener on the other side of the fence. Both sides of the fence are green when we learn to perceive life with a spirit of joy and gratitude for how truly blessed we are. All of us have plenty of creative responses when gratitude has become the game-changing perspective we use to interpret what we experience.

    During the International News on television, we have seen the rows of Syrian children, men and women that were killed recently by odorless sarin gas.  Two million people have fled into neighboring countries just to survive during this civil war.  We cannot identity with what those people are experiencing.  This atrocity has prompted leaders in the United States to seek revenge.  In more diplomatic terms, they say, “To make the Assad government accountable.”  We do not need to rehash in my message this morning all the drama surrounding this decision.

    Think of the example that would be set if the leadership in the United States responded with profound grief for what has happened.  Instead of creating more anger by a military response, suppose the U.S. devoted financial resources to quite literally turn swords into plows?  What would happen if the U.S. encouraged the international community to devote resources to give hope to the millions of children, men and women that are still alive, wandering in confusion and fear because they no longer can help themselves?

    Such a response would represent a radical shift in thinking unlike any the world has seen for a long time. Someone, some day will have the courage to stand up to insane behavior by responding with what teaches sanity, civility and what it means to live together peacefully in a diverse world.  Grateful people will always help others to piece together what is left of their lives without creating even more pieces. 

    People remain unaware of how powerful we can become to alter our destinies by making gratitude a game-changer. One small adjustment in our attitudes can move mountains, save marriages, change the course of our individual destiny or alter the path of a nation’s foreign policy.  There is nothing that changes history more than an idea whose time has come. 

    Such thoughts may appear counter-intuitive, but they work because they are rooted in love rather than frustration.  Love creates while frustration is one of the early warning signs that leprosy of the spirit has begun its attack as it tries to shroud our radiance.

    We understand this truth but we find it difficult to put it into practice. We tend to drop to our knees and ask God to move our mountains for us. What is God to do when we pray for what we appear unwilling to do ourselves?  Jesus told the one leper, “Get up and go; your faith has made you well.”

    Are we to conclude that the nine had their leprosy return because they had a different response?  No.  That did not happen.  The passage clearly states that all of them were healed. Perhaps the most significant message here is that gratitude made the one leper well, while the nine were only cured of their disease.  

    Those of us that have developed gratitude as a game-changer will experience a unique quality of energy coming from every pore of our lives.  We have wellness and healing working in every cell of our bodies. Jesus could heal diseases, but he could not perform transplant-surgery on anyone's spirit.  Developing gratitude as a game-changer is up to us.  It is a matter of making gratitude a consistent response every day. 

    Yes, we have challenges. Yes, we have moments when life's circumstances either evoke our fears or cause us to stretch. Yes, we meet people that exhibit destructive values that thankfully never took root within us. Yes, there are times when we choose to surrender something we want for the sake of others.

    Yet, when we open our eyes to the magnificence of God’s world, to the smiles of children, to recognize that we are loved, to realize that we have more personal freedoms than our ancestors, is there any person among us that is not filled with gratitude and thanksgiving?  Only when gratitude becomes the framework through which we greet life, does it remain a game-changer for our attitudes everyday.

    Like the nine lepers, we might think of nothing greater to do than to return to our families and say,

Ten of us cried out to Jesus of Nazareth, 'Jesus! Master! Have pity on us!' and he turned aside and healed all of us. We no longer have to return to the leper colonies! We no longer have to look forward to a slow and agonizing death. We are clean!  We are clean!

One of the lepers, however, put off such celebrating with others. He had something that he first had to attend to; he had to return to Jesus and say, “Thank you.”   When all of us can observe our lives through the eyes that are infinitely grateful to be a part of God’s created order, gratitude has become a game-changer.