8th September Trinity 2010 Giving Thanks

8th September Trinity
Luke 17: 11-19

And it happened as he was on the way to Jerusalem that he passed through the middle of Samaria and Galilee.

And as he was entering a certain village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and they raised their voice, saying

“Master, Jesus, have mercy on us!”

And seeing them he said, “Go, and show yourselves to the priests.” And it came about that as they went on their way, they were cleansed.

Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and fell on his face at his feet, and thanked him--and he was a Samaritan.

And Jesus responded and said, “Were not all ten cleansed? And the nine—where are they? Was no one seen returning to praise the revelation of God’s working in this event except this foreigner?”

And he said to him, “Rise, and go your way. The power of your trust has made you strong.”

8^th August/September Trinity

September 12, 2010

Luke 17:11-19

  

A plant is rooted in the fertile earth, which gives it its strength. It blossoms and bears fruit in the light of the sun. We, too, are planted on earth. Much of our strength, our groundedness in upward striving, comes from her.

Our souls, too, have their ground. They are best cultivated in the fertile soil of trust, a trust in the divine and loving wisdom that permeates the universe. When we plant our hearts in the solid trust in divine providence, our hearts, upward striving, can blossom. The blossoming of the heart in the light of the universe is gratitude. Trust in providence and gratitude for all the events in our lives becomes our healing.

Gratitude lies at the very core of the Act of Consecration of Man, the communion service. We perform this service to divine providence, in imitation of Christ. The night before He was to die a human death, He gave thanks to His Father. He gave His Father an offering of deep gratitude before breaking the bread that would become His body; before drinking the cup of destiny that would become the wine of His blood. He offered Himself in a great blossoming of thanks for all that He had been allowed to do, and for all that He would be able to do in the future. He was thus able to reveal God’s work in the destiny of humanity, and the destiny of the world. He was able to reveal the healing of the world.

And His deep gratitude was returned to Him as deep strength for the days and centuries ahead. For Christ is still Here on earth. He deeply trusts in the workings of what His Father provides in the world. He is deeply grateful for all that He is allowed to do for the world. He is deeply grateful for all who join with Him in His work.

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8th September Trinity 2011, Our Tenth Part

8th September Trinity

Luke 17: 11-19

And it happened as he was on the way to Jerusalem that he passed through the middle of Samaria and Galilee.

And as he was entering a certain village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and they raised their voice, saying

“Master, Jesus, have mercy on us!”

And seeing them he said, “Go, and show yourselves to the priests.” And it came about that as they went on their way, they were cleansed.

Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and fell on his face at his feet, and thanked him--and he was a Samaritan.

And Jesus responded and said, “Were not all ten cleansed? And the nine—where are they? Was no one seen returning to praise the revelation of God’s working in this event except this foreigner?”

And he said to him, “Rise, and go your way. The power of your trust has made you strong.”

8^th August/September Trinity

Ten Lepers, James Christensen

September 11, 2011

Luke 17: 11-19

  

Sometimes the characters in a story can be a reflection of the separate parts of one individual human being. Today’s reading can be seen as the different parts of our souls. We all have nine lepers within, outcasts who stand by the wayside and beg for mercy. And when by some chance a hope or a wish is granted, we rush off to the priests, the representatives of the establishment, to certify that can return to our former community, to our old life.

Yet within is also the tenth part, the one who recognizes the higher self, the guide along the way, the Christ. This tenth part, this sliver of ourselves that is connected to our real future, recognizes Christ as the mediator of God’s healing grace. He turns to Christ to give humble but forceful and heartfelt thanks.

And Christ, our guide along the way, says to this tenth part of our soul, headed toward the future—Rise up. Continue on your path. Your trust in Me, in God’s power, gives you strength. The poet e.e.cummings captures some of what that tenth part of us can feel:

i thank You God for most this amazing

day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything

which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,

and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth

day of life and love and wings: and of the gay

great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing

breathing any--lifted from the no

of all nothing--human merely being

doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and

now the eyes of my eyes are opened)[1]


www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1]  e.e. cummings, Complete Poems 1904-1962

8th September Trinity 2012, Tithe of Gratitude

Luke 17: 11-19

And it happened as he was on the way to Jerusalem that he passed through the middle of Samaria and Galilee.

And as he was entering a certain village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and they raised their voice, saying

“Master, Jesus, have mercy on us!”

And seeing them he said, “Go, and show yourselves to the priests.” And it came about that as they went on their way, they were cleansed.

Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and fell on his face at his feet, and thanked him--and he was a Samaritan.

And Jesus responded and said, “Were not all ten cleansed? And the nine—where are they? Was no one seen returning to praise the revelation of God’s working in this event except this foreigner?”

And he said to him, “Rise, and go your way. The power of your trust has made you strong.”

8^th August Trinity

Ten Lepers, James Christensen

September 9, 2012

Luke 17:11-19

The ancient Hebrews were required to tithe, that is, to give one tenth of their income back to God by offering it to the temple. In today’s New Testament reading, one outcast in ten returns to give thanks to the Son of God for what has happened to him. We could read this story’s characters as being the different parts of one human being.

We all feel ourselves divided, ill, outcast from heaven. We ask for mercy, to be healed and rejoined to the community of the heavens. In the story, all ten who ask are granted their request. Yet only one returns with a heart-offering, a tithe of gratitude. However, Christ, the Lord of Karma and our Destiny-Guide, notes that this is only a tenth.

Do we remember to be grateful for everything that happens to us? For our destiny would be immeasurably aided if we were to give whole-hearted, one hundred percent thanks to God for everything that happens to us. In this way, we align ourselves with our own destiny. We receive it with an open heart. And we can work with it in a creative way.

We give thanks for everything, both ‘good’ and ‘bad’. For we know that Christ and our guardian angel mean only the best for us; they are always there to guide us, especially when we return to them with thanks. Knowing this and expressing our gratitude makes us strong. And this power of trust in the beneficence of God, becomes our own power to make good all that happens.

So we say in the words of e.e. cummings:

i thank You God for most this amazing

day:…

(i who have died am alive again today,

…

how should tasting touching hearing seeing

breathing …

doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and

now the eyes of my eyes are opened)[1]


www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] ~ e.e. cummings ~(Complete Poems 1904-1962)

8th September Trinity 2013, Feed the Living Divine

8^th August Trinity

Luke 17: 5-10

And the apostles said to the Lord, “Strengthen our faith!”

And the Lord said, “If you had faith as full of life as a mustard seed, you could say to this sycamine [mulberry] tree: be uprooted and be planted in the sea!  And it would obey you.

Who among you who has a servant for plowing or for herding sheep, who will say to him when he comes home from the field, “Come at once and sit down at table?” Rather you will say, “Prepare the meal for me, put on your apron and wait on me until I eat and drink; afterwards you can eat and drink too.” Does the servant deserve special thanks for doing his duty? Think of yourselves like that; when you have done all that you have been told to do, then say: “we are feeble servants, we have only done what we were obliged to do.”

8^th September Trinity

Christ washes Peter's feet, Ford Madox Brown 1856

September 15, 2013

Luke 17: 5 – 10

As earthly creatures, we believe in the things we can see, hear, taste, touch.  We have faith that these things exist, and that what we do will have certain results. Our faith is like a tree planted in the earthly realm. It is rooted in our experiences; its crown is our thoughts and actions, based on what we see and hear and know.

Over lifetimes we come to develop certain competencies; we become masters in the earthly realm.

The sea has always been a metaphor, a symbol of the living, ever-flowing world of the Spirit. This is the world of our origins, the world that gave birth to the earthly.  In this reading, Christ is suggesting that we take our earthly tree of faith, of belief and trust in the earthly material world, and transplant it into the invisible world of the Divine Spirit.  When we do this, we become humble servants of the Living Divine World from which we have come. And interestingly, in the picture Christ uses, our first task is to feed and nourish the Master of the Living World.

We feed the Living Divine by offering the Master the substance of our noblest thoughts, the love of our hearts, our devoted wills. The Act of Consecration of Man is the archetype, the pattern and practice for how we do this. We listen to the Word of the Spirit; we offer ourselves in humble awareness of our unworthiness. What we offer He then gives back to us transformed, as our meal, our nourishment of soul, as nourishment for the world.

Christ himself enacted the archetype of the humble servant, in His washing of His disciples’ feet at His last supper with them. He continues to do so with us today.