8th Trinity III 2021, Capable of Great Love

  

8th Trinity III

Luke 17:11-19

And as he was on the way to Jerusalem, 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 voices, 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. 

James Christensen

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 himꟷand 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 healed you."

8^th August Trinity

September 12, 2021

Luke 17:11-19 

We human beings can rise above the immediate moment. We can see the bigger picture, the great sweep of the seasons. From this elevated awareness, we have learned to foresee and plan, to plant and harvest. By rising somewhat above nature, we have also developed truly human attributes: for example, to feel and express gratitude. 

The leper who returned to Christ to offer his thanks was the only one in ten who returned to express his gratitude. The nine accepted what had happened to them as a joyous event of the moment. Most likely, they felt tremendous gratitude. But the tenth recognized that he also needed to give something back. Christ says to him that what lives in him as trust and gratitude makes him strong. In offering gratitude, the man's evolving humanity was strengthened. 

The important element here is not just feeling grateful, but giving—opening ourselves and pouring out the soul substance of gratitude in return for all we have been given. Being able to offer gratitude is a necessary precondition to being able to give love. And learning to love is our primary task. 

God gives through nature because He loves; our giving thanks is a step in learning to love. Developing great gratitude is a necessary step along the way toward developing our full humanity, and ultimately our divinity, the kingdom of God within. 

Oleg Shuplyak

In the Act of Consecration, we celebrate a Eucharist. The word in Greek means to give thanks. This giving of thanks is expressed in both words and actions. Christ takes the bread…the cup…and gives thanks to his Father. Christ offers thanks to his Father and offers all of Himself in love to the world. His great gratitude supports His great love. In the Eucharist, we are dedicating to God our full humanness by pouring out a deed of gratitude so that one day we too will be capable of great love.

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8th Trinity III 2020, This Amazing Day

8^th 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. 

James Christensen

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 Trinity

September 13, 2020

Luke 17:11-19 

The ancient Hebrews were required to tithe, that is, to give one-tenth of their

Alexander Master

income back to God by offering it to the temple. In today’s New Testament reading, one in ten of the formerly ill outcasts 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 a single human being. 

If we are honest, we all recognize that we are 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

Kate Austin, Praise Him

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).*

 

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

*e.e. cummings, (Complete Poems 1904-1962)

 

8th August Trinity 2018, I Thank You

8^th August Trinity

Sep 9, 2018

Luke 17:11-19

James Christensen

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 healing his destiny. 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.

C. Shuplyak

Can we remember to be grateful for everything that happens to us? For our destiny would be immeasurably aided if we were to give wholehearted, 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 can 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 toward our future, especially when we return to them with thanks. Knowing this and expressing our gratitude makes us strong. And this power of trust and gratitude for the beneficence of God becomes our own power to perceive the good in all that happens. Christ himself demonstrates this by giving thanks to His Father before uniting himself with bread and wine, His chosen destiny.

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)*

---

* e.e. cummings, in Complete Poems 1904-1962

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8th September Trinity 2015, Fog of Old Unease

8^th September Trinity

Ten Lepers, James Christensen

September 13, 2015

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 September Trinity

September 13, 2015

Luke 17: 11 – 19

Leprosy is a disease that is obvious to everyone, for it sits on the surface. And because of contagion, the lepers of Jesus’ time were sent away from their religious and social community.

In our time, it may be that we suffer from a kind of inner leprosy. It may be that our souls show a certain deformation, obvious to all – a deep and abiding anger, or an irresponsible flightiness, or an excessive degree of self-preoccupation. Or as one wisdom teacher puts it, Certainty can become an illness that creates hate and greed.[1] Aware of it in us, others are unable to maintain community with us, and we feel isolated.

The first step is to become aware of our inner illness. And then we can ask Christ, the Master Human Being, to help us. And like the lepers in the story, he will send us back to our religious community, to show that we are aware of our flaws and are working to change them. For the ills can only persist when we are unaware.

But before anything else, the true source of our soul healing lies the strength of our trust, and results in expressing gratitude, in a loud voice, and with deep humility. Thanks to our community for our awareness of soul sickness. Thanks to God for his merciful attention to our need for help in overcoming the sickness of sin. Thanks to our angel for progress made on the way back into the community of those who are aware of the health-giving power of Christ.  As the poet John O’Donohue says,

Leper Healed, Adriaen Collaert

May you use this illness

As a lantern to illuminate

The new qualities that will emerge in you.

May your fragile harvesting of this slow light

Help to release whatever has become false in you.

May you trust this light to clear a path

Through all the fog of old unease and anxiety…[2]

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[1] “Certainty”  Tukaram in Love Poems From God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, versions by Daniel Ladinsky

[2]“ A Blessing for a Friend on the Arrival of Illness”, John O’Donohue, in To Bless the Space between Us, p. 60

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.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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

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[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)