Wednesday, November 26, 2014

History, Healing and a Happier Thanksgiving



God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My focus is the Gospel of Luke. … Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”[i] Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
On behalf of Pastor Wietfeldt and the staff of Trinity Lutheran Church, Happy Thanksgiving.
Having worked four years as Director of Development at Berkeley Food and Housing Project in California, one of the state’s largest homeless service providers, I can tell you that not everybody spends the fourth Thursday in November with family. Thousands of Americans eat Thanksgiving dinner at soup kitchens, homeless shelters, church basements and other fine establishments. Pilgrims from every side of the political pendulum serve these down-and-out diners. That said, today, we put aside politics to look at Thanksgiving’s history, a leper’s healing and how we can enjoy a happier Thanksgiving.
First, Thanksgiving’s history. For some, Thanksgiving commemorates a heritage of false memory. Internet myths of Thanksgiving range from fundamentalists’ invention of a fake 1623 Thanksgiving Proclamation – to prove that God was being thanked and not the Indians – to Libertarians, who used the same fake proclamation to claim that “the real reason for Thanksgiving is that Socialism does not work.”[ii]
Puritan Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving after their first harvest in the New World in 1621. The feast lasted 3 days. 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims attended. The Pilgrims were accustomed to regularly celebrating thanksgivings – days of prayer thanking God for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought.
Thanksgiving became an official Federal holiday in 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our Father … in the Heavens.”
As a faith community, we celebrate thanksgiving when we gather for the Lord’s Supper. Eucharist means we give thanks because the gift is nothing less than forgiveness of sins for which we can never atone. We give thanks because we have nothing else to give but gratitude.[iii]
Where faith has genuinely received such gracious gifts, it cannot help but be eucharistic or thankful to God. Such thanksgiving will show up in worship, but also in daily life – an attitude of gratitude revealed in how we live with those around us.
Now, let’s take that attitude of gratitude and turn to the Gospel where health and salvation go together like turkey and stuffing.
To the 10 lepers requesting that he have mercy on them, Jesus replied, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” Jesus was following the Law, specifically Leviticus, chapter 14. Was the Samaritan, who lived outside the requirement of Judaism, included in the command to go to a priest? Moreover, why did Jesus reproach the other nine for following the Law and his command? Furthermore, why did Jesus say, “Your faith has made you well,” when all were cleansed?[iv]
Questions demand further exploration because the Gospel of Luke is richer than pumpkin pie and Cool Whip – but not that fat free, sugar free kind that my wife buys. Note that Luke opens this story by telling us that on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus was passing between Samaria and Galilee. Mentioning Samaria is significant, since only the Samaritan responded with grateful faith and praise. At first, the Samaritans rejected Jesus’ disciples because he was going to Jerusalem. When the disciples wanted to call fire down from heaven to destroy them, Jesus would not allow it. In fact, a Samaritan showed the Jews how to be a good neighbor according to the law.[v] And now, by contrast with nine others, a Samaritan embodies the conditions of salvation.
For salvation actually to be realized, the healed person must respond in faith, a gift that is open to all. The grateful Samaritan reminds us that salvation is not limited to the Jews, but is universally offered to all people.
Like the nine lepers who did not return to praise God and Jesus, the Pharisees failed to recognize that the kingdom of God was already in their midst. It was manifested in Jesus’ healing, but they looked elsewhere for it. Without faith, miracles are opaque. If the other nine and the Pharisees were not blind, they certainly suffered from glaucoma.
Finally, how to enjoy a happier Thanksgiving. … How do I recognize the kingdom of God is in our midst? Through a recent healing? When I see down-and-out diners served by well-heeled waiters? By confessing my sins and a pastor’s absolution? Perhaps when I showed mercy to another sinner, as Jesus showed mercy to the lepers? Folks, when we recognize God is truly in our midst, and praise Him for that, our thanksgiving feast around the table of our homes and around the table of the Lord will be truly happy.
Notice, Jesus instructs the grateful leper, “Rise and go on your way.” After our final hymn, as you rise and go on your way, journey not only to your homes and dinner destinations, but also with Jesus. Let the Holy Spirit take you where God wants you – Berkeley, California; Edmond, Oklahoma; or Nashville, Illinois. For when you go with God, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.


[i] Psalm 122
[ii] http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/15002
[iii] Larry Vogel, Toward a Theology of Worship That Is Pastoral and Sacramental. Model Theological Conference on Worship January 11, 2010, 20
[iv] Craddock, 202f.
[v] LaVerdiere, 215

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