On Transitions and Thank Yous
This morning's Gospel reading is from Luke 17:11-19, and concerns the story about how Jesus encounters ten lepers in the area between Samaria and Galilee while en route to Jerusalem. When they call, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us," Jesus tells them to go and show themselves to the priests. On their way to do this, they realize they have already been made clean and cured of their leprosy. But only one, a Samaritan (outcasts to traditional Jews and, thus, to most of the followers of Jesus), upon realizing he have been cured, returns to give Jesus thanks and praise.
It seems to me there are a couple of remarkable aspects to this story:
1) Notice that the real action in this story takes place in transition times -- while the main actors are in the middle of doing something else. Jesus encounters the lepers on his way to Jerusalem Curing a bunch of lepers was not on his agenda. And the cure happens not in Jesus' presence by some visible act of his, nor in the lepers' showing themselves to the priests, but while they are in the process of going to the priests -- another time of transition -- in which they are being faithful to what Jesus has told them to do.
2) The obvious aspect -- 10 are cured, only one returns to say, "Thank You!" Nowhere else in the Gospels do we ever hear of what becomes of the other 9 lepers -- presumably they go on with their transformed lives, but we never hear of them thanking Jesus for the transformation.
This raises some questions for us to ponder: How do we pay attention to the opportunities for grace when we are not specifically looking for it -- during the transitions, when we are pre-occupied with doing something else? What opportunities are we missing? How is God blessing us when we are not even aware of it? This, of course, leads to the obvious question: What is it in our lives for which we are not giving thanks to God? When are we forgetting to give thanks for blessings of which we are aware? And when are we missing the blessings altogether?
* * * *
This evening Warden Al Shuckra and I will be at a 1 1/2 day conference at my Alma mater, Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, focusing on the question of leadership for the changing church of today and tomorrow. We'll be sharing what we hear in the coming days.
Have a blessed day! Your brother in Christ, Don+
It seems to me there are a couple of remarkable aspects to this story:
1) Notice that the real action in this story takes place in transition times -- while the main actors are in the middle of doing something else. Jesus encounters the lepers on his way to Jerusalem Curing a bunch of lepers was not on his agenda. And the cure happens not in Jesus' presence by some visible act of his, nor in the lepers' showing themselves to the priests, but while they are in the process of going to the priests -- another time of transition -- in which they are being faithful to what Jesus has told them to do.
2) The obvious aspect -- 10 are cured, only one returns to say, "Thank You!" Nowhere else in the Gospels do we ever hear of what becomes of the other 9 lepers -- presumably they go on with their transformed lives, but we never hear of them thanking Jesus for the transformation.
This raises some questions for us to ponder: How do we pay attention to the opportunities for grace when we are not specifically looking for it -- during the transitions, when we are pre-occupied with doing something else? What opportunities are we missing? How is God blessing us when we are not even aware of it? This, of course, leads to the obvious question: What is it in our lives for which we are not giving thanks to God? When are we forgetting to give thanks for blessings of which we are aware? And when are we missing the blessings altogether?
* * * *
This evening Warden Al Shuckra and I will be at a 1 1/2 day conference at my Alma mater, Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, focusing on the question of leadership for the changing church of today and tomorrow. We'll be sharing what we hear in the coming days.
Have a blessed day! Your brother in Christ, Don+
posted by Don+ @ 8:28 AM
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