Advent Lutheran Church

"Gratitude and Grilled Cheese"

            For those of you who might be wondering what television show I’ve chosen as my favorite this fall, I must confess, it’s  Glee – and last week’s episode about these high school glee club members was a sometimes hilarious, sometimes poignant exploration of teenagers discovering their own faith and learning about other religions and other’s religious views.  In it, one of the main characters, Finn (the dorky yet loveable ex-quarterback) makes himself a grilled cheese sandwich as the episode opens.  After buttering the bread and throwing onto the George Foreman grill, Finn opens it to find the toast has burned, creating the face of Jesus.  Being a growing boy, he cuts off the half without Jesus and wolfs it down, saving the other half, which he puts on a plate and takes into his room.  Kneeling down next to his bed, he begins his prayer requests to his newly-created “Grilled Cheese-us.”  Finn prays three prayers during the show, and three times his prayers are answered! Finally, faith makes sense ~ until Finn realizes his gain is someone else’s pain, whereupon he returns to his normal world of confusion and “loses his faith.”  Finn has found what most of us already know.  That God is not a vending machine, and faith is not black and white, but (almost by definition) is always gray. 

            Today’s story from Luke is a very familiar tale about the cleansing of ten lepers.  We hear it almost every Thanksgiving, and therefore, it might be too familiar to teach us anything.  However, in the context of the “gray” that Finn was learning to live in, Jesus found himself in a similar locale.  The story tells us that Jesus was “going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.”  Jesus is “on the way to Jerusalem,” so we already know that this teaching is very important.  Boundaries and borders – we love to draw those lines.  In fact, we know that the “only place scarier than a border is an ‘in-between’ place, where boundaries and borders aren’t clear.”* But Jesus is focused on his mission, and has now found himself in the area between the northern Galilee, where he came from and where most of his ministry occurred, and Jerusalem.  He is in Samaria – the middle ground, the “no man’s land” – where Samaritans come from. You remember Samaritans, the ones Jews do not mix with, because they are unclean and despised.  Samaritans are half-breeds, mixed blood people who worship on the wrong mountain saying the wrong words and following the wrong prophets.  Jews and Samaritans have nothing in common, except perhaps a dreaded disease called leprosy, which had infected our ten characters in today’s lesson.

            I’ve recently heard a new term for our situation in this recessionary time, it’s “Economic Dislocation.” We have been dislocated from our jobs, our homes, sometimes even from our families.  We are not where we used to be, nor where we want to be.  Things are looking dark all around us, and we’re darn sick of it!  Which puts us squarely in the same situation as these 10 lepers, living in the gray between law and gospel, between faith and works, between grace and gratitude.  They, too, were not where they had been in their lives, nor where they wanted to be, and things were looking less and less hopeful until the day that Jesus came to town.

            And so they waited, these ten outsiders, on the outside of town, and at a distance out of respect.  Now please note that there were ten of them, and for Jews, ten men equals a minyan, which is the minimum number to create a community of worship.  So these ten lepers, full of pain and fear, cast out from families, friends, worship, had formed a small group together, in the only place the lines were erased – the middle ground between Galilee and Samaria, the “no man’s land” of leprosy, where Jesus is today.  They call out to him, and he tells them to show themselves to the priest.  He doesn’t ask them if they have faith, or when was the last time they were in synagogue, or even if they have been good little boys?  He simply tells them to go, and they are all obedient to Jesus’ instruction – FAITHFUL, to a man.  But, the Samaritan is too overwhelmed to continue the trip.  He “sees” that he is cured and understands…He throws himself at Jesus’ feet and praises him.  Praises him!  How odd, for in his healing, this meant the Samaritan had no place to belong.  He may be cleansed, healed…but he was still a Samaritan.

            And what about the other nine?  Jesus seems surprised that they have not returned.  But I’d like to suggest some imaginary tales:  What if, one of the nine is sitting at table with his family that evening, and is suddenly so overwhelmed in the presence of those he has been separated from for so long, that he bursts into tears – realizing what has happened to him.  What if, another, on his way from the priest, runs back to find Jesus already gone?  What if, yet another, cleansed from his own leprosy, decides to dedicate his life to bettering the lives of lepers?  The point is – we do not know what happened – and yet we find it so easy to judge, and to draw those boundaries to determine that some are good guys and some are bad.       Some are faithful and some merely obedient.  Some are models of the Godly life, while some are, indeed, “Samaritans.”  And we realize, once again, life in this world is not clear.

            You know, the writer of Luke’s Gospel has a favorite response to God all the way through his story, and that response is simply:  PRAISE!  From the very beginning, when we meet Zechariah, Elizabeth and Mary, at the birth of Jesus there are shepherds and angels, and every one of them is praising God.  Throughout Jesus’ ministry we have heard the praise from a paralytic, from the crowd around the widow of Nain as her son is raised from the dead, from the bent-over woman, the blind beggar, and now, the Samaritan leper.  And when the story concludes, we will see a Roman Centurion at the foot of the cross, praising God with the recognition that “Truly this was the Son of God.”  All of them were overwhelmed by God’s lovingkindness to them, and they gave glory and praise in response.

            Sometimes, it takes someone else, someone unexpected to open our eyes to the blessings and wonders in our lives.  At Advent, we need simply recall the power of an Ethiopian vicar who reminded us of just how blessed we are.  Or, perhaps, the inspiration of those who say “Thanks God,” with their very lives.  Today we are celebrating Faith and Courage Sunday.  We have recognized those who have inspired others at Advent by allowing you to nominate them to be included in today’s bulletin.  None of them are showy; none of them “up front” kinds of folks.  But of all those nominated, three were singled out:  Bart Stuckey, Donna Hutchinson and Melva Anderson.  Melva, who creates beauty in our sanctuary and public spaces by intentionally choosing and placing bits of nature and art in the chancel.  Melva, who does nothing without a connection to Scripture or faith.  Melva, who goes quietly about doing the work of God.  And Donna – who because of her previous connection with an orphanage in Haiti which provided us with Katiana, Donna has become the head of an international organization providing health care in the wake of Haiti’s devastating earthquake last January.  Donna, who 2 years ago would have laughed out loud if you had suggested this future to her, listens to God and follows obediently.  And Bart.  Bart is the kind of guy who I think if we handed him the keys to a vehicle and said, “Bart, there’s an old man with a screen door that needs fixing in Mongolia, he’d be in that vehicle and on his way in the twinkling of an eye.  These amazing people are not Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King, Jr.  They are people of Advent, and they are sitting right beside you in the pews.  And they spend their time being obedient to God without even thinking about it.  Like the lepers (all 10 of them) they are faithful.  Like the Samaritan, they are courageous. And like each and every one of you – they are loved by God.

            At my last ELCA Church Council meeting I heard an address by the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Bishop Susan Johnson.  She shared a quote that has been with me and I want to share with you:  “Hope has two beautiful daughters:  anger and courage.  Anger at how things are, and courage to make them how they ought to be.”  Today, I’d like to “tweak” that just a bit.  “HOPE has two beautiful daughters: Faith and Courage. Faith to see how things can be, and Courage to make them a reality.

            Give praise to God, who always acts first to bring health out of disease, to bring community out of exclusion, to bring new life through water and Word – bread and wine.   And to whom, our response is pretty clear:  THANKS BE TO GOD!   AMEN.   *Kate Huey on UCC.org