Pastor Luke’s neutral pulpit sermon given on November 20, 2016  at Grace United Church of Christ of Loyal Oak, Norton, Ohio.

My mom is a gift-giver. Each and every Christmas growing up, there would be a pile of presents under the tree. My mom was a blue-collar, hardworking, single mom. We didn’t get much during the rest of the year as we were so busy surviving and working and running to and from our various activities. Yet each Christmas, we felt rich.

One Christmas, there weren’t as many presents. Just two or three for my sister and me. And then one present had both of our names on it. My sister and I were puzzled, but my mom never disappointed. We saved that one for last, and when we opened it, we shouted and jumped up and down. It was a SEGA Genesis. An expensive game console at the time. It had to have cost her at least a month’s wages. It was an extravagant gift.

A few years ago back in Sylvania, I remodeled our master bathroom. With the help of my neighbor Eric, I ripped out everything, down to the studs. We then spent the next 4 months building it back. I learned how to tile and drywall. It was aggravating and wonderful. I grew closer to Eric and learned so much about him and his life. We spoke about the things that troubled us and more about our hopes and our dreams.

A week after we had completed our work, a big package arrived in the mail. It was a towel warmer from my mom. I was surprised by this gift. I then ran up and couldn’t find a place to plug it into. And who really needs a towel warmer anyway? The warmth of the towel lasts for half a second and this thing could burn the kids if they played with it. It’s a waste of energy. And it’s just not energy conscious and I’m energy conscious! I have R36 in my attic, we’ve replaced leaky windows with energy efficient windows, I drive a Volt… A towel warmer is a waste of energy.

I called my mom and briefly thanked her and then complained about all the ways the gift just wouldn’t work. I wrangled over my words. After I hung up, my sister rightly called me up and yelled at me, “Who are you right now?! Don’t you know that when you receive a gift, you say ‘Thank you!’ and then you shut up!”

I felt lower than low. I was one of the nine lepers. Or worse, I would return and complain to Jesus about being healed!

There is great wisdom found in the writing of Lewis Smedes in his memoir about gift giving and gratitude. He writes, “I have learned about real gifts is that they always come with a person attached. My gift to someone always comes with an unwritten message: I want to be part of your life; take my gift, take me. And I know that when someone gives me a gift, she too is saying: I want to be in your life. And knowing that she is attached to it makes her gift doubly precious.”[1]

My mom gave a gift in celebration of the bathroom remodel. A remodel we spoke so much about, and she made sure to ask after each time we talked. She gave not just a towel warmer, but she attached herself to it. And I didn’t see it. I rejected her and, in a way, said, “I don’t want you in my life.” How hurtful.

I believe we learn most from our failings rather than our successes. I have since tried to be overly gracious and grateful. I used practice writing three thank you notes a week to people in my church who have done good work. I should start that up again, for I have much to be grateful for.

Gratitude is important in the life of faith. Meister Eckhart, the medieval mystic once said, “If all you ever pray is ‘Thank you’ it is enough.”

I have come to understand life as a gift. It is a gift I didn’t ask for. One that I find myself in. It is a gift that has an expiration date. It is a gift given to me not just by my parents, but God. I find myself participating in a cosmic love story: the love that flung the stars, made the galaxies, created the processes that would result in stellar evolution, biological evolution, and over the course of 13 billion years; created us.

Created you, and me. Created here and now. We, by our very existence are participating in the life of God! The church is a group of disciples who learn about God’s love and work in themselves, their community, and then seeks to tell the good news to others. That is what we’re about in response to knowing this love story revealed to us through Jesus. We seek to find unity within diversity. We strive to be honest, peaceful, and compassionate as God is. We are inclusive of all people seeking to serve the whole world.

Our goal is to become Christ.[2] Everything in the life of the church, from our worship to our fellowship to our outreach; should serve to shape us to live like Christ. For we are part of our family story. All the joys and concerns. It is a gift. This day is a gift. Every gift given comes with a person attached. And that person is the Triune God, ourselves, and our neighbors, especially the ones we’d rather not acknowledge.

When Jesus healed the ten lepers, he was saying “I see you. I love you. I want to be a part of your life.” Everyone was telling these lepers the exact opposite. Get out of our family, you are a disgrace. Get out of our town, lest you infect us. Get out of our life, we don’t want to help you, we don’t love you.”

Who in our world is being told such a thing or in our day and age? Are there any among us today? Or in your personal lives?

Yet there is one leper who returns. A Samaritan. Even in the group of lepers, this man would be the outcast of the outcast. Samaritans were not well regarded in Jewish society. They were sort of Jewish, but not really. And that’s worse than being a Gentile to be sort of Jewish—to follow a bastardized version of the faith. Yet it is this one who shows gratitude. The leper who returns recognizes that he is participating in a bigger story, in this case, Jesus’ Story–literally, he gets a special place in Luke’s Gospel. That’s what gratitude is. In contrast, the other lepers just think Jesus is participating in each of their stories–which are paramount to them. They miss the bigger story.

Yet my experience in the UCC feels like this group sees the bigger story. The UCC sees those who aren’t seen in our society and works with them toward healing. Many of them have return in gratitude. Those ministries to the poor and homeless, the hungry and the naked. The oppressed minorities, those yearning to breathe free.

In the summer 2016, a couple called me up and asked if I could perform their wedding. I found out that they were a young couple, in their early 20s. The woman was not even of drinking age. We agreed that we would be a good fit and so we made plans to meet. Before I hung up, I asked, “How did you get my name?” I was expecting them to say through a wedding website that I am on. Instead they said, “Your church gave us a gift. When our baby died, the nurse brought in a burial gown.” Sylvania participated in Gabriel’s Gowns, a project that turns wedding dresses into bereavement gowns for babies who don’t survive. It is a way to take symbols of love; a wedding dress, and wrap families in love in one of the hardest times in their life.

The couple said, “On the tag there was a prayer and then the line, ‘with love from your friends at the United Church of Christ.’ That’s when we decided that we should get married. Your light showed that if we can get through that dark time, we can get through anything. We had to get married at your church. ”

When I left Sylvania to come here, that ministry had generated over 500 of these gowns. Yet this couple was the only one to return. A gift of healing, given in love. A gift that comes with a people attached. A gift that says, “I want to be part of your life; take my gift, take me.” Sometimes these gifts will look like a SEGA Genesis or towel warmers, and Gabriel’s Gowns–tangible objects. Sometimes it will look like work: like my neighbor Eric helping me remodel. Sometimes it will look like just showing up, like those who show up at the various church events. Each time you live out our mission statement to welcome, love, and serve. Each time you simply say, “Thank You.”

May we give of ourselves in such a way. May we run around saying, “I want to be a part of your life!” starting with the lepers and going to the ends of the earth. May we realize that God is saying the same thing to us! How can we not be overcome with joy? How can we not say, “Thank you?”

Works Cited

^[1]  Smedes, Lewis B. “God and a Grateful Old Man,” from My God and I: A Spiritual Memoir Eerdmans, 2003 in The Banner, vol. 138 (2003)

[2] The fancy theological word for this is Theosis which means “making divine” or “growing in the image of Christ.”