7 WAYS TO BE THANKFUL

A Sermon for the Thanksgiving Eve

November 25, 2009

Pastor Laura Gentry

Luke 17:11-19

Here we are on the eve of Thanksgiving; the time of year designated to be thankful. We can gloss right over the giving thanks part and head straight for the turkey, or we can see this holiday as an opportunity to cultivate a renewed sense of gratitude in our hearts.

Like the Samaritan in tonight’s reading, we can recognize how completely dependent upon God we are. And like him, we can praise God in a loud voice and throw ourselves at God’s feet, recognizing that what we have is not our entitlement. It is a gift. All is gift.

It’s one thing to know this and it’s another to really live as grateful people. But it is important that we find a way to do so, for as the Roman philosopher Marcus Cicero said: "gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others." Elie Wiesel, an award-winning author who survived the Holocaust, said, “when a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.”

We are not fully alive if we are not fully grateful. So how can we get grateful? Perhaps you’re not the perky-cheery type—you don’t naturally see the cup as half full and so it’s more difficult to be appreciative. That’s okay because even YOU can learn. Like any other skill, gratitude can be learned. Thus, on Thanksgiving eve, I offer you 7 ways to be thankful. There are countless ways to be thankful, but these are my favorites.

1. Decide to be Thankful
Sounds so easy, doesn’t it? But our intention is very powerful. Just by deciding that you want to be thankful, you’re already well on your way. Better yet, put it in writing. Write: “I want to be thankful” and hang it up where you’ll see it often. This will help motivate you to develop your thankfulness.

2. Say Thanks
You probably already thank people when they do nice things for you but you may still be missing opportunities to say thank you. Whenever anyone does anything for you—big or small—jump at the chance to thank them. And do it with a smile. It makes them feel good and makes you feel good too.

Dan Baker, Ph.D., writes in What Happy People Know: "Just as changing your life can change your language, changing your language can change your life." Most people run themselves down a lot. Do you realize we have about 10,000 conversations with ourselves every day? So what we say to ourselves really matters. When we say thank you to ourselves instead of heaping up condemnation, we can change our lives for the better. Then it is even easier for us to speak thankfulness to others.

3. Start a Thanksgiving Journal
You’ve heard me push this point before but that’s because it really works. In research done by Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough, those who kept a daily journal expressing their thanks experienced higher levels of emotional and physical well-being.This research also proved that keeping such a journal can improve your health: raise energy levels, promote alertness and determination, improve sleep, and possibly relieve pain and fatigue. If there were a free pill available that promised all these things, you’d probably want to to take it, wouldn’t you? Then why not try this simple exercise? It is just a structured way to count your blessings.

Here’s how it works: Get a notebook. At the end of each day, reflect back upon the day’s events and write down five things for which you feel grateful. They can be anything big or small: a nice conversation with someone, an important task accomplished, the beautiful weather. It doesn’t matter what you write, just do it—every day. Five things and as you write them down, think about them and bring to mind the positive emotions associated with those things or events. It generally takes less than 5 minutes to do this and in just 30 days, you will have formed a new habit, thus cultivating a stronger sense of thankfulness.

4. Connect with Thankful People
People who achieve great things always have coaches pushing them to do their best. This same principle works with thankfulness. It’s all to easy to get grumpy, lose our gratefulness and fall into negative patterns when we are trying to go it alone. That’s why we gather together for worship as a congregation: we need to help one another. Find people who can help you see that things are a lot sunnier than they might seem. They are your thankfulness coaches and you are theirs. It’s exciting that you can provide mutual encouragement and urge each other to be your most thankful selves.

5. Write a thank you letter
A great exercise suggested by Dr. Emmons, known as "the father of gratitude," is to compose a thank you letter to a person who has made a positive and lasting influence in your life. Emmons says the letter is especially powerful when you have not properly thanked the person in the past, and when you read the letter aloud to the person face to face.

6. Pray
This quote is attributed to Meister Eckhart: "If the only prayer you say in your life is 'thank you,' that would suffice.” Thankfulness and prayer go hand in hand. Take time daily—perhaps even regularly throughout the day—to pray in thankgiving to God. You can throw up “bullet prayers” that are quick and to the point thanking God for things as they happen. You can also try doing a breath prayer in the quietness of your meditation time where you simply breathe in and out while saying “thank you” in your mind.

7. Give
An important way to cultivate thankfulness is to give out of our abundance to help others. This could be spending time helping people, sharing your talents and gifts as well as giving money to charitable causes. There is joy giving. As we heard in the reading from 2 Corinthians tonight, God loves a cheerful giver. Generosity opens our hearts and allows even more blessings to flow into our lives.


This Thanksgiving, I’m here to tell you, we cannot afford to miss being thankful. Our hearts need gratitude—it is good for what ails us. Jesus knew this, the Samaritan leper knew this, the Pilgrims knew this and scientists know this. The question is do we want to miss out like the nine lepers or do we want to praise God with a loud voice and know that joy of being thankful for the grace bestowed upon us? It is my prayer that these 7 ways to be more grateful will help put you on the thankfulness track so you can cultivate a deeper attitude of gratitude that will transform you and those around you—not just this Thanksgiving, but always. Amen.

And now, may the peace which passes all understanding keep our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

© 2009 Laura E. Gentry

COME ALIVE

A Sermon the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost

By Pastor Laura Gentry

Mark 12:38-44

In this morning’s Gospel story, Jesus is in the temple with his disciples when he notices a widow who does something interesting.  Though she remains unnamed, she becomes an object lesson of faith. And yet if we take time to notice her as Jesus did, we can learn something extraordinary from her.

In biblical times, you must remember, women could not own property or work for a living. Even if woman had a wealthy husband, she could not inherit his property upon his death.  An unmarried woman, widowed or otherwise, had to rely upon the charity of others. This is why Jesus often spoke about taking care of widows and orphans—these were the two most vulnerable groups of people in their society and so it would be unethical to ignore them. 

Mark doesn’t give us many details about this scene. All we know is that Jesus has been teaching in the temple courts. At this point, he and the disciples are on their way out. But then he stops by the treasury to watch as people make their offerings.  They didn’t pass the plate for offerings like we do today. Instead, people would line up in the outer courtyard of the temple. This was known as the Court of Women because, unlike the rest of the temple, women were allowed to be here. There were 13 trumpet-shaped receptacles along the wall of this courtyard, attended by a priest.  Each person was expected to say aloud the amount and purpose of their gift in order to be heard by the priest.

Can you imagine what an impressive sight this would have been? Most of the people lined up were wealthy. They would have been wearing fancy clothes and tossing in huge sums of money. How would you even notice a poor little widow in such a scene? Why would you care about a woman tossing the two smallest coins in the realm into the offering? Yet, in a move that is so like him, Jesus notices it and calls attention to her act of faith.

I remember reenacting this story in Sunday school class when I was a child. The teacher would let us take turns playing the part of the widow. She’s give us two pennies and we’d get to toss them into the church-shaped Sunday school bank.  It was all very exciting. It made an impression on me that the widows gift was so small: just 2 cents! And that was in the day when you could buy a candy bar for 25 cents. Still, 2 cents seems like nothing to me. Later, in seminary, I learned that the widow’s gift was even less than 2 cents. They were worth one four-hundredth of a shekel—about an eighth of a penny each. They were so small and worthless, they didn’t even bear an imprint like other coins. They were considered the grubbiest of coins in the empire of Rome.

Yet, as she tosses these coins into the treasury, Jesus calls his disciples together and says, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Jesus has the knowledge that these are not just any two coins, they are the woman’s last two coins. The text says, “All she had to live on,” but the Greek is starker. It says she put in her “bios.” It’s the word from which we get “biology,” the study of life. Jesus, then, is saying that the widow put her “life” into the temple treasury that day.

This sermon is not a sermon about tithing. The woman did not give 10 percent of her income, she gave 100 percent. If this were a gamble, she would be placing all her bets on God. But it is not a gamble, it is something far more dangerous than that—it is called faith. Though she has no money to live on, she can confidently throw her life into God’s hands because she has faith.

In Mark’s typical style of simple storytelling, he doesn’t give us the details we’d like to hear. Does Jesus pus his arm around the woman has he is saying this to his disciples? Or does he teach from a distance so that the widow never even knows that Jesus noticed her?  Does Jesus give her money so she will be able to eat this evening? Does she become a follower of Jesus’? Is she one of the women who journey with Jesus from Galilee to the cross and beyond? And what was her name? We’ll never know.

What we do know is that in facing a bleak future, this widow holds nothing back: she offers her very life to God.

Now that we’ve noticed the widow’s faith, what does it have to teach us? The theologian Soren Kierkegaard, explained that God’s grace in Jesus Christ is entirely free, but it costs us everything because we must take the leap of faith.  We must trust God with our whole lives.  Being a disciple of Jesus is a serious endeavor—it is not for hobbyists. 

And I invite us to consider what this means for our congregation. This text is often used by preachers for a stewardship sermon. They urge parishioners to be more like the widow by putting more money into the plate. And while this is a good, scripturally supported point, I think Jesus is painting with even broader strokes in this teaching moment. He wants not just our loose change—he wants our very lives to change. He wants us living in God’s grace fully.

I recently read a quote by Howard Thurman, the influential American pastor, author and civil rights leader, and it really inspired me. He said: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world need is people who have come alive.”

What makes you come alive? It is all too easy to sleep walk through this life and find ourselves surprised when it is over. God has given us this life. All that we have is from our Creator. We are called to live it—I mean really live it. We must be alive. I think that’s what stewardship is all about. 

What makes this church come alive? God has blessed this congregation with 142 years of ministry. We have a particular responsibility to keep it going. In the midst of a national trend where churches are shrinking and closing their doors, we are still growing. How can we keep it up? How can we provide relevant, exciting ministry that makes you want to stay involved and makes you want to invite your neighbors to get involved too? Our church must be alive.

And when we ask ourselves how we can come alive and how our church can come alive, I think we need to look back at that widow for clues. She did not panic about what she didn’t have. Instead, she focused on what she did have: a God who could be trusted even when all evidence seemed to point to the contrary. She was able to summon the courage to give her “bios”—all that she had to live one, her whole life. What if you and I could do the same? What if we absolutely turned over the driving wheel of our lives to God? How would that change the way we live? How would that make us come alive and in doing so, inspire others to do the same?

Jesus invites us to come alive today. May we open our hearts to trust God so entirely that we may. Amen.

© 2009 Laura Gentry

ALL SAINTS DAY REMINDS US WE'RE ALL SAINTS

A Sermon All Saints Sunday
by Pastor Laura Gentry

On the October 17th show of the NPR news quiz show “Wait Wait...Don’t Tell Me!” comedian Susie Essman played the game called “Not My Job” in which the contestant is asked three questions about a subject her or she knows nothing about. Since Susie plays a character on the HBO TV show “Curb Your Enthusiasm” who is anything but a saint, they thought it would be funny to ask her questions about famous saints. Indeed, she did, know nothing about them. Still, she managed to make enough educated guesses to win. Now because it is All Saint’s Day, I’m going to ask you those same questions and we’ll see how much you know. If you heard the show, you’ll have to restrain yourself and not give away the answer. (Answers are at the bottom of this blog post)

1. Saint Simeon Stylite of 5th Century Syria was so popular that he drew pilgrims from all over the world. What caused this stir?
a. He ate nothing but tree bark and yet lived.
b. He stood on a pillar outside for 37 years.
c. He could command worms to appear on the surface of the earth whenever he so desired.

2. Saint Joseph of Cupertino, a monk from the 17th Century in Italy. He became famous, too famous in the eyes of the church because he could do what? Was it...
a. Fly
b. Hold his breath for a whole day
c. Talk in the voice of Noah, King David and other Biblical characters

3. Saint Claire of Assisi, famous medieval nun who is known for her good works and her vow of povery. She has a particular role in today’s church, what is it and why did she get it?
a. Because of her famously rapid walks around the monastery, she is the patron saint of NASCAR and other automobile races.
b. Because of regular visions she had on the wall of her room, she is the patron saint of television.
c. As she regularly spoke in tongues she is the patron saint of translators.

When you hear stories about saints like this who could stay on a pillar for years to pray, fly in religious ecstasy and see visions on the wall, it makes us of think of them as being people who are otherworldly, super-hero types. They seem unattainably perfect in the stories we now hear.

For about a thousand years, Jesus and the saints have been portrayed in art with a halo around their head. This is to represent holiness. Christian artists believed that the halo was symbolic of the light of grace bestowed by God. It comes out in an orb around the head like the holy energy of the saintly one. Sometimes, children get confused by this and ask why the people have golden plates stuck on the backs of their heads.

So between the incredible, hard-to-believe stories and the idealized imagery of the saints in art, I don’t think most people associate themselves with saints. Around here we often hear people refer to a scoundrel by saying, “He’s no saint!”

All of these things, I think, contribute to the thinking that saintliness is something earned. We become saints by our exemplary behavior, by our bold faith and our ceaseless obedience to God’s commands, right? Nope. The Bible say we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We can kinda be good but no matter how we hard try, we cannot make ourselves saints.

Does that mean the game is up? Should we throw in the towel and head home because there is no way we are going to attain the status of sainthood? By no means! The good news that we celebrate today is that saint-making is God’s work, not our own.

It all begins in the waters of baptism. Together, the water and God’s word claim us. We are born children of a fallen humanity but in the waters of baptism we are reborn children of God and heirs of eternal life. That’s exciting news because it means that day after day, God gives us grace of righteousness regardless of our worthiness. Martin Luther called this “alien righteousness” because it comes from something outside of ourselves—it is alien. It is certainly not our own righteousness, it is the righteousness that comes from Christ. Paul wrote in II Cor. 1:3; “Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”

Through faith in Christ, therefore, Christ’s righteousness becomes OUR righteousness and all that he has becomes ours—yes, Jesus himself becomes ours. And so his saintliness is our saintliness. This alien righteousness is a gift of grace.

This is not the only type of righteousness, however. Luther called the second kind righteousness our “proper righteousness.” By this, he meant that the alien righteousness given to us by Christ doesn’t just sit there. It has power to change us—to bear fruit. And as we read in Galatians 5:22, the fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” This righteousness enables us, by the power of God, to be transformed into the likeness of Christ. We may never fly like Joseph of Cupertino or get visions on the wall like Claire, and I don't even recommend you try to sit on a pillar for 37 years like Simeon, but we can still become Christ-like. It doesn’t happen all at once, but bit by bit throughout our lives and is finally perfected at the end through death. Yet all the while, we are children of God, and therefore saints. I’m a saint and you’re a saint!

And since there are no halos above your heads like in the paintings, I am going to give you the opportunity to see yourself as the saints you really are, by virtue of your baptism. That’s why I’ve made this “be a saint” painting. Let me show you how it works (puts face through saint painting). Don’t I look saintly?

Now as we sing the hymn of the day, I’ll need some volunteers from our studio audience to come forward and show us their saintliness. And for those of you not brave enough to come now, don’t worry, I will get you later. My plan is to photograph every single one of us in this. After all, it’s All Saints Sunday and we’ve got to celebrate that we are all saints! And in doing so, we celebrate our Savior who has made us his own and infuses us with his righteousness so that we are transformed into the saints God wants us to be. Amen.

See the slideshow of these saints:

Answers to the NPR quiz: 

1. Saint Simeon Stylite of 5th Century Syria was so popular that he drew pilgrims from all over the world. What caused this stir?
b. He stood on a pillar outside for 37 years.

2. Saint Joseph of Cupertino, a monk from the 17th Century in Italy. He became famous, too famous in the eyes of the church because he could do what? Was it...
a. Fly

3. Saint Claire of Assisi, famous medieval nun who is known for her good works and her vow of povery. She has a particular role in today’s church, what is it and why did she get it?
b. Because of regular visions she had on the wall of her room, she is the patron saint of television.