RICH FOLKS SHOULD SAY THANK YOU

Harvest Sunday - 9th October 2005

Trinity 20 | Year A | Proper 23 Track 1 | Ordinary Time Week 28

Exodus 32.1-14  |  Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23 or Isaiah 25:1-9  |  Psalm 23  |  Philippians 4:1-9  |  Matthew 22:1-14  |  Luke 17.11-19 : To see the current week's readings, click here

10 lepers healed

From the 8 a.m. service...

We have a horrible habit of taking things and people for granted. Just like 9 of the 10 lepers didn’t bother to say thank you. Harvest is a time when we remember all the gifts God has lavished upon us - it’ a time to say thank you. It’s a time to share what we have. It’s a time for us to reflect on those people and things for which we’re grateful - things and people we often take for granted.

Dr Robert Hill, an American Christian author who wrote over 40 books on Christian living tells a story of a time he visited Bangkok in Thailand. His guide was a young man named Joseph. Joseph knew a little English and was keen to engage Dr Hill and his wife in conversation. Where, asked Joseph did Dr Hill live? The answer was Richmond, Virginia.

“Are you a rich man?” asked the boy

Dr Hill laughed and said no, he wasn’t rich.

“Do you own a motor vehicle?” asked Joseph

Dr Hill told him that they had two cars in their family. Joseph then asked about his house where he lived and Dr Hill told him it was a simple house with ten rooms. Joseph was amazed at its size as he related how he and his family lived in just two small rooms.

Then Joseph asked about their family and Dr and Mrs Hill told him of their 4 healthy children - two at college and two still at home. 

Joseph was silent for a moment then he replied “You are a rich man”

Dr Hill and his wife laughed, but deep in their hearts they knew he was right and that they had never thought of it like that before. They were rich, but were they thankful?

Harvest is a time for counting our blessings. We may not be as rich as we’d like in monetary terms - but we are still a lot better off than most of the people we share this planet with. But how rich are we in terms of love and friendship; health and opportunity; choices and possibility?

Today as well as making a physical or financial gesture as part of our appreciation of all that God has given us, let’s try something else - let’s pledge that this week we can express our gratitude for someone or something that someone does for us that we have taken for granted: a meal cooked, mail delivered, a joke shared, an encouragement given, someone just being in our lives etc

Because donating a tin of beans or a fiver on a special Sunday each year isn’t going to have much impact on us - but learning to be thankful people, learning how to appreciate the blessings with which we’re surrounded - that will change us! I'd suggest to you that in the gospel story nine of the lepers were cured - but only one was healed...

Lord you have given us so much - give us one thing more: a grateful heart

                                                                          George Herbert

....and from the 10.30 service

1. First question: what has eyes but cannot see? Answer: a potato!

(We usually cut the eyes out before we eat them)

People often say “I can’t see that...! can’t see the wood for the trees...” Remember the Magic Eye pictures of a few years ago? Some people can see them.. others can’t...

When it comes to Harvest some people have blind eyes... what’s it all about? Why bother? So what?
Well when we look at Harvest we see an opportunity to say thank you - we see all the gifts and blessings God has given us...

2. Second question: what has ears but cannot hear? Answer: corn!

People sometimes say

“I hear what you’re saying”

Paul Simon said (in his lyrics for The Boxer)

“Men hear what they want to hear and disregard the rest...”!

Jesus told lots of stories and said

“If anyone has ears, let them hear!”

 (e.g. Matthew 11.15). And today people hear the stories, but not everyone understands the inner meaning.

If Harvest is about saying thank you, can we hear that message? Will we have ears that hear God’s call to us, to be thankful people?

3. Third question: what has a hard heart? Answer: a cabbage!

People with hard hearts are unkind, unloving, selfish and not willing to help. People with soft hearts are loving, generous and willing to help.

People with soft hearts say 'thank you' - which is what Harvest is about. People with hard hearts say

“This is a waste of time...”

In the Old Testament the prophet Ezekiel promised that God would change people's hearts - to take away their heart of stone and give them hearts of flesh. (e.g. Ezekiel 36.26)

So this Harvest our challenge is to have eyes that see, ears that hear all that God has given to us, and hearts which say 'thank you' in response...

Fr Andrew J Perry
Rector, St John the Evangelist, Pevensey Rd, St Leonards on Sea