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Bethany Lutheran Church
Thanksgiving Service - 7 PM Central
Pastor Gregory Jackson
The Hymn #575 Before the Lord We Bow - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Order of Vespers p. 41
The Psalmody Psalm 100 p. 144
The First Lection Philippians 4:4-7
The Second Lection Luke 17:11-19
The Sermon Hymn #577 God Bless Our Native Land
The Prayers and Lord’s Prayer p. 44
The Collect for Peace p. 45
The Benediction p. 45
- Pastor Jim Shrader - and Chris Shrader; Dr. and Mrs. Lito Cruz, Theodore; Alicia Meyer.
- President Trump, and those who defend the U. S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Philippians 4:4-7. 4 Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your forbearance be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.
KJV Luke 17:11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
Thankfulness - God and Country
I was tempted to say, "Jesus knocked on my door today." However, he pronounced his name Hay-soos. He came to install surveillance equipment, and he worked very hard at closing the gaps. He left after a few hours and a couple dropped by to take care of a few things.
The elementary school I attended taught the poor, all races, upper class families, and three students who went to Yale. Crimes were rare - and doorlocks were not taken very seriously. However, no one wanted to meet the wrath of mothers who watched over the neighborhood children. Much later, I told many of my adult classes that we did not need surveillance because all mothers were licensed to phone a problem directly to another family's child. Getting home after being shouted at by a mother - that meant no escape.
Our great country was created that way, with a strange mixture of cultures, languages, and ambitions. We just went through a period, 2020, where the ballots added up to 15 million extra votes. I saw it election night (2020) when the talking heads called the election early, based on Arizona's numbers. But more than that. They all looked guilty, those paradigms of popular opinions. That great lie opened up - for a collapse - many of our festering culture diseases - the news media, the entertainment radicals, and extreme violation of the US Constitution.
This story about the 10 lepers is so much like America.
KJV Luke 17:11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
Nothing was quite so repulsive as leprosy. It killed and spread, setting the lepers apart so much that we still use that term for a repugnant illness. Our founders came over to America for a chance for freedom, prosperity, distance from cruel royals and witchcraft. Moreover, clashes among Christians were settled by royals and riots. My kin came over some time after a slaughter of French Protestants so horrible that no one could really count the losses. St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.1572.
14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
All the lepers were cleansed, but only one came back to glorify Jesus Christ. Falling at the feet of Jesus meant that he knew the Lord was divine. He was thankful by himself even though the rest of them did not come back, did not thank the unique Good Shepherd. Luther said, "I would have given the leprosy back to the nine who did not care."
17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
Are we not the nine in this country? We can see that the "great" American churches are run by hooligans, corrupt, bathing in their fake glory. Religious journalists are struck by the clergy melt-downs in Dallas alone, where the pastors were leading 5000 to 8000 members each. The rest of them are so enormous but they all consume the same cotton candy, so appealing yet nothing more than spun sugar.
Believers need to take back their country and their Bibles. The ultimate word is not the gathering of strutting peacocks who are horrified by Objective-Justification Deniers. That weighty term means they reject Justification by Faith in Christ, which is the only conduit of grace for individuals.
All these matters come together in how we study the Bible, how we stand up for the truth in all areas of our society, how we thank God in Christ for all the benefits and blessings He has given us.
This is an old story but it means a lot. When we were young, all of us above 40, for example, we took for granted that our parents and even grandparents would live on. We found fault with them, as if the troubles of the world came from them. Those who never got past that stage of ignoring parents lost a great deal, whether they believed it or not. I could tell some stories. But this is most certainly true - the blessings and sacrifices and guidance of parents are a goldmine from which we can never gather all the timeless wisdom we ignored or scoffed at.
And isn't it terrible that the adults, who were once bathed and clothed with the best clothes, are now without pity, lacking the ability to stay clean and well fed? Japanese people were asked, "What is the greatest treasure of your country?" They said, "Our elderly."
When we took my mother to dinner in New Ulm, a block away, the Chinese owners literally bowed and scraped because she was so OLD. In Phoenix the same thing happened when we went to lunch together. Bowing, asking forgiveness if something seemed off. My mother beamed. She loved it and made bird feather designs for them. In turn, they gave her extra fortune cookies.
So, God gives us many opportunities to turn the table and gush love to the elderly, ust as they gushed love to us when we were young and growing up.
