GRATITUDE IS A VERB

SCRIPTURE  I Timothy 1:12-17

Luke 17:11-19

In the later years of my life, my dad showed me what an “attitude of gratitude" looked like. He greeted each day with joyful expectation as if it had delightful wonders in store for him, and he was going to relish every minute of it. He was humbly and sincerely grateful for everything he had and anything anyone did for him. He was no saint, but he knew how to be grateful.

Sometimes, though, to make a difference in the world, it takes more than attitude; it requires action as well, as we turn gratitude into a verb.

One of the opening scenes of the movie, “Pay It Forward” begins with a dark and rainy night. A young crime reporter is cruising the streets, listening to a police scanner. He perks up when he hears that a bungled burglary in an upscale suburban neighborhood has turned into a hostage situation.

Arriving at the scene, he leaves his car to see if he can get information from the police crouching behind their vehicles. He needs this story. What he doesn't need are the robbers crashing through the garage door in the homeowners' car, backwards at full speed into his car. It is totaled, and the reporter stands in shock as the robbers and the police speed away.

Out of the rainy night, he is approached by a well dressed stranger out walking his great Dane. “Have a little car trouble. I can help.” He tosses the reporter his car keys, “It's the Jaguar over there.”

The reporter can't believe it. Surely the man wants something in return. The man answers the reporters doubts with, “I've had good luck lately, I don't need it. Let's just call this an act of generosity between two strangers.”

What led to this unconditional, unexpected and extravagant act of generosity was a chain of events that began three months earlier as an assignment in a seventh grade social study class. Trevor and his other classmates were told to come up with an idea of how to make the world a better place.

Trevor's idea was to do favors for three people, something that wasn't easy for him to do. The people he did favors for weren't expected to pay him back. Rather, in response to his generous act, they were to each to do favors for three people, with the same stipulations. It had be something that was hard for them to do without expecting the people to pay them back, but the ones who received the favors were supposed to pay it forward to three other people.

Generosity begat gratitude that begat generosity …

Initially, Trevor wasn't very successful as some people didn't bother to pay forward Trevor's favors. It reminds me of the story of Jesus and the ten lepers.

Ten lepers approached Jesus and asked to be healed. Ten lepers were healed, but only one said, “Thank you,” before going to the local priest to be declared healed and ready to rejoin human society. It makes me wonder why only one when ten were healed.

Maybe they felt entitled. Jesus did miracles for others, Jesus would of course do a miracle for them. They deserved it for all the suffering they had endured. They just took it for granted they would be healed. There's some ego and arrogance in the attitude of entitlement. Gratitude begins with humility.

The one who returned was a Samaritan, despised by Jews. Like Paul who knew that he didn't deserve God's mercy, the Samaritan didn't expect the miracle of healing from a Jewish teacher, like Jesus. Imagine the depth of his gratitude that had to be expressed in action – kneeling at Jesus feet, worshiping him and giving thanks.

Or maybe the nine were too busy. We know what that is like – so much to do with never enough time, and well, we can't remember to do all of them.

We often get caught up in our culture's addiction to busyness, don't we? We try to cram every minute full of “doing,” Some of the things we fill our time with are like junk food full of empty calories. In the long run, these activities don't really help us grow as healthy, thriving human beings.

Like any addiction, busyness becomes compulsive behavior. Moderation goes out the window leaving no room in our lives for life-giving practices, including being in relationship with God and living out gratitude in our lives.

So, here's three things to keep in mind:

1. Everyday, count your blessings, every day, not because we deserve any of them but because God unconditionally loves us and wants good things for us. That's what Paul is doing in his letter to Timothy. Thriving Christians don't let themselves become so busy that they forget to do this.

2. Everyday, glorify God. Give thanks. Wake up in the morning looking forward to another day of life, another day of living and discovering God's love in action around us. And then humbly and sincerely be thankful for every blessing we have received from God and every act of kindness that comes our way. An attitude of gratitude one of our responses to God's generosity, and an important part of our day.

3. Everyday, pay it forward. In John 15:8, Jesus says to his disciples, including us, that “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” (NRSV)

Bearing fruit is part of thriving as Christians and as a congregation. Remember, thriving is being firmly rooted in our relationship to God through Christ as we reach out like branches on a tree, offering to others in this world service (fruit) of compassion, love, justice and hospitality. Doing meaningful things with our time like this is like eating a healthy diet.

In the movie, as Trevor's idea began to spread, the man who gave the young reporter his expensive sports car was the recipient of a favor, that changed his life. When we respond to God's love by paying our gratitude forward, it affects people in transformational ways as they experience the love of Christ through us.

Gratitude is our response to God's love, freely and unconditionally given and demonstrated in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. An attitude of gratitude is important, but our call as disciples of Jesus Christ asks us to do more, to live gratitude as a verb.

How will you live gratitude as a verb in the coming week? How will we glorify God, and, in our own small way, make the world a better place through Christ?