Hilarious Givers
2 Cor. 9:6-12; 15 and Luke 17:11-9
Pastor Deb Troester, STHPC, November 19, 2023
When our daughter Christa was little, I wanted to teach her to say “please” and “thank you.” I often reminded her, and my persistence was rewarded. At the age of two and a half, my aunt took Christa for a boat ride. When they returned to shore, she impressed my aunt by saying “thank you.” I felt proud of her. I thought that maybe in the excitement of the boat ride, she might have forgotten, which would have been OK – she was little, after all. Our kids sometimes learn more than we think they do, and they learn it best by example. Maybe the leper who returned to say “Thanks” to Jesus for healing him had a mom or dad or uncle or aunt who taught him to say “thank-you” whenever someone did something kind for him. Or maybe it was just in his nature. Either way, it made an impression, because 2000 years later, his gesture of gratitude is still remembered.
The Bible is full of thanksgiving, from the Psalms to the book of Revelation, where the heavenly hosts worship God, singing, “Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving …
be to our God forever and ever!” The New Testament records no fewer than 11 times when Jesus gave thanks, including the night he was betrayed, when he gave thanks for the bread and the wine before distributing them to his disciples. So if Jesus was thankful, how much more should we express our thanks to God?
Lots of studies have shown that gratitude is good for our mental and emotional health. When we focus on being thankful for what is good in our lives, then negative things don’t seem as overwhelming. Gratitude re-balances the weight of our lives and gives us perspective. Our burdens seem lighter when we remember our blessings.
In the passage we read, ten lepers were healed, but only one came back to give thanks. Unfortunately this may be about the percentage of people who remember to thank God when something good happens. Probably most of us here this morning are among that ten percent, or I’d like to think so, anyway. Thanking God as we praise and worship the Lord in prayer and song is an excellent practice. Giving thanks draws us out of ourselves and lifts our spirits up to God.
Of course, there are many different ways to be thankful. Saying grace before meals is a simple way to show our gratitude toward God throughout the week. You might try it if you don’t already make this a regular practice. A Facebook friend posts three things she is thankful for every day. Recently she has given thanks for beauty on her drive to work, thoughtful students, kindness, laughter, and a visit with her Mom. However you do it, it’s good to make a practice of thanking God daily for something.
Another way of saying “Thank you” to God is through our giving. God has blessed us with so much. Nearly all of us here today are living “above average” lives in terms of material blessings. All we have to do is look at how people live in other parts of the world, or even other parts of our community, to realize that we are doing fine. God has been good to us. Throughout the Bible we see that God blesses people so that they in turn can be a blessing, beginning with Abraham back in Genesis, where God tells him “I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”
Paul reminds us in the passage we read in 2 Corinthians: “God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.”
In this same passage, Paul coined a famous phrase: “God loves a cheerful giver.” The whole verse is “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not regretfully or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” The word for cheerful comes from the Greek word hilaron – where we get our word “hilarious.” So, God loves a hilarious giver? Maybe. When something is hilarious, we respond not with a polite chuckle, but with our whole being – really giving a belly laugh, or rolling on the floor with laughter. Of course that’s not really the meaning in this verse: hilaron in Greek means joyous, cheerful, not grudging or reluctant, eagerly ready to give. But I still like the idea of responding with our whole being. Barclay translates this verse, “God loves a person who enjoys giving.” Generosity is one of the gifts of the Spirit that we can pray to receive.
Of course, as I mentioned last week, money isn’t the only thing we can give. At Presbytery meeting yesterday, our moderator, Elder Elsa Amboy, shared how, although she is a busy kindergarten teacher, she felt called to work with refugees in the Bay area. Two of our members, Mojoko Sona and Emmanuel Ngwa, were elected to Presbytery Committees. Both of them often give of their time unselfishly to help others and to serve the church, as do many of the rest of you. It’s one of the things I love about this congregation, that so many of you give of your time and talent to help others and to grow our ministry as a church. Thank you.
On NPR this week I heard about a woman who kept seeing the same homeless man in his wheelchair every day. At first she just waved at him, then she greeted him. She saw that his wheelchair was in disrepair and barely working – the rubber tires were gone and it was rolling on the rims. A friend of hers had recently gotten a new wheelchair, and was willing to give the man her old one, which was still in good shape.
It took time for this woman to get to know her unhoused neighbor and then to help him. In this case, the giving was in time and effort, rather than money.
Jesus himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Paul tells the Corinthians that “the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” That does not necessarily mean we will receive material rewards from our giving, as some would have us think, but it does mean that we will reap the rewards of joy, peace, and love. We will rejoice knowing that our gifts have helped others and glorified God.
As we close our reflection on ways we give thanks to God, listen to Paul’s final words in the passage from 2 Corinthians: “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift”: the surpassing grace of God given to us in Jesus Christ, the amazing grace of God’s love. Some bible versions say, “the gift beyond anything words can describe!” Archbishop Helder Camara, a champion of human rights in Latin America, once wrote: “Lord, isn’t your creation wasteful?
Fruits never equal the seedlings’ abundance. Springs scatter water. The sun gives out enormous light. May your bounty teach me greatness of heart. May your magnificence stop my being mean. Seeing you a prodigal and open-handed giver, let me give unstintingly like God’s own.”
As we celebrate Thanksgiving, and look toward Advent and Christmas, let us find ways to give thanks for the gift of God’s infinite love, given to us in Jesus Christ. We can never outgive God. Let us give thanks for all that God has so generously given us. Amen.
©Deborah Troester 2023