Grateful

The New Revised Standard Version Psalm 116

Psalm 116

Thanksgiving for Recovery from Illness

1 I love the LORD, because he has heard

my voice and my supplications.

2 Because he inclined his ear to me,

therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

3 The snares of death encompassed me;

the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;

I suffered distress and anguish.

4 Then I called on the name of the LORD:

“O LORD, I pray, save my life!”

5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;

our God is merciful.

6 The LORD protects the simple;

when I was brought low, he saved me.

7 Return, O my soul, to your rest,

for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.

8 For you have delivered my soul from death,

my eyes from tears,

my feet from stumbling.

9 I walk before the LORD

in the land of the living.

10 I kept my faith, even when I said,

“I am greatly afflicted”;

11 I said in my consternation,

“Everyone is a liar.”

12 What shall I return to the LORD

for all his bounty to me?

13 I will lift up the cup of salvation

and call on the name of the LORD,

14 I will pay my vows to the LORD

in the presence of all his people.

15 Precious in the sight of the LORD

is the death of his faithful ones.

16 O LORD, I am your servant;

I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.

You have loosed my bonds.

17 I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice

and call on the name of the LORD.

18 I will pay my vows to the LORD

in the presence of all his people,

19 in the courts of the house of the LORD,

in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the LORD!

Let’s pray.

Last week, we looked at Psalm 33 and asked the question: are we happy? We considered how we build a life with people, practices, and purpose, all of which ground us and return us to the state of blessing that God intends for us. Happiness can feel elusive, trite, or simply unimaginable, in many circumstances of our lives.

We read the news — what is there to be happy about in our world?

Today, we look at another facet of the emotional intelligence that we find in the Psalms: Gratitude. How do we live grateful lives, especially amidst all that brings us hurt and anxiety? Like the Psalmist, how do we live gratefully while we are facing illness, trauma, or chronic conditions that make life unbearable?

Research has shown that the ability to foster gratitude and practice being grateful throughout our days can be linked to a healthier, more fulfilled life. Simply pausing in our days to be grateful, for a cup of coffee or a kind word from a friend, can lead to greater satisfaction in the long haul. When we open ourselves to gratitude, we reap social and psychological benefits which can help press against our burdens and help us sustain through difficult times.

How many of you have tried keeping a Gratitude journal? You know, like writing things down each evening or morning, things you’re grateful for that day. For generations, Christians have practiced gratefulness in our worship, in our prayers, thanking God for the ways God provides for us each day. And I have a sense that gratitude is something beyond thankfulness. I see thankfulness as very important, but it can often be transactional if we don’t pay attention. Someone gives us a gift, we say thanks. There’s a sense that thankfulness is linked to reciprocity — you do something for me, I give you a thanks. (I must note, a gift or assistance given that seeks thanks is not a gift, it is a transaction.) So how is gratitude different?

Christian historian Diana Butler Bass, in her book “Grateful”, talks about gratitude through the framework of “gift and response.” She says, “Gifts bring forth gratitude, and we express our appreciation by passing gifts on to others. When we share gifts, we become benefactors toward the well-being of all.” She goes on to say that this restructures our way of being — we begin to see that all of life is a gift, all things we possess or skills we have, they are all potential gifts for us to give away freely for the good of the other. And when we respond with both an inner and outer gratitude, those shared gifts strengthen our societal bonds and bind us closer together.

The description of Psalm 116 tells us that it is a Psalm of Thanksgiving for Recovery from Illness.

We know from the stories of King David that his life was filled with both abundance and affliction. Though I’m not sure what illness was being suffered and generated this Psalm of response, but I am sure we can all resonated with these feelings us despair and then responding in gratitude for getting beyond it.

As a Pastor, I am aware of many of the illnesses and struggles that members of our congregation go through. Cancer diagnosis, marital issues, struggles with growing children, the onset of dementia and the decline associated with aging. So I know that we can certainly connect with this Psalm. We know what it means to feel these ways.

And, also, as a Pastor, I have the honor to bear witness to how healing and recovery can so often take place in our lives. We’ve praised God in our prayers for strong recovery after a dire prognosis. We’ve heard stories of how medical procedures have intervened and prolonged life and for this, we are grateful to the Creator, the Great Physician.

We’ve also heard many stories of how healing does not come. How death ultimately arrives, even for the ones who’ve been prayed for the most. But we do not lose sight of gratitude, even in these moments. Instead, in our mourning, we also speak of gratefulness for the gift of a person’s life, the way they impacted and taught us. Again, using Butler Bass’ definition — we recognize the gift we have been given by a person’s life and we respond with living our lives as gifts as well.

There is a story from Jesus’ ministry that helps us see gratefulness in response to healing, and the complexities that come along with it. Here this story from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 17, verses 11-19:

The New Revised Standard Version Jesus Cleanses Ten Lepers

Jesus Cleanses Ten Lepers

11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, 13 they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18 Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

I remember hearing this story in Sunday school and feeling the burden of guilt about not saying thanks enough. Sadly, we hear this and miss the good news. Be polite, friends, mind your manners, say Please and Thank you.

If that is what we are to glean from the Scriptures, from this text, some sort of obligation that only one leper fulfilled, then we’re missing the point.

But that was the telling I remember. An emphasis on the 9 who said nothing, not the 1 who responded with gratefulness.

Let’s flip it right side up, though, today.

Look at the response from the 1 leper who returns: “When he saw that he was healed, he turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And…he was a Samaritan.”

Let’s forget about the other 9 for a moment and stand in awe of this 1. A Samaritan, an outsider, is showing the priests how powerful the work of Jesus is. He’s praising God, kissing Jesus’ feet, crying out.

Again, gift and response — this leper, who is now healed, offers his life and words as a gift of praise. He, like the Psalmist, is living out this question, “what shall I return to the Lord, for all his bounty to me? I will life up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord!”

Did he need to do this in order to be healed? No! The healing was given, the gift…Jesus gives the gift.

But it is this man’s response that shows gratitude. Because he has been healed, he lives with gratitude.

Think of a time when someone gave you a gift. Or think of a time when something went right. We don’t even have to think of serious medical healings or miraculous turnabouts — we have all kinds of instances in our lives where we are given gifts, strengthened for the day, supported and loved in small ways.

I’ve told a few of you this story, but I will retell it to illustrated the simplicity of gratitude.

We had our house and deck painted last month. In the busyness of my doctoral graduation, I had not devoted much time to prepping the deck and knew there were a couple of rotten boards that I’d need to replace. I’d resigned to going to get them after the paint job was done and just dealing with any discrepencies in color that I’d create by painting and installing them myself.

As the painting team moved to the deck work, that morning I heard a skil saw humming outside. I looked out the window to see Luis, the head of the painting crew, out on the deck with a brand new piece of decking, replacing the rotten sections of wood before the crew set about painting for the day. He’d gone out, found a matching board, and was making cuts to fit and replace what was rotten.

Honestly, I was struck. He didn’t need to do that. They could have just painted over and kept on moving. But because of his skill and precision, his desire to do the job right, he’d taken care of what I’d needed. It was a gift. And those feelings I had, that “struck” sense I felt — that was gratitude. That was my response.

Simple acts of gift — can we get behind this? It isn’t about grandstanding or always pulling the miracle out of your back pocket.

Sometimes, it’s just acknowledging that someone has offered you a simple, loving gift.

That is what the Psalmist tells of. God has blessed them with the gift of healing. Now, of course, the Psalm is much more dramatic, because it is a poetic telling of a response to the gift.

But our responses can be much more low key, and that’s ok.

Take another moment, and think of something that has been a gift to you in the last few weeks. A kind word, a helping hand, someone who gave you a ride, a friend who checked in on you.

Can you be grateful for this? And can you not simply feel obligated to say thanks, but can you see this as a gift you now possess to pass on?

I’ll close with words from the Apostle Paul, another person from the Scriptures who faced many afflictions and yet lived with gratitude. In his closing words to the Thessalonian church, Paul reminds them of the way of living they must pursue. Through all things, in all times, the practice of gratitude was meant to sustain them. In 1 Thess 5:16-18, he teaches us:

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 NRSV

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

May it be so with us. In all things, may you know gratitude for how you have been gifted this one wild and precious life. May we share our gifts and respond with gratefulness, knowing that all good things come from God and are to be shared in abundance with our world.

Amen.