God and Apple Trees (10/14/01)

Today's Gospel is all about gratitude. The gospel writer known as Luke had a particular point to make -- and it's a very good point, a point that we would do well to think about-- a point about gratitude, especially the gratitude that God has every right to expect from us. What Luke has to say is this -- that people who think they know God best just might be the least likely to recognize God when God shows up and does something fantastic in their lives. And Luke goes on to say that the outsiders, the people who have been told all their lives that they don't know beans about God -- who have been told that they're worshipping God all wrong -- the people who would be scared to death to go inside a church because of what all the good church people inside might say to them or do to them -- Luke goes on to say that these people, the outsiders, the people who scare good church-going folks half to death -- Luke says that when these outsiders meet God in the streets, or in their lives, they know exactly who it is who's saved them. And they know exactly what to do about it. They fall down at The Lord's feet in gratitude, and say thank you. That's worth thinking about for awhile.

We know we are supposed to say thank you to God. The prayers we hear and say every Sunday say that we are to give thanks in all time, and in all places, and for all things. With all that's been going on for the past month, it's sometimes been hard to remember to be grateful. We can all find more than enough to be anxious about, and worried about, and distracted about. Anthrax, addiction, Afghanistan, bombs, Bin Laden, bureaucracies, cholesterol, computer viruses…and so it goed. We all have our own unhappy alphabets that get in the way of saying "thank you".

But today's Gospel reminds us, and Our Lord reminds us, that gratitude is good for the soul, and even in our most challenging moments, each one of us has something to be grateful for. God is always right there with us, standing behind us to catch us if we fall. God is always going on ahead of us to show us the way. Right this minute, God is doing fantastic things with fall foliage and, planning a few spectacular autumn sunsets, hoping a little razzle-dazzle display would remind us of a different kind of alphabet, a "thank-you" alphabet of apples and best friends and our children. Whatever it takes to save us, whatever it takes to heal us, whatever God needs to do to bring us safely home, God will do. Whatever it takes, God has done already. God will always give us more than we can ask for, or imagine. That's a promise we can count on.

There's a nine-year-old Muslim boy named in Bosniawho knows this very well. Along with 300 other children, he was interviewed about his ideas about God, and asked to draw pictures of God, for a book called "God Lives in Glass" that just happens to be living on a table at the back of the church. When the interviewer said "tell me about God, he said "This is what God is like. When you ask God for an apple, God gives you a whole tree."

A whole tree. A whole tree when all we had asked for is an apple. Hmmm. That surely does sound like God. And like today's gospel, a God who gives us a whole tree when we ask for an apple is a God worth thinking about, very carefully.

Now I don't know for sure about you, but I do know about me. And I know that if I asked God for an apple, and got a whole tree growing in my back yard, my first reaction would be Wow! Look at all those apples!! I'd have an absolutely perfect Macintosh apple -- maybe two -- for lunch. I might even e-mail a few friends to tell them about the amazing and marvelous thing that God had done. Might even think about e-mailing a thank-you note to God.

And then I'd realize that I don't know anything at all about taking care of apple trees. Don't know what to feed them. Don't know how to prune them. For that matter, can’t say I've ever wanted to get to know an apple tree up close and personal like that. Sounds like a lot of work. Of course, I have a choice, here. I could just take the one apple that I wanted, and let the tree wither and die. I wouldn't be the first person to let God's good gifts wither away and die because they were too much trouble to take care of. Or, I could humbly and gratefully say thank you to God for the tree, and -- in gratitude -- learn to love feeding it and pruning it and watering it and harvesting all the apples that it gave me.

Now that's something else to think about…. about the harvesting. Lots of apples on that tree. Can’t say that I know too much about what to do with bushels and bushels of apples, either. Certainly can't eat them all myself! Of course, there's a choice here, too. I could let the apples fall to the ground and rot. Take what I want and ignore the rest. I wouldn't be the first person to use God's gifts selfishly. Or, I could say thank you to God for the apples and -- humbly and gratefully -- learn to make apple pies and apple butter and apple sauce, and I could take all these good things to a food pantry or a shelter and use them to feed God's hungry people, doing God's work in the world.

That's the way it is with God's gifts. When we gratefully accept the gifts God gives us, and care for the gifts God gives us, and use the gifts God gives us the way God intends us to use them, we grow. We stretch. We do things we never imagined ourselves doing. We reach out in love, to share God's gifts with other people who need them. Our gratitude becomes much more than a simple "thank you note" to God. Our gratitude becomes a living part of the Body of Christ. Our thanksgiving becomes part of the medicine that heals the world's hurts. Our praise enters the very heart of God, and becomes God's own compassion,

Now and forever,

Amen.