“Be Grateful to the Last”

“The great question for the old and the dying is not if they have loved and been loved enough, but if they have been grateful enough for the love received and given, however much… Let us pray to be grateful to the last.”

-       Andy Catlett by Wendell Berry

This past week, I did what I imagine many of you did: I ventured home and sat around long tables filled with food, stories, and hours of laughter.  I visited with the ones who knew me since before my eyes first opened.  I sat with the family who has adopted me for over fifteen years now as one of their own. I looked at the faces of people who have loved me—whom I have loved—and whom I will forever love.

I have a lot to be thankful for.

There’s a story in the Bible where Jesus heals ten lepers.  When they realize their skin has been restored, nine of them do what we might expect—they run home.  Who wouldn’t?  After years of isolation, they can finally embrace their families, return to their communities, and step into their temple unafraid.  It’s a beautiful story of healing.  

So many of us move on quickly after acts of love.  Love is given so often in our world—gifts given, kind words spoken, a physical embrace, acts of service, time shared.  It is easy to receive love.  And over time, it can even become easy to expect love, because we all deserve it.

Yet Wendell Berry reminds us of the deeper question: Are we grateful for that love?

In the story, one of the lepers does something different. Instead of rushing home, he turns back.  He seeks and finds Jesus, falls at his feet, and offers thanks. All ten are healed, but only one experiences something more—an encounter with the Kingdom of God.

Because love is never complete without gratitude.  Gratitude binds the giver and the receiver.  Gratitude turns love into relationship.  That is why the one leper experiences the Kingdom—his gratitude draws him into communion with Jesus. 

As I look around Emmanuel, I feel that same truth.  I want each of you to know how thankful I am for this community—for your generosity, your steadfast faith, your willingness to show up for one another in ways both seen and unseen.  You have prayed with me, worked alongside me, and loved me in ways I do not take for granted. 

So let us pray, as Berry writes, “to be grateful to the last.”

Morris+