I know someone who finds it almost impossible to say thank you. His family does not make a big thing over birthdays and anniversaries. - therefore there is little need to thank others because no gifts are exchanged. He thinks it is sign of weakness if he has to say thank you. He finds it very difficult to be indebted to anyone else. Yet he finds it easy to say I love you. He ends every phone call to his wife and kids with that phrase. He leaves notes for them and ends with that phrase. But he can't thank them.

The gospel is about saying thank you and it is also about not saying thank you. And it is about expressing love. It is about one leper out of ten who, when he realized he really was healed - just had to turn around, go back to Jesus and thank him. It is also about the other nine, who did exactly as Jesus told them. Go show yourselves to the priests so they can certify you are healed.

Jesus didn't expect them to return until the Samaritan did. Then he wondered where the others were. Jesus was not in the healing business for fame and glory. I don't think he waited around for people to thank him. What he was, was a person filled with compassion and mercy, and desired more than anything to make God's love and mercy obvious. He wanted to show God at work in people's lives.

Leprosy was a fearful disease. In Jesus' day, people considered it as an inexplicable act of God. So if there was nothing you did wrong to bring it on, there was nothing you could do to counter it. Not only was the disease contagious, but the hopelessness the leper felt was contagious too. Healthy folk did not want to be contaminated in body or spirit by the hopeless state of the leper.- so lepers were removed - they were banished outside of town. If there was one thing worse than death to a Jew - it was to be separated from your family and friends and community, and not able to participate in the religious ceremonies and holidays. A leper was a person out of sight fom the population, empty of hope and resigned to a slow painful death.

What really must have grabbed the attention of the people around Jesus was that not one but ten lepers were healed simultaneously. There was no denying that God was at work with something that surprising - something that big.

To the one who returned, Jesus said - Rise and go home - your faith has made you well. I see a connection between having to say thank you, and having faith in God. It seems to be the underlying lesson Jesus wants us to learn from this. Ten were healed of a skin disease, but only one was saved. Ten were declared clean and restored back into society, but only one was said to have faith. Ten set out to Jerusalem to claim their free gifts of new life, but only one turned back to express his thanks. Nine behaved like good lepers, good obedient Jews and did as Jesus told them, only one, a double loser, a leper and a Samaritan, behaved like a man in love who could not help himself. He just had to say thank you.

It's something to hold on to as you think about your pledges to the parish for next year. We make a pledge as a thankful response to God's actions in our lives. And this year's stewardship theme intrigues me. Weaving our wonder, works and wealth.

Some of you may remember that years ago I had a loom and did some weaving. Well, now I have a new loom (computer controlled) and have started to weave again. So the theme of weaving wonder works and wealth caused me to wonder what kind of weaving structure that might be. Weaving can be very simple or very complex. It can be for utilitarian needs or it can be art that is proudly displayed. One of the wonders of weaving is the interplay of colors that come from weaving different colors together. Like an artist mixing paint. In a sampler I'm working on right now, there are eighteen different colors laid out in stripes 2 inches wide - that's called the warp. Across those stripes, the weft is woven in the same color combinations. The idea is to end up with two-inch squares, where each color is woven with every other color. It is a study in contrasts and subtle changes. How might that apply when we look at the interplay of three different but related things - Wonder, works and wealth?

My move a couple of months ago from Laguna Niguel near the beach in Southern California to Reno was a momentous shift in scenery. In the south there is lush landscapes and the beauty of the always-changing Pacific Ocean. In Reno there is the starkness of the arid but always changing mountains. I am filled with wonder at he beauty of both places - beauty that is so different but yet from the same creator. I wonder at the creativeness of God to give us such a variety of scenes - all beautiful in their own ways. Un-comparable really. When you let your mind wonder at all the things God has given us, it should prompt not only a great big "Thank you - but also a desire to search him out and be close to him.

Our works are what we do. They are the outward expressions of what we believe is important. Some feel family is most important - and we work unceasingly to provide the best for them. Some feel it is important to volunteer some of their time to help others, and do so in many ways. Some feel our country is important and serve it in different ways - through political groups, or advocating certain causes, or serving in the military. And some feel it is important to make their faith tangible and do so through their pledge. All the things we do are outward signs of what we feel is important and of value and they define who we really are. If you are like me, you probably don't stop to thank God often enough for your abilities, and energies, and resourcefulness and creativity - all the things that enable you to do your chosen works and define who you are. As I write my weekly pledge check, I have the chance to take a moment and think about how God has acted in my life the past week.

And finally, what is to be said about our wealth. I believe it is the weft that ties together the warp of our wonder and works. Like the weft in a piece of weaving, our wealth enables our wonders and our works to be meaningful and beautiful. It adds strength to our lives and shape and color and value. What we do with our wealth expresses our true values. For instance, when you buy tickets to a ball game or concert or lecture, you are saying - this is important to me. It is how you choose to spend you wealth. So we want you to think about sharing ten percent of your wealth in your pledge as a thank you response to how you experience God's gifts to you. The Samaritan leper couldn't do anything else before he turned around and returned to Jesus in thanksgiving for his new land healthy life.

That's how I see our wonder, works and wealth woven together. And this is how you can begin your weaving. Ask yourselves these four questions:

1. Do I believe that God is the sources of all that I have and all that I hope for?
2. Am I prudent with what I have so that I do not squander what comes my way?
3. Am I willing to weigh my necessities against the needs of others this parish can touch?
4. Am I really free to generously give back to God a part of what I have?