Proper 23 Life is a Story

Living the Story

"Life is a story.

You can choose your story.

A story with God is the better story."

At least this is what Life of Pi author Yann Martel once said,

in talking about his novel. 

A story.

Life is a story. 

I think most of us would agree with this statement. 

We understand our lives in stories. 

The story of what has happened today, or this week. 

The stories from our pasts.

Though some of us are still probably working on believing that 

we can choose our own stories. 

We may not be able to change the past,

but we can change the present and the future

and thus change our stories,

especially how they end. 

A story with God is the best story.

Here we all sit in church, 

interacting in our stories with God,

but there are hundreds of people who are missing out on this part of their story.

Lots of people don't have God in their stories.

They are sadly missing out.

But we can help change their stories

to include God. 

In your bulletin, this morning you'll find an insert

for our interactive portion of the sermon.

It has three parts, 

the first is a church Mad Lib, made up by me.

You get to write and change the story.

Be creative. 

The second and third parts are questions which go along with the sermon.

Things to ponder and answer.

I put pens in the pews, for you to write with.

You may be wondering at this point,

how does this have anything to do with our Gospel lesson for today? 

Jesus heals some lepers and one of them comes back to give thanks.

What does that have to do with stories?

The leper chose to change his story.

I cannot imagine having been one of those ten lepers 

wandering through Samaria during the time of Jesus.

They were outcasts, they were sick, they had no health care

and they couldn't even get good supplies to help them out.

They are traveling down the road one day and they see the crowd ahead of them.

I can imagine the conversation,

What's going on up there?

We have to be at least 20 feet away from everyone, we are going to have to move off the road...

Oh! I think I have heard about that guy! Yeah! Its Jesus! He's supposed to be a healer! A good teacher.

Do you think he could heal us?

Can we ask?

Do we want to ask?

Yes, let's ask.

Someone in that group convinced the others to help ask Jesus to heal them. 

Someone had some faith to begin with. 

Someone wanted to change their story, to live in a different way. 

They took the initiative.

Jesus! Have mercy on us! Lord! Heal us!

I'm sure they had to shout to be heard over the crowd, 

especially since they had to stand far off, so they didn't infect anyone else.

Jesus hears them and helps them make a change in their lives, in their stories.

So many people in the world today get stuck in their own story, 

thinking there is nothing they can do to change it

God wants us to have joy in our lives.

God wants us to enjoy our lives.

God loves us and wants good things for us.

God did not create us for pain and sorrow and punishment.

The promise through the Scriptures is one of a good life. 

A life in a pleasant land, living in harmony with creation.

You've seen those bumper stickers, 

"God's original plan was to hang out in a garden with some naked vegetarians."

Unfortunately, human beings have not stuck with with God's story

Thankfully, Jesus invites us to reflect on the story

to see the bigger picture

and to change our story

a course correction if you will

back towards God's story.

The Bible does not end with the end of time. 

The Bible ends in the 1st century AD. 

Almost two thousand years ago. 

God is still working in the world, still working with us.

The story of St. John's history is one of struggle

ups and downs, times of greatness and times of sadness.

The congregation was created, chartered in 1826.

However the records don't start until around the 1860's.

Because the first thirty years were years of hardship

the building was never finished

the congregation didn't have enough money, enough members

there wasn't a priest who could come regularly.

Then St. John's took off, a new building, a new set of funds, a new congregation

priests and wealth and parish guilds

life was wonderful

Even through some building hardship with the fire and the creation of this church building

there was life and joy

And that has continued

But as the years have gone by,

the congregation has waned a little. 

The financial contributions have slowed.

We are facing a time of a decision.

We are in a place where we can continue to live as we are for a while, 

but eventually the church will die.

Or we can decide to change the ending of the story and start spreading the gospel again.

In the gospel passage for this morning, 

we not only hear the story of the ten lepers,

we hear a part of Jesus' story.

In the Gospel of Luke, the story of the ten lepers

occurs while Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem.

Jesus knows what is going to happen in Jerusalem. 

He knows he is going to suffer by the hands of the people around him.

And yet, he still has compassion on the people.

He continues to tell a story of love,

he continues to make his story about life and compassion and mercy,

despite the trajectory of jealousy and evil surrounding him.

We today know how the story ends

We know Jesus took a story of human sin 

and turned it upside down

Jesus took our sins, a story of brokenness and sin,

and turned it into a story of new life

of new relationship with God

into a story of hope and joy.

So what is our story going to be?

One of decline and death,

or one of hope and new life?

What is your story going to be this week?

One of human sin and brokenness

or one of God's gracious mercy and love?

You hold the pen,

you have the eyes to see

and the words to share the story.

May you find God's story in your life this week,

May you share God's story in your life this week.

May you be like the Samarian leper who was made clean because he asked,

may you see God, hold on tight, and give great thanks.

Amen.