I’ve been thinking a lot about gratitude over the past month for a couple of reasons. The first is our sermon series, The Roots and Fruits of Generosity. The second is the outpouring of support and care that our family has received from Emmanuel Presbyterian Church and Monroe Covenant. The Church has been so supportive in offering genuine care to us—for which Quinn and all the Vaughns are exceedingly grateful. It has reminded me that Emmanuel Presbyterian Church is marked not only by generosity—the kind of care extended to us that I’ve seen given to so many others in our congregation—but also by gratitude.
I believe that generosity and gratitude are deeply connected. As I preached on November 9th, God creates grateful stewards. People who are grateful live out of an abundance mentality. They see life as gift. When we understand God as the giver of abundance—because God is good—we can’t help but be grateful. As Psalm 24 declares, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it.” Everything we have is pure gift from God, which means we can receive it with open hands and give it with open hands.
If I had one more week in our sermon series on generosity, I would have preached on Luke 17:11–19, where Jesus heals ten lepers and sends them to the priest to be declared clean. Of the ten, only one stops and turns around.
“One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.” —Luke 17:15–16
We learn that the one who returned was a Samaritan. Why does that detail matter? Because this man would have been doubly outcast—both by his disease and by his ethnicity. He didn’t deserve to be healed or do anything to earn it. His healing was a pure gift from Jesus—the same gift given to the other nine. Yet he alone turned back in thanksgiving. Why? We don’t know. But even their lack of gratitude didn’t stop Jesus from healing them. God’s generosity is not dependent on our recognition of it; Jesus still gives good gifts even when we fail to give thanks.
I imagine that this man who returned praising God and thanking Jesus became a generous person. His act of praise and worship was itself a gift offered back to God. I like to think that someone who received such a free, unearned gift would go on to give freely to others. Gratitude and generosity are inseparable—gratitude is the root that bears the fruit of generosity. The fruit of joy and praise was evident in this man’s life, and who knows what other fruit was born out of that moment.
I want to be like that man. I want to have a good eye (Matthew 6:22–23)—one that sees God’s abundant gifts all around me and is quick to give thanks and praise. Too often, though, I find myself seeing with bad eyes, noticing what I lack instead of what I’ve been given. But right now, I am deeply grateful—for the generous care of EPC; for beautiful fall prayer walks at UW Bothell with Colleen Orrestad and Pat Ferguson; for the joy preschoolers find in a good book; for pastoral visits with folks who allow me into their brokenness; and for visits from old friends.
These are all gifts from the God who is good and whose steadfast love endures forever.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Patrick