HOW IMPORTANT IS PRAISE? Luke 17: 11-19 Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well." (Luke 17 vs 18,19) Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Hallelujah! (Psalm 150)   How important is Praise ?  Let me tell you about the renowned cellist Pablo Casals: When Casals was an old man, almost 90, he was beset with the infirmities of age, which incapacitated his whole body. But Casals was able to cast off his afflictions, at least temporarily, because he knew he had something to celebrate--his musical gift. His music was an act of praise. This was his daily Cortisone for his creaking joints. It is said that Casals would walk into the room stooped over, bent, hunch-backed, in apparent pain. He painfully sat down at the keyboard of the piano which he also knew how to play, and slowly, and with great labour, began to press the keys and the pedals, and slowly the music of a Bach creation began to emerge. The fingers straightened. The spine became more erect, and within two or three bars of the music, Casals was moving up and down the keyboard in a rhythmic frenzy. He finished the piece, got up from the piano, and was good for an hour or two, in a state of relative well-being. Casals filled his painful void with celebration and praise thereby coped with his condition. You can see why the words of the psalmist in psalm 150 are more precious to the soul than precious jewels Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord, Hallelujah. * Praise has affected my life. I have always sung praises in church and uttered phrases of praise, but when I became intentional to see in my life the things to praise God for, I would have to say that my world changed. I should reword that. The world did not change but was redefined in way that I can't completely explain. I now commit myself to viewing at least one thing a day as I were seeing it for the first time. This can be a glorious time of praise. The more I praise, the more I find to praise and praise has become a way of life. I believe that it is through our praise that we become more whole people. There is something missing in our lives without it. This is why this story in the Gospel of the healing of the ten lepers intrigues me. It can be seen on many levels. The healing of leprosy can be seen as a sign of messianic salvation, and the healing of a Samaritan leper can be seen as a sign of the universality of messianic salvation. But this story can also been seen very simply as an example of how our wholeness as human beings is dependent on our willingness to praise and give thanks. There were ten healed in this story. One returned to praise God and to give thanks. And Jesus told him that his faith has made him well. Now all ten were cleansed of their leprosy. All ten were healed, but to this man Jesus said, "Your faith has made you well." What about the others? Could it be that they were made well physically, however, there was something missing in their life when they were unable to return to give praise to God. They missed out. They missed out on the change and wholeness in their lives that praise can bring. But when the one Samaritan returned to praise God, we could say that his faith had made him whole. * Our praise can go beyond words. The giving of ourselves, all that we are and all that we have is an Act of Praise. You know that your cheque book and your date book tell more about what you believe than the reciting of Creeds, because how you spend your money and how your spend your time say what you really value in life. It's an act of praise . We praise what we value. This doesn't not just apply to individuals. It applies to parishes. Our budgets and financial statements are also a declaration of our Mission . When I was in Toronto, I lived in Islington and attended St. Georges-On-The -Hill. In fact that is where Paula and I were married 26 years ago this week (Canadian Thanksgiving weekend). When I went to that parish, people were welcoming. They were friendly. They asked, "Is there anything that we can do to make you feel at home in this parish?" I said, "Yes, show me your budget and financial statement." Now , people usually don't get that response. After they picked themselves up, they introduced me to the treasurer. I wanted to find out how much they spent on themselves as compared to how much they spent outside themselves - whether they had that sense of Praise that which flowed into generosity. I believe that they were attempting to work on the basis of giving as much outside of themselves as what they spent on themselves- the 50/50 split. There is something whole about that. I have often quoted Martin Luther King Jr. who said: "An individual has not started living until he (or she) can rise above the narrow confines of his (or her) own individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of humanity" And also  "Everyone must decide whether they will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgement. Life's most persistent and urgent question is what are you going to do for others?". That is equally true of churches. We are not really living. We are not really whole until move beyond ourselves. Jesus walks around and looks around sees the Church that praises God by it's very lifestyle and says like he did to the Samaritan "Get up and go your way, enter into the newness of life - your faith has made you whole." * These lepers were cleansed. They received their health. The act of praise by the one leper indicated that he recognized just how much was given to him. Not only did it mean that he was cleansed from his leprosy, it also meant that he could be restored into the community. Can you imagine if the other nine lepers who were healed did not recognized that they were healed. The next morning they would still by the side of the road begging like they had always been, still outcasts to society. That is like the church that doesn't know what we have been given. We look at our Church like the glass half empty instead of seeing it as the glass half full. Do we really think of that in our parishes, just how much we have been given.. What that means to us? Just how healthy we are! Sometimes we think too much of our liabilities. In every parish. In every small group of people there is what is known as GRADES. Do you know what that is? It's a turnip. It's something from our past that keeps turning up. G- Gifts for ministry. In every parish God has given all the gifts needed for a full ministry. R- Resources of all kinds, both material resources and spiritual resources A- Associations beyond the group, in the larger community, in the world D- Diversity of personalities, abilities, situations, and opportunities E- Experience in all kinds of different fields S -Skill and training. Tragedy of it all is that we don't even know what we have. If we don't know what we have received, how can we fully praise God with the kind of work in this world that we are truly capable of. Do you spend any time thinking of all the GRADES you have? If we even used 10% of what God has given us we would have the most powerful  praise of Almighty God that we could ever have. * I was reading the other day of a United Methodist Bishop who always greeted people with "God is good" and the people would respond "all the time". Sometimes even in the middle of a meeting he would just break in and say "God is good", to which people would reply, "All the time" . Then he would switch it and say, "All the time", and they would reply, "God is good!" It had become a chant in that UM Conference . The Bishop said that was that no matter how cynical the people became over church politics, they would be encouraged to look beyond to God the giver of all good gifts, the giver of life itself. He would said it because he hoped it would be taken to heart, and create an "attitude of gratitude" within each one. He kept saying it so that it would becomes the bedrock of their decision making ministry, reassuring then that no matter how difficult the task before them, no matter how bleak the future may appear, no matter how evil humankind has become, God was and is and will always be very good and "Worthy to be praised" . "And one of them when he saw that he was healed praised God with a loud voice" , and we can speculate. Also with his life. May it ever be so with us. * I want you to take a few minutes to reflect silently.  In these last few years what has God given you? What has God given this church? What resources, what healing, what opportunities, what experience - what is God giving to all of you? How can we fittingly Praise God with all that we have all of the time?. GOD IS GOOD! ( everyone responds: ALL THE TIME ) ALL THE TIME! (everyone responds: GOD IS GOOD ) You are visitor number UK Online Casinos This free counter  is supplied by Visible Counter Connect with Deacon Sils Homelical resource Also for more sermon and lectionary resources connect to SERMON AND SERMON LECTIONARY RESOURCES   Check Out my daughter's web site CARLY'S STRENGTH THE GODDESS WITHIN MUSIC PROJECT Each year, thousands of women and children become homeless as a result of domestic violence.  "The Goddess Within" music project is designed to empower those whose lives have been affected by domestic abuse and to raise awareness of this issue. "The Goddess Within" compilation album will showcase artists and their songs, written for or relating to those escaping the cycle of violence.  The C.D. will be distributed throughout North America and proceeds from the sale of the C.D. will be donated to women's shelters. More information on the CD is available at ARTISTS FOR CHANGE My daughter Carly is featured on the album with her song The Mask.  The art for cover for the CD album is the creation of another daughter, Mary Anne Molcan. Another site to access is Ending Domestic Abuse * Mary Anne is a very talented artist.  She has a new web site called Faerie Artist where she displays her Art.   You can access her site at: Faerie Artist