PSALM 23, Response #1
Luke 17:  11-19
TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

TEXT:    "... he turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he
         prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him."
        Luke 17:15-16

    Many years ago a boat was wrecked in a storm on one of the Great Lakes. Rescuing teams were sent to help, including one made up of Northwestern University students. One student, a young man named Edward Spencer, rescued at least sixteen people from the sinking ship. When he was carried exhausted from the scene, he could only say, "Did I do my best? Do you think I did my best?" Years later, at a class reunion, one of the speakers recalled this act of heroism. Someone called out that Edward Spencer was present in the audience. Spencer was invited to come forward. Old and gray now, he made his way to the podium as the assembly cheered and applauded. The speaker asked him what in particular did he remember most about the event. "Only this," he replied, "of the sixteen or seventeen people I saved, not one of them thanked me."

Psalm 148
Luke 17:  5-10
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

TEXT:    "The Apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our Faith! "
        Luke 17:5

    In one of his plays, Tennessee Williams tells about a mentally ill woman who is sitting at a card table set up in her garden, working a jig-saw puzzle. She is extremely tense. Her hands are shaking. She tries to force the pieces together that don't fit. Some of the pieces fall off the table. The woman becomes more and more agitated. Finally, she looks up at her daughter and says poignantly, "The pieces don't fit together! The pieces don't fit together!" That is the way it is for many people today. The pieces just will not fit together for them--and never will until they discover Faith in the Gracious God who is always working in us and around us to give us life. This God, this Creative Force, this Energy (spelled with a capital "E"), not only is deep within us, but also is pulsating in the world all around us--in other human beings and in what we call "nature." And if we take a good look out there, we can see the tragic result when men become estranged from this reality. We can see the chaos that ensues when Faith in the creative, energizing, life-giving presence of God in the world is diminished and even lost.