“…One of the lepers, when he realized that he was healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude, glorifying God. He kneeled at Jesus’ feet, so grateful. He couldn’t thank him enough—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus said, “Were not ten healed? Where are the nine? Can none be found to come back and give glory to God except this outsider?…”(Luke 17:11-19)

Welcome to an exciting year ahead. A special welcome to our newly appointed chaplain, Pastor Richard La’Brooy who will be chaplain at the Lindfield campus each Thursday and on the senior campus the rest of the time. There will be a further introduction to Paster La’Brooy in the next edition of Black & White.

In the above Bible passage, ten people are Jesus cured from a debilitating disease known as leprosy. The passage indicates that only one returned to give thanks, being referred to as an ‘outsider’ or ‘foreigner’. Perhaps there’s something foreign about people being grateful, at least it would appear this way to Jesus. Interestingly, all ten of these guys had experienced the same trauma, all were shown the same undeserved mercy from Jesus and the same healing. Why was Jesus so intent on making the point about this grateful outsider? Is gratitude really necessary, or is it that God thrives on being thanked?

Research into the science of ‘being thankful’ suggests that there is a direct link between expressing gratitude and improving one’s health, a heightened ability to deal with adversity, experiencing long-term, positive emotions and increasing confidence in building strong relationships. A renowned psychologist, Dr Robert Emmons, ran an experiment where he gave a journal to a group of people that he divided into three groups; the first group recorded daily what they were grateful for, the second group what was wrong went wrong each day, and the third group recorded whatever they wanted. The outcome of the experiment was such that the group that recorded what they were grateful for experienced a significantly higher level of wellbeing over an extended period of time.

Over the holidays, I decided to write down a couple of things I feel grateful for, being part of the Newington community. It wasn’t a difficult thing to do, and the more I thought about the finer details, it became clear to me that I am very lucky to be part of this community. Some of the things I wrote on my gratitude list included: our egalitarian culture where we value and respect the various gifts of others; for Dr Mulford and the connection he has with the students, the staff, the parents and alumni; for our bond with Tupou College and the spirit which the Tongan bursary students bring to Newington; how we genuinely embrace diversity and seek ways to expand on this; the commitment we have to community service, with students engaging in hands-on benevolent projects, and so on…

Looking back to the passage, we don’t know what exactly the other nine cleansed lepers experienced after being healed, but it’s possible that they may have felt entitled to have the miracle worker cleanse them, or perhaps they might be carrying around the scars after experiencing a lengthy traumatic illness. They could also be forgiven for wanting to see their families and carry on with their lives. What we do know is that this one ‘Outsider’ identified with his good fortune and could not hold back his thankfulness. In his eyes, he was the luckiest man on Earth.

When we are actively like this one outsider, openly celebrating our good fortune, identifying with how lucky we are and actively expressing our gratitude, we get to experience the fulfilment that comes from being genuinely grateful. It provides us with the resilience and strength to see past difficult situations, it kick-starts our brains as a source of desired energy, and it breeds a positive spirit amongst our community. Are you experiencing the amazing blessing that comes from being grateful?

Rev Geordie Barham
College Chaplain