Returning Thanks
(based on Luke 17: 11-19)
Each one of the ten had a tale of personal horror to tell, but the stories were all the same.
The nightmare had crept slowly across their bodies: white patches, lumps in the skin. Then the numbness had crawled up their limbs, stealing the strength from muscles and the feeling from fingers and toes. Finally, the faces had grown disfigured beyond recognition; the hands had stiffened into claws, and all that remained of the feet were crippled nubs.
Worst of all were the jeers from the children whenever the men passed too near a village. "Lepers!" they screamed, spitting the word like a curse. "Come too close, and we'll stone your ugly faces!"
So long ago these ten had been young and handsome, healthy and well-to-do, full of desires and dreams. But that seemed like another world, another lifetime. Now they were the walking dead….
The nightmare had crept slowly across their bodies: white patches, lumps in the skin. Then the numbness had crawled up their limbs, stealing the strength from muscles and the feeling from fingers and toes. Finally, the faces had grown disfigured beyond recognition; the hands had stiffened into claws, and all that remained of the feet were crippled nubs.
Worst of all were the jeers from the children whenever the men passed too near a village. "Lepers!" they screamed, spitting the word like a curse. "Come too close, and we'll stone your ugly faces!"
So long ago these ten had been young and handsome, healthy and well-to-do, full of desires and dreams. But that seemed like another world, another lifetime. Now they were the walking dead….
(To view the rest of the story, click on the link below.)
— Copyright © 1997 by Paul Thigpen, posted on his Star by the Sea website.
For more creative worship resources for Thanksgiving Sunday or Harvest celebrations, click on Thanksgiving Sunday in the list of “Labels” at the lower right side of the page, or see this Thanksgiving Day Resources index.
