Nov. 23, 2008 Psalm 100
Eph. 1:15-23
“Savoring the Days”
Incredibly, for me, next Thursday is Thanksgiving. I feel like we just launched, but this is, in fact, our 30th Sunday of worship. We are growing roots. My e-mail to you this week dealt with all the special events coming up in December and I have to admit that putting the number two in front of some of them was quite gratifying: our second Mashpee Commons parade and our second Annual Outdoor Community Candlelight service on the Mashpee Commons Village Green during which we will announce our second outdoor Easter Sunrise service on South Cape Beach, April 12. This past Friday, our volunteers helped serve a Thanksgiving Dinner at the Boys and Girls Club for the second year in a row.
Especially in this day and age when people move around so much while the advances in technology have our headings spinning, we like to feel rooted once and awhile, don’t we? We like to feel we are grounded. We like to feel we have an anchor that can hold us securely in place while the winds of change and economic uncertainty send choppy and sometimes crashing waves up against our boats. Use whatever metaphor you like, but one thing is clear: for most of us, our Thanksgiving holiday is an occasion we fondly anticipate. Just saying the word triggers good memories of family and times that were golden. There is a reason why Thanksgiving is preceded by the most traveled day of the year: people like to celebrate it. People like to be with loved ones on a day when the primary purpose is to gather around a table and share a feast. The food, the conversation, the togetherness bring comfort and assurance that with all that is going on in the world and all our busyness, we know we have one another when it really counts. Once a year we prove to ourselves that we know how to raise above all our conflicting schedules and find ways to be together.
We like to ask one another: “What are your plans for Thanksgiving this year?” Not only do we like to have our own plans in place, but we like to hear about the plans of our friends.
During a recent meeting of clergy, the end of our gathering just naturally led to the question, “What’s everyone doing for Thanksgiving this year?” Behind the question is the assumption that either we are going somewhere to be with family or family is coming to be with us.” “What are you doing for Thanksgiving this year?” “Are you going somewhere, or are people coming to you?”
We all have our stories about Thanksgiving. There are so many within each family and we love to tell them. There’s Aunt Mabel who always brings the pumpkin pie. Everybody knows that her crusts are soggy, but that’s all right because she loves to bring them and this is just the way she bakes. There’s Grandpa Stewart who insists on carving the turkey each year but who has never really figured out how to do it well. Instead of slices there are chunks. Dad likes to say grace. He does a pretty good job, except everyone knows it will end with the same words he learned in Sunday School forty-five years ago. Mom slaves in the kitchen all day as she coordinates the food preparation. Getting everything ready at the same time is a challenge. “Where is the cranberry dish? I always put it on the top shelf of this cupboard!” Later as Grandpa attacks the turkey with a dull knife, he suddenly stops to pull out a bag. You see, this year Mom has gone the stove top dressing route and has forgotten to remove the neck and all those other parts that are stored inside. Any children that happen to witness this messy extraction typically screech in horror!
So, what we know is that there is no such thing as a perfect Thanksgiving Day. No, you cannot thaw and bake the turkey at the same time! There is always something that doesn’t go according to plan all of which suggests that there is something else going on.
Thanksgiving is not about the perfect pie crust, the perfect slice of turkey, the Norman Rockwellian gathering of family at the huge table in front of an open hearth. Thanksgiving is about living out what we often fail to articulate with one another during the rest of the year. For most of us, Thanksgiving is a sacrament of life and love. Through our commitments to be with one another, we say, “I love you and I love God for giving us one another.” Thanksgiving is a celebration of life. The Psalmist often speaks of it. Paul speaks of his thanksgiving for all the faithful new Christians in Ephesus and for all the blessings of life.
At its core, Thanksgiving is about each of us being special to someone else while thanking God as the creator of us all.
Thanksgiving has staying power even when life changes. Thanksgiving has a permanent place in our lives because loved ones whether they are still with us or not are a part of the thanksgiving narrative of our lives.
My maternal grandmother lived to be 96 years-old. Granny died over thirty years ago, but when we sit down for our dinner this Thursday, she will be there with us. When I was a child, my family hosted the Thanksgiving dinner. There were typically twelve of us. Granny was the pie maker. She loved to bake pies: apple, cherry and, of course, the compulsory pumpkin. Sometimes she baked lemon meringue-that was a favorite. Dad did the carving and every year when the meal was over, he promised to buy a better knife. While preparations were underway in the kitchen, the rest of the crew wandered in and out the family room to catch glimpses of the parade. In the earlier years, the meal followed a football game played between our home town heroes and the bad guys, the always underdogs, from Bloomfield High School.
My special blessing this year is to be sharing all this with you for the first time. As a new community of faith, as a new collection of people from many walks of life, God has brought us here to anticipate together the great day of Thanksgiving. For the first time ever, as a new people together, we can ask one another this morning, “So, what are your plans for Thanksgiving this year.” This in and of itself is a real blessing for God is creating a new family for us right in this place.
So ask one another. Listen to one another. Share your stories. Share you faith. Celebrate our new life together in Jesus Christ.
Happy thanksgiving to you all! Amen
