Thanksgiving

 Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 2021 The Rev. Nancy E. Gossling

“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.” ― Meister Eckhart.

The standard greeting this week has been, “What are your plans for the holiday?”  For many people, the answer will be the same year after year, that is unless COVID 19, a change in the family, or a desire to try something new interrupts your holiday plans. 

Travel is both internal and external. And while travel this year is up for the holiday, we’re all on a journey, in one way or another, even when we don’t leave home. 

I think our journeys can be described in three ways. The first is the Norman Rockwell picture of tradition, a still life photo of the status quo. Most of us like routines and consistency, and to be in places and with people where we feel comfortable and safe. Traditional routines can provide us with a sense of stability and security especially in chaotic times. It’s nice to know that we can go “home” for Thanksgiving, that the entire family will be there, and no one will get sick from COVID. We know that we’ll eat turkey and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, and it’s OK to wear sweatpants and forget about our troubles, at least for a little while. That’s why they call it “comfort food.”

A second scenario involves people who are “explorers.” These folks don’t feel as if they are truly living unless their lives involve frequent change. “Let’s try something different this year!” is their battle cry. God forbid that we would eat turkey every year or that our lives would become too routine and predictable. How boring! So let’s create new traditions, leave the country, and eat tofu on Thanksgiving day.

A third kind of journey involves having a vision of the future. Tired of the “same old same old”, whether it be food, politics, the latest news, or our family, we imagine a place where material things are unimportant. We imagine a feast of “rich foods and well-aged wines” on a holy mountain. Looking all around us, literally and figuratively, we see Life. It doesn’t matter what we’re eating or drinking, or what we’re wearing. It doesn’t matter whether there are family members with us or not; we know that we’re home.

God is our Holy Host of the eternal Feast. We do not worry nor are we anxious because God knows what we need. “Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

And so, we bow our heads and give thanks for this stopping point on our journey: Thanksgiving day.

Matthew 6:25-33

Jesus said, "I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you-- you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or `What will we drink?' or `What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."