For some, that sign speaks volumes about what so many of us take for granted. For some of our neighbors, for many reasons – economic, social, personal – some by choice, others by circumstances, there will be no turkey or mashed potatoes or pumpkin pie, no collards or macaroni and cheese, nor any pork and sauerkraut. Their thanksgiving feast might be a number 2 combo, splurging for a dessert of some sort, since it is a holiday.
A few years ago, I heard the Rev. Ann Copp, a neighboring Episcopal rector, say of Thanksgiving, “The prayers whispered over a Happy Meal are just as precious to God as the ones said over the turkey and stuffing.” She went on to amplify the point: And all of us, no matter where we find ourselves praying, are bound together by one simple word: grace. At a few fast food joints this Thanksgiving, I’m sure that grace will be said. And, I am just as sure of this: grace will be present.
My own celebration of Thanksgiving will be different this year. My oldest daughter has to work on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday (such are the realities of retail) – making the annual pilgrimage to Massachusetts impossible for her. And so, she and I (and her boyfriend) will break bread with my Mom and Dad instead of being with Arwyn, David, Andrew and Joyanne, as well as the rest of the Pierce clan in New England. To hallow what already feels a fairly melancholy holiday, I will share the holy privilege of serving alongside Pastor Mark Parker and the folks at Breath of God in Highlandtown on Wednesday evening as the community gathers for a big feast uniting the Anglo and Latino community at the table and in worship. I am grateful to witness how God is working through that community to unite a diverse people – even if my vantage point is from the kitchen, where if tradition holds, I will help carve the turkeys and do the dishes! On Thanksgiving morning, I will (with the permission and invitation of a gracious successor, thank you, Pastor Christine Parker) don a festive plaid shirt, walk around the block and slip into the pews of another home-place; and with the saints of Epiphany, Baltimore, I will raise a glad song and kneel at the first feast of the day, a table of grace.
While many of us will gather with friends and loved ones to share a thanksgiving meal, I am grateful to be a part of the church, where we celebrate a rich thanksgiving feast often. In the bread and cup of the Holy Communion, we receive the body and blood of Christ, the food and drink of grace, mercy and love. As I travel the highways and byways of our Delaware-Maryland Synod, I am ever mindful that when we gather for that thanksgiving meal, there is always enough for everyone and grateful to be a part of a church where no one is turned away.
Still, many in our wealthy nation go without food, shelter, meaningful work, security of any kind. Our communities often remember and assist at this time of the year, but the needs are great, ongoing and call for more than charity, so much as they do working together for systemic change. In our Eucharistic feast, where there is enough and to share; in Christ, we find the source and summit of our service in the world with and among those who have little or nothing. As we have been blessed with the riches of Christ’s risen life, so we are called to give ourselves freely to all in need. That is grace, the grace of gratitude. In the giving, in the receiving and in the thanking, there is something that transcends time and place: there is love.
A few years ago, Unitarian minister, Dr. Peter Fleck, another Mayflower descendent, wrote, “Perhaps the pilgrims weren’t thankful because they had survived. Maybe they had survived, because they were thankful.” Dr. Fleck suggested that maybe that is what enabled the pilgrims to thrive and prosper: a humble appreciation for what they had and a joyful expectation for what was still to come, in spite of circumstances that were challenging. You don’t need a table-full of people heavy-laden with gluttonous amounts of food to have Thanksgiving, you need only be thankful for what you have, for the reality of what is.
I think that’s what I am praying for this year, for myself and this church I love: a humble appreciation for what we have, and a joyful expectation for all that is still to come, living generously and hopefully out of the abundance God gives, growing to genuinely love our neighbor as ourselves.
Almighty God, your generous goodness comes to us new every day. By the work of your Spirit lead us to acknowledge your goodness, give thanks for your benefits and serve you in willing obedience; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. – Prayer of the Day, a Day of National Thanksgiving