What Thanksgiving Really Means

November 24, 2009 (Thanksgiving Eve Eve)

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

When you have come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, "Today I declare to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us." When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the LORD your God, you shall make this response before the LORD your God: "A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the LORD, the God of our ancestors; the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O LORD, have given me." You shall set it down before the LORD your God and bow down before the LORD your God. Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house.

NRSV

“OK—so here’s the game plan.”

“On the count of three, let’s go to the buffet, pick out all we can put on a plate, bring it back, and the one with the most wins. OK?”

This is fun.

This is also only the 1^st pass.

You know what I’d do, if this were really Hometown Buffet?

It’s a treat to do this. I enjoy it a great deal.

But you know, even if we do this only on rare occasions, it’s easy to take all that food for granted.

We assume, get used to, abundance. Perhaps deep down we feel we deserve it. Perhaps we feel we’ve earned it. I don’t know. What I do know is that, once you use an occasional coupon, a family of four can eat there for around $30 or $35.

We pay for it.

We eat it.

We go home.

We hibernate until spring.

You get the picture.

We assume that abundant food is an inalienable right in our country, just like freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Let me tell you about another buffet, of sorts.

Here’s how one person described it:

They were hungry, so they ripped meat off the bone with their dirty hands and shoved it in their mouths. Food scraps were scattered across the table. No forks, spoons or individual cups. Cider pots were passed across the table to the person who wanted a drink.

--Fr. A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America

Know who these people were?

Of course, the pilgrims.

But there’s a huge difference between eating at the Hometown Buffet and eating with the pilgrims [although perhaps the manners were somewhat the same, but that’s a different matter…].

When they gave “thanks,” they really meant it—because they relied on the goodness of the earth, and maybe the generosity of some Native Americans, to enjoy what they were eating. They had put all they had on ships, and sailed to a world that to them was dark and strange, yet promising. They didn’t know what or who they would encounter. They threw themselves onto God’s mercy, trusting in God, to provide, protect, and give prosperity. THEY KNEW THEY COULDN’T BEGIN A NEW LIFE WITHOUT GOD’S HELP.

And so when they were digging in, they must have been thanking God with each bite. And somewhere in the heavens God smiled, like a mother or father smiles, seeing their grateful, hungry children satisfying themselves.

You find this Thanksgiving theme in the earliest pages of the Bible.

Listen to this instruction from Deuteronomy:

When you have come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, "Today I declare to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us." When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the LORD your God, you shall make this response before the LORD your God: "A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the LORD, the God of our ancestors; the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O LORD, have given me." You shall set it down before the LORD your God and bow down before the LORD your God. Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house. –Deut. 26:1-11

What did you hear in this passage?

Here are some things I heard:

1. REMEMBER God’s faithfulness.

2. SHARE God’s abundance.

3. CELEBRATE God’s bounty.

At your Thanksgiving meal in a couple of days, do just that, will you?

Remember how God’s been faithful. Make a sacrifice of some sort to show you’re grateful. And have fun with each other, celebrating the Lord’s goodness to you.

THEN it will be a Thanksgiving in the truest sense of the word.

You know, when you’re around the Thanksgiving table on Thursday, there are certain things you can say that are proven to change the course of the conversation.

One is turning to your wife in the middle of the meal and saying, “See, honey, I told you they wouldn’t notice that the turkey was four months past its expiration date!”

Another is standing up, when people are expressing what they’re thankful for, and saying, “I’m thankful I didn’t get caught,” then sitting down and not saying anything else.

But a more positive way to change the course of a Thanksgiving meal is to sit down with the feast in front of you, and before you take a bite, pray this prayer with your family and friends.

May we pray:

“Lord God, we’re guests at your table. We’re here only by your grace, and fed only from your hand. We rely on you for the air we breathe, the water we drink, the clothes we wear, and this food we eat. We eat this meal with deep humility and profound gratitude. And we remember the stranger in our land, for whom ample food is a luxury. As we eat today, so may we serve these friends in the days ahead—that all may share in your bounty, O Lord. In the name of Jesus, the Bread of Life, we pray—Amen!”