Thanksgiving in February

The Church of St. Paul and Incarnation, Jersey City NJ

November 28, 2019

Thanksgiving Day

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Psalm 100

Philippians 4:4-9

John 6:25-35

Thanksgiving in February

            You know, we’ve managed to mess up many of our holidays, days that have lost much of their original meaning and instead have become about drumming up business with special sales.

            But, despite our worst efforts – “Black Friday” keeps starting earlier and earlier – despite our worst efforts, we haven’t been able to mess up Thanksgiving.

            And I think that’s because on a very deep level we recognize the importance of gratitude.

            Science has shown that gratitude deepens the bonds among us and makes us more generous.

            And, Jews and Christians have recognized the importance of gratitude from the start.

Jews were called to offer their first fruits to God in gratitude for the gift of their land – and every time we gather at the Lord’s Table is a profound act of thanksgiving for the gift of Jesus.

We know that gratitude is important and we know that ingratitude stinks.

            Ignatius of Loyola once said that “Ingratitude is the worst and most abominable sin, and in fact the origin of all sins.”

           

In an effort to show gratitude and to share our abundance with the community, some of you may remember that for the first few years I was here we offered a community Thanksgiving meal in Carr Hall.

            It was a tradition started by Trish Szymanski. She had begun it in her own home and then used the tiny space of Honey Bakery, a restaurant that used to be around the corner on Bergen Avenue.

            Moving the Thanksgiving feast here to our relatively spacious kitchen and hall gave Trish and her band of volunteers more elbow room, but it was still a ton of work, especially the way they prepared everything from scratch.

            Each Thanksgiving there would be mountains of delicious food available for hours to any and all hungry people who might come by.

            (I had to resist the temptation to eat too much because then I would have no appetite for Thanksgiving with my family!)

            We had a more or less steady stream of very grateful people come through but never as many as we expected or hoped. None of the food ever went to waste but it always made me a little sad that we weren’t able to attract more people to something so beautiful and delicious.

            I’m sure we could have done a better job of spreading the word but I think the real problem was that on Thanksgiving Day and the days leading up to it, there was a lot of competition – a lot of generosity and a lot of gratitude.

            Politicians, churches, and community organizations distribute lots of turkeys and all the fixings, and especially in poorer neighborhoods there are lots of free meals offered on Thanksgiving Day itself.

            As has been true for the past few Thanksgivings, this morning an army of God’s Love We Deliver volunteers descended on our parish hall and then fanned out to deliver Thanksgiving to people who are shut-in.

            There is a lot of turkey, a lot of potatoes and stuffing, a lot of pumpkin pie - a lot of Thanksgiving all around us this week!

            But, soon it will all be over: the leftovers, all those the turkey salad sandwiches will be eaten – and our levels of generosity – our level of thanksgiving – will return to normal.

            And, if you’re like me, our normal level of thanksgiving is not very high.

            The glass usually looks half-empty to me.

            After we decided to no longer offer our Thanksgiving meals we talked about doing “Thanksgiving in February” – to do a big feast in the middle of the winter, when there won’t be much “competition” at all, when temperatures - and often our spirits - are quite low.

            We haven’t done that yet but maybe this winter we will.

            So, today is the holiday we can’t seem to mess up – and even if our lives are hard – and I know they often are – even if the world seems to be falling apart – and it sure does - today we are usually able to muster up some gratitude.

            It feels to good to recognize that we are so blessed - blessed to simply breathe in and exhale out, that we are able to see a sunrise and a sunset, that we are able to be here to pray and to sing, that we are able to find spiritual shelter in this beautiful place.

            But, soon it will all be over: we will return to normal, and we may go a long time before we really give thanks again.

            So, my prayer is that God will give us the strength to carry the spirit of Thanksgiving into the Februarys of our lives, that God will open our hearts even in the cold and gray times, when giving thanks may be the farthest thing from our mind.

            Fortunately, church isn’t just open on Thanksgiving but we’re here year-round, in the good times and the not so good, gathered together to feast, and most of all, gathered to say thank you to God for Jesus, for life, and for one another.

            Amen.