Food for the spirit

Food for the spirit:

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving for things not visible to the human eye

A monthly column for the PC(USA) by the General Assembly stated clerk by the Rev. Gradye Parsons, General Assembly stated clerk
[11-25-08]

Louisville — November 18, 2008 —

Maybe we should skip Thanksgiving this year.

After all, it has been a rough fall. Our investment crops have been devastated. Our long election campaign has left us an angry divide. We still have sons and daughters in harm’s way. The number of people who are homeless, sick, and hungry grows daily.

Perhaps a look back at the roots and the two sets of personalities that make up our Thanksgiving tradition would be helpful at this point.

The pilgrims and the Native Americans known as the Pakanokets who gathered together in the fall of 1621 make up the first set of personalities.

Nathaniel Philbrick has written an excellent account of the pilgrim experience in his book Mayflower. He tells the story of the first fall harvest, with the ready availability of wild game (including turkeys) and the five freshly killed deer that the Pakanokets brought to the event.

They did not have a long table with a white tablecloth in the dining room; rather, theirs was a giant outdoor picnic where the dinner guests outnumbered the continent guests by about two to one.

The second personality to our Thanksgiving tradition is Abraham Lincoln who issued the Thanksgiving Day proclamation in 1863.

Both those in 1621 and in 1863 did not have much reason to give thanks back then. The little pilgrim band did not have a family among them who had not suffered loss during that first year. Less than half of those who landed on Plymouth Rock were still alive. And Lincoln’s proclamation came during the Civil War. The nation was a country of widows and grieving parents. The bloodiest war in its history had destroyed families and fields.

Perhaps their acts of thanksgiving were a reflection of the great Hebrews 11:1 definition of faith — “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Thanksgiving this year may be one of those times when we will be reminded that the things not visible to the human eye are what bring us the greatest joy and peace.

This message is also posted on the PC(USA) website >>

A thanksgiving hymn

[11-19-08]

Carolyn Gillette was inspired by Matthew 25:31-46, this year's lectionary text for this coming Christ the King Sunday. Many churches have special offerings for the poor around Thanksgiving that make this hymn very appropriate.

“Whatever You Do”

ST. DENIO 11.11.11.11 (“Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise”)

“Whatever you do to the least ones of these,
I tell you in truth that you do unto me!”
Lord Jesus, you taught us! May we learn anew
That when we serve others, we also serve you.

When poor, waiting children pray hunger will end,
When those long-forgotten cry out for a friend,
When thirsty ones whisper, “O Lord, where are you?”--
We hear, in their longing, that you’re calling, too.

In prisons and jails, Lord, we find a surprise;
We see you in people whom others despise.
At hospital bedsides we offer a prayer
And find, when we visit the sick, you are there.

When we reach to others in flood-stricken lands
And offer our hearts there, and offer our hands—
We notice, Lord Jesus, the gift of your grace:
We see, in the crowds of the suffering, your face.

"Lord, when did we see you?” Your teaching is clear
That when we serve others, we’re serving you here.
And when your church heeds you and helps those in pain,
Then out of the chaos, hope rises again.

Email: bcgillette@comcast.net

Hymn Note: Susan Sanders, One Great Hour of Sharing Administrator, asked for this hymn to be written in honor of Susan Ryan’s service. Susan served as the director of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and also offered leadership in ecumenical work for disaster victims and the poor.

Carolyn Winfrey Gillette is the author of Gifts of Love: New Hymns for Today’s Worship (Geneva Press, 2000) and Songs of Grace: New Hymns for God and Neighbor (forthcoming from Discipleship Resources, 2009). She and her husband Bruce are the co-pastors of Limestone Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware.