Thanksgiving Day Sermon, Year C, RCL, November 28, 2013 St. Alban s Church of Bexley The Rev. Dr. Susan Marie Smith Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Psalm 100 Philippians 4:4-9 John 6:25-35 Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. 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. Psalm 100 Page 729, BCP 1 Be joyful in the LORD, all you lands; * serve the LORD with gladness and come before his presence with a song. 2 Know this: The LORD himself is God; * he himself has made us, and we are his; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. 3 Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise; * give thanks to him and call upon his Name. 4 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; * and his faithfulness endures from age to age. Philippians 4:4-9 1
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. John 6:25-35 When the crowd found Jesus on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal." Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." So they said to him, "What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, `He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Then Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." Introduction This past week was the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, and several of us from St. Alban s and from Trinity and Bexley Hall seminaries attended. One of the most inspiring talks I attended was an interview with Wendell Berry, a Kentuckyan who attended Stanford, a philosopher/ essayist and poet who decided to go back to the land and be a farmer. His works have inspired me over the years, but I came away from his presentation this week-end full of gratitude for what he helps us see. And I realize that my gratitude was directly related to what he helped me see and comprehend. It is necessary for us to see that is, we have to remember and to recognize in order to be thankful. Today is Thanksgiving Day. Our readings were surely among those that inspired the first pilgrims and Indians to have the first Thanksgiving meal that second autumn after they landed at Plymouth in 1620. Our first reading is from Deuteronomy. The Deuteronomic historian is getting ready to invite the people to celebrate the wondrous gift of the beautiful land the Lord has given them: but before we can celebrate, we have to remember how we did not have it, in order to appreciate that we do have it, now: 2
and [the Lord] 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... In fact, the preparation for the celebration begins at the beginning. Listen again: A wandering Aramean was my ancestor... Story #1: Abraham This wandering Aramean is Abraham, who was called by God out of his homeland in Haran. He traveled far, and settled. God promised him descendants, but he and his wife Sarai did not have any children, until Abraham s later years. And then, at last, God gave him a son: Isaac. Abraham was faithful to God even before there was a covenant. Abraham cared deeply about being faithful to God, and he lived in an age of human sacrifice. So the day came when Abraham felt the call to sacrifice his son, his only son, whom he loved, up on the Mountain of Moriah. In this poignant and challenging story, Abraham did what he felt God was asking of him only to find that God did not intend child sacrifice to be the sign of loving God. Instead, Abraham found a ram in the thicket for him to sacrifice, instead. This ram saved his son. As Chaim Potok writes in one of his books, There s always a ram in the thicket. God will provide. God always provides. God provided a ram to Abraham; and how thankful he was!! We remember the ram in the thicket; and we look around, recognizing the many rams we have been given in our own lives, times of salvation, preservation and provision. Story #2: Moses But the story goes on to Moses. Abraham s great-grandson, Joseph, is sold into slavery in Egypt, but grows up in the pharaoh s court, managing his affairs. Then when a new pharaoh comes to power, one who knew not Joseph, the Hebrew people became slaves. For 400 years. They suffered long. And it took time, but at last, the right leader was raised up: a Hebrew man raised in the pharaoh s palace, who grew up and was seasoned. He dropped his ego (he killed a man, remember), toward love and work, spending lots of time in Creation. God called him at the burning bush; and in time, the Hebrew people were finally freed. There was suffering. There was vulnerability. The power that came was intertwined with the vulnerability of the people and their pain. But the whole Passover ritual is a remembrance of that liberation. God freed us and redeemed us with a mighty arm. The gift of Freedom has a whole different meaning when one remembers the experience of slavery. Without the remembering, there can not be deep, core gratitude.. The ram in the thicket. The parting of the Red Sea. God s gracious grace, for which we are grateful. Story #3: Pilgrims and Indians 3
The third story comes from our national testament: it s the story of loyal Christians who wanted to worship God in freedom. They were English, however, and they were prevented from doing so by the likes of us: Anglicans; for from 1549, when the first Book of Common Prayer came out, the whole English realm was required to use the same book, now in English instead of Latin. But not everyone wanted to use that book (wonderful though it was). There were a few rebellions in England at the time, notably one in Cornwall when 300 people were killed. and, of course, we Episcopalians represent the ones they were rebelling against. Their faith was such that they braved a long trip across the Atlantic Ocean in a little ship, the Mayflower, 101 adults aboard: crowded, not sure how long they d be there, hoping, trusting. And finally, they landed, and here they were. It was not easy for the colonists. It was new; it was cold. The ram in the thicket for them came in the person of Squanto, a Patuxet Indian (January 1, 1585 November 30, 1622). Amazingly, he had been to England, and had learned English! He was there to greet the colonists, a mediator, who showed them what corn was maize a vegetable people did not eat in Europe; and he showed them how to plant it, and how to fertilize it with fish. He was a godsend. And their second winter there, they celebrated. They had come to their promised land; and they offered their first fruits to God, and celebrated for a week with Indians, each other, children with music and games and feasting. They celebrated with all the bounty that the Lord their God had given to them. These three stories remind us that in order to give thanks, we must first remember. (1) We need an experience of need or want, something to contrast with God s abundant plenty, so that we can recognize the good gifts when they come. Fasting is required in every major religion, not least because it awakens us to see our smallness, finitude, and need, and to become able to recognize God s gifts and blessings. This experience is best in our own bodies, but can also work vicariously, hearing the story and telling the story of our need and God s blessed provision, as occurs every spring on Passover and every autumn on Thanksgiving Day. (2) But more than an experience, we need to know vulnerability. If we are always in the strong position, never in need, we cannot even experience the contrast. We are all vulnerable at one time or another. The colonists were certainly vulnerable in a new land, and so were the Indians, not knowing the colonists intent, and not knowing the diseases they carried and their views of land ownership and use. If we live into our vulnerability, whatever it may be; if we welcome it as an honored guest, we will find our hearts more open to gratitude. (3) And finally, in addition to experiences of want and vulnerability, we need a love of the Earth. Everything God gives us comes from the Earth, which God called upon to be co-creator, on the third and sixth days of creation in Genesis 1. Listen, then, to Wendell Berry s sense of the blessing of being in touch with our beloved Mother Earth: 4
THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. Wendell Berry In an important sense, the whole creation is the ram in the thicket. The Earth is our home; we are fed and clothed by her resources. We exploit her at our own peril. The animals and plants are not our servants; we are theirs. We have been given responsibility for this glorious garden. This planet is our promised land, flowing with milk and honey. What are the first fruits we will give back to God? And do we receive the joy God intends us to receive at her hand, enjoying the grace of the wolrd, and the peace of wild things? I want to share one more poem by Mr. Berry that reminds us, causes us to remember, in order to give true thanks for the blessing of our Earth: WHAT WE NEED IS HERE Geese appear high over us, pass, and the sky closes. Abandon, as in love or sleep, holds them to their way, clear in the ancient faith: what we need is here. And we pray, not for new earth or heaven, but to be quiet in heart, and in eye, clear. What we need is here. --Wendell Berry Remember: God loves us and gives us everything we need. Let us therefore Rejoice! in the Lord always! --and offer our deepest thanks. Amen. 5