Tuesday November 24, 2020
Thanksgiving will be very different for me this year as it will most likely be for most of us. For the God knows how many years I have always had a houseful of people, many from other countries who had never experienced a Thanksgiving before. Our prayer would be a recitation by the people crowded around the table of what each of us was thankful for. There would be at least two or three languages spoken. It will not be the same.
In many ways Thanksgiving will be the same. I still know what I am grateful for. I will look at the photograph of my grandparents who arrived in Boston on Thanksgiving Day 1909 and of my father born four months later. I will have fervent hope that in the year to come we in America can begin to heal the deep divisions in our Nation.
Healing begins with listening. We actually live in a complex web of relationships that include people we do not agree with on many fundamental issues. We need to move beyond our own prejudices and listen to their concerns. In the end we need to make our pies larger. You can give people more with a 12 inch pie than a 9 inch one.
Prayer for the Day
Voices from our past call to us and we strain to hear them,
Much as we strain to hear you, O Lord;
Calling from the deep recesses of our memories
They beckon us to seek our refuge in you, O God.
Grant us the vision to see beyond present divisions
In order to embrace all into your kingdom of justice.
In the name of him who embodies your justice,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
We can complain because rose bushes have thorns or rejoice because thorns have roses.
Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, French writer (1808-1890)
When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed
Maya Angelou, American poet (1928-2014)
O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into God’s presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise
With songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God, and a great king above all gods
For I God’s hands are the depths of the earth and the heights of the mountains;
The sea is God’s and the dry land for the Lord made them both
Psalm 95: 1-4