On the day before Thanksgiving, a day we are supposed to celebrate the welcome and assistance the Native Americans gave the Pilgrims who had survived a long hard winter, the Trump administration announced a plan to “re-interview” the 233,000 refugees admitted to the U.S. in 2021-2025. This includes over 23,000 Afghans who fled here because they assisted American forces there, and many more previously vetted. How and why have we forgotten what we are supposed to be as a Nation?
Is it only due to the price of groceries? I have to admit I was startled at the price of a loaf of bread at the neighborhood Shop Rite, but I think it’s more than that. The fact that over the past forty years, the gap between rich and everyone else has grown is a good part of the story, but over the last ten years or so we have been subjected to a barrage of hateful speech creating suspicion and division.
Thanksgiving is supposed to be more than gorging ourselves and watching football. It is supposed to be a sacred holiday, a time when we remember that had not our ancestors not been welcome, and at times they were not, we would not have built this Nation. We have forgotten where we came from. The Pilgrims did not.
Prayer for the Day
Acknowledging the gifts you have given us, O God,
We give you thanks in this day and time;
Recognizing we are beholden to many others, O Lord,
We give you thanks for their contributions to our Nation.
Awaken us to the truth that we not only survive but grow.
As we open our arms rather than clenching our fists.
In the name of the One who welcomes all,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
We can do much to help our communities loosen their boundaries and begin to welcome a multitude of ways of being to make sure that individuals of mixed race, religion, or ethnicities don’t feel the need to choose one or the other, but see their layers as a gift, something that adds beauty,
Maya Soetoto-Ng, Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Hawaii
Implicit in true freedom of spirit lies a proud and virile will. Such glorious power of free will to choose, envisages beneficent social responsibility as manifest and welcome.
Louis Sullivan, American architect (1856-1924)
Accept one another, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
Paul’s Letter to the Romans 15:7