postID: 7030; title: Thanksgiving Day
groupKey: secondary
groupKey: other
Thanksgiving Day
Almighty and gracious Father, we give thee thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we beseech thee, faithful stewards of thy great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Array
(
[date] => 2016-11-24 11:00:00
[scope] =>
[year] =>
[month] =>
[post_id] => 1352
[series_id] =>
[day_titles_only] =>
[exclusive] => 1
[return] => formatted
[formatted] =>
[show_date] =>
[show_meta] =>
[show_content] => 1
[admin] =>
[debug] => 1
[filter_types] => Array
(
[0] => primary
[1] => secondary
)
[type_labels] => Array
(
[primary] => Primary
[secondary] => Secondary
[other] => Other
)
[the_date] => 2016-11-24 11:00:00
)
1 post(s) found for dateStr : 2016-11-24postID: 7030 (Thanksgiving Day)
--- getDisplayDates ---
litdate post_id: 7030; date_type: variable; year: 2016
Variable date => check date_calculations.
=> check date_assignments.
=> NO date_assignments found for postID: 7030
displayDates for postID: 7030/year: 2016
Array
(
[0] => 2016-11-24
)
postPriority: 1primaryPost found for date: 2016-11-24 with ID: 7030 (Thanksgiving Day)
Thanksgiving Day
Array
(
[date] => 2016-11-24 11:00:00
[scope] =>
[year] =>
[month] =>
[post_id] => 1352
[series_id] =>
[day_titles_only] =>
[exclusive] => 1
[return] => simple
[formatted] =>
[show_date] =>
[show_meta] =>
[show_content] => 1
[admin] =>
[debug] => 1
[filter_types] => Array
(
[0] => primary
[1] => secondary
)
[type_labels] => Array
(
[primary] => Primary
[secondary] => Secondary
[other] => Other
)
[the_date] => 2016-11-24 11:00:00
)
1 post(s) found for dateStr : 2016-11-24postID: 7030 (Thanksgiving Day)
--- getDisplayDates ---
litdate post_id: 7030; date_type: variable; year: 2016
Variable date => check date_calculations.
=> check date_assignments.
=> NO date_assignments found for postID: 7030
displayDates for postID: 7030/year: 2016
Array
(
[0] => 2016-11-24
)
postPriority: 1primaryPost found for date: 2016-11-24 with ID: 7030 (Thanksgiving Day)
A Sermon by
The Rev. Canon Carl Turner
✛
It is better to give than to receive...most of the time.
As a boy chorister in Great Britain I never fully understood Harvest Thanksgiving – the equivalent of Thanksgiving Day here in the United States. I grew up in a large industrial city; my father worked for British Petroleum and when I was a teenager, the fishing industry of Hull, my hometown, was being decimated because of the so-called Cod War in the North Sea near Iceland. Unemployment was high, prospects were low and the fixation on all things agricultural at school and Church seemed incongruous. It all came to a head when some, what I thought unkind, flower arrangers placed the smelliest leeks and garlic I have ever had the misfortune to meet all along the front of the choir stalls; on reflection it was probably meant to be a punishment since we choirboys had eaten most of the produce that had decorated the choir stalls the year before during the sermon!
You all know the saying ‘It is better to give than to receive’; St Paul quotes this in the Acts of the Apostles as words spoken by Jesus. And, although those words are not found in the Gospels, they are at the heart of our understanding of Thanksgiving today. As a Jew, Jesus celebrated Harvest Thanksgiving regularly in the community of faith. In the Hebrew Scriptures, which we call the Old Testament, the Harvest Festival was less about giving thanks for food and harvest and more a reminder to the Community of Faith that all things belonged to God. Harvest Thanksgiving in the Old Testament is about recognizing the relationships between humankind and the world. Thanksgiving is associated with the God who gives first – life itself, our homes, this earth and all living things on it. Thus, the Hebrew people gave their first fruits to God because he had first given them life and a place in creation.
Michael Ramsey used to talk about the natural order of things in creation and he lamented that consumerism, greed and thirst for power had reversed the natural order. Instead of God coming first, material things had become far more important. I have been surprised by how many people have said to me that they are looking forward to Thanksgiving Day but have no intention of going to mass. Well, we are here and we give thanks on their behalf and join with those who listen today via the webcast; we give thanks to the giver of all life.
The Lord said ‘It is better to give than to receive” but, then again he would, wouldn’t he, for he was the giver of all good gifts; as the Creative Word of God he breathed life into Adam and brought all things into existence. In so doing he set an example in the way the world is made – the web of life fragile yet interdependent on all its constituent parts connected to the Creator.
Jesus shows us how to live in this world and be a natural part of it. In feeding the 5000 he gave an example of building community, for what is more natural in building community than to eat and drink together? And before he was able to break the bread and feed the crowd what did he do? He gave thanks.
On the night he was betrayed what did Jesus do? He ate and drank with his disciples and before he fed them, saying the words, “This is my body; this is my blood” what did he do? He gave thanks.
In his recent lecture to us on sacrifice, Dean Andrew McGowan reminded us that sacrifice is much less about slaughtering animals in the Old Testament and far more about drawing closer to God by giving thanks, and by eating and drinking.
How significant that we gather today in this mass – this Eucharist – a word that means thanksgiving. In the Eucharist, Jesus, the giver of all good gifts gives us himself in bread and wine and we draw near to him; we recognize his presence and we eat and drink with him following his command. And in the Eucharistic prayer we shall offer ourselves, earnestly desiring the Father’s goodness to accept “this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, whereby we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, our selves, our souls and bodies.”
Therefore, what we do in the Eucharist affects what we do outside this church; the collect said that we are to be stewards of creation. Sometimes it is hard to give thanks when we are sad, or worried or living in dark places where there are difficult memories or fears or worries that crowd in and sap our energy. I know when that happens to me it is easy for me to forget to say “thank you.” There are many people today, perhaps in this church or listening on the webcast, who will have little that they can think of to give thanks for. It is then that we need to remind them that it is better, sometimes, to receive than to give – to receive from whom? The giver of all good gifts – from God our loving Father.
In a funny way, every day is Thanksgiving Day here at Saint Thomas Church. We are always making Eucharist – taking the bread and the wine, giving thanks, breaking the bread and sharing it. Perhaps it should become the pattern of our lives – this giving thanks mixed with the breaking and the sharing – and something we could each take home today to whatever Thanksgiving meal that we will have and share with whoever we find ourselves with at our table, or our hospital bedside.
Some words of Archbishop Rowan Williams:
“When we say thank you to God we connect our own experience with God as giver. We say that what has happened to us is somehow rooted in the gift of God. And when Jesus gives thanks at that moment before the breaking and the spilling, before the wounds and the blood, it is as if he is connecting the darkest places of human experience with God the giver; as if he is saying that even in these dark places, God continues to give, and therefore we must continue to give thanks.” (Being Christian p.48)
