It's That Time Again...for Thanks!

1st Thanksgiving (Street Spring School, West Bridgewater, MA)

"Are you ready to eat, pilgrim?" Said the Indian in the glasses.

As the title of this post states, "It's that time again...for Thanks!

If it's true what they told us in school when we first dawned our construction paper hats and feathers, our November tradition came about during a time of emphasis on survival and the attempt to find a way to survive in the new world.

Traditionally this week is presented as a time when we welcomed those of a completely different faith experience and culture. As peoples having to strive in the same environment together they shared together the gifts of what each had grown and cultivated during a harsh fall. What's that got to do with Thanks?

Most contemporary stories that appear about Thanksgiving today are the psycho-social-centrifuge comedies of screen and print where "survival" is considered making it back home without a lay-over at a connecting hub and with our self-identity not suffering too much from the effects of family-lag. What's that got to do with Thanks?

Today's Lectionary scripture is from the Hebrew scriptures' book of the Psalms:

What are you thankful for?

Psalm 100
100:1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth.

100:2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing.

100:3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.

100:5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line