Next week we celebrate Thanksgiving Day. I have always enjoyed Thanksgiving Day. Any holiday that has as its primary act of celebration eating a big meal then taking a nap only to arise from the nap to eat leftovers, is my kind of celebration.
Thanksgiving Day is a Major Feast Day in the Episcopal Church calendar. It is a Holy Day–a holiday. As a Holy Day, our proper feast should have only a little to do with the meal we share–the turkey and fixings. It also should have very little to do with the fabled story that persists about the “first Thanksgiving Day.” From the perspective of the Native people of this land, the fables passed on about Thanksgiving serve only to nourish denial of their suffering and loss.
For Thanksgiving Day to be a Holy Day, let us feast on God’s righteousness along with our turkey and fixings. Let us give thanks to God for God’s enduring love and mercy by seeking to share that love and mercy with the world. Let us offer grace by being the people God has called us to be in Christ: a people of justice, mercy, and love committed to reconciliation in truth and not fables.
Enjoy this feast!
