Sermon for October 9, 2022 – Harvest Thanksgiving

Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 100; Philippians 4:4-9; John 6:25-35

When one grows up just outside of Boston, you learn a lot about the foundational traditions and lore of the first American colonies. I grew up hearing one story in particular year after year about a small group of people who left England seeking religious freedom as they boarded the Mayflower and took their perilous journey across the Atlantic. Forever dubbed Pilgrims because of their sacred journey, but also known as Puritans, these men, women, and children were seeking to create a new rigorously pure Christian community, a new way of life, in the New World. Throughout my elementary education, I learned that following that sixty-five-day journey across the ocean, those same Pilgrims spotted land and anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor. They searched for that perfect place to settle and finally the Mayflower dropped anchor in Plymouth Harbor and stepped foot on the mainland to begin their settlement. But the story doesn’t end there.

After all that they endured to reach this New World, the colonists struggled to survive a harsh winter in the New World and many either died by disease or through starvation. The situation seemed bleak and hopeless. And then, out of nowhere as if he were an angel sent by God in their time of need, Samoset appeared. As the story goes, he welcomed the colonists and introduced them to the regional leader Massasoit, who in turn helped the colonists to survive the winter.  They learned to grow local crops and finally in the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims celebrated a bountiful harvest with a great celebration. The remaining men, women, and children gathered with the local peoples around a table in gratitude for their assistance in the gift of survival and to give thanks to Almighty God for the abundant harvest.

These stories are a part of my life. Every year we remembered these stories as we made papier-mâché cornucopias and those construction paper turkeys made from the outline of our own hands. Academia tells us that not all of these stories are true. The historical record does not reflect the rosy story of cooperation we learned as kids. We did not hear about the empty village that the Pilgrims settled upon had been decimated by smallpox epidemic from previous encounters with Europeans. We did not learn about the overt racism and the systemic inculturation towards a European way of life that resulted in a cultural genocide. We did not learn about how religion and fear were used to convert and “civilize.” Even as the hard truths begin to emerge that chip away at these founding myths to give us a clearer picture of what actually happened, one cannot ignore the truth at the heart of the story. Without the help of the indigenous population, this new colony of pilgrims would be nothing more than another failed colony on American soil that ended in death. But because they received help in learning how to harness the abundance of this foreign land, they did what any religious community would do. They gave thanks to God for the help they received and for the bounty of the land. That is the very heart of what they did then and what we do now…we give thanks to God in response to the blessings of our lives; in response to the love and help we have received this year, along with the other ways we have been blessed by God and others

We will keep digging deeper into these stories. We will still seek to uncover the lost voices and the forgotten narratives that do not disprove the story but help us to better understand the continuing legacy of the story. These stories may have no relevance in Canadian history and may not have influenced the traditions around the celebration of Thanksgiving as they have down south, however, the heart of the story remains true, even here in this new land to me. We have set aside this weekend to remember and to give thanks to God for the abundant blessings bestowed upon us. And that is the tradition that we continue to this day as we invite, take, bless, break, and give as an expression of our thankfulness to God.

This is exactly what we, as disciples of Jesus, are called to do as we follow in the footsteps of Christ. Jesus told us to love God above all else, and to love others as we love ourselves. Jesus teaches us that we are to sacrificially give of ourselves and serve others. We are to be faithful stewards of the bounty that has been given to us. We are to use these blessings for the betterment of the Kingdom of God.

I know that through all the ups and downs of my life I am blessed. We are blessed. Sometimes it is difficult to see, but we all have been truly blessed. In response to these blessings, we should rejoice as we carry on the mission of God. As Paul writes in his letter to the church in Philippi, “Rejoice in the Lord always…in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present [our] requests to God.” Paul reminds us to let go of our fears, our worries, our brokenness and offer them to God through prayer. It is then that we can begin to see the gifts of God’s blessings flowing to us and through us.

And when we truly serve God by loving others and welcoming in the stranger, the lost, the broken, we become new creatures in God. Our lives then become our offering of thanksgiving. That doesn’t mean that trials and worries will not come our way. It simply means that we do not have to carry those burdens alone as we are all bound together by love. Truth is, life can be scary. People worry where their next meal will come from. They worry if a cure can be found. They worry if their child is safe at school. And worry doesn’t play favorites. Rich or poor, young or old, worry lives with us. We worry about past, present, and future. But we must take heart and believe and trust that God will take care of us. There are no burdens that we must carry alone.

By faith, we must claim that. We must let go of needless worry and anxiety, and how do we do that?  Prayer. As Paul tells us, through our prayer lives, our direct connection to God, we are able to offer up our concerns, our fears, and let go of the burdens that weigh us down. We are able to shed the concerns of this world and receive the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. God wants to be a part of our lives. God wants that intimate relationship with his creation. Just as he cares for the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, so too will God care for us.

And so on this long-weekend many of us will gather around the table with family and friends. We will once again engage in the timeless ritual of gathering around a table, giving thanks to God, breaking bread, and sharing it with the ones we love. Much like Jesus as he gathered his disciples around the table in that upper room for one last meal together, this Eucharist that we will celebrate together momentarily is our Christian thanksgiving feast. Just like the food Jesus used in feeding the multitudes, the turkey, the stuffing, the potatoes will be taken, blessed, broken, and given. It is a meal that we celebrate as we rejoice and are glad that through our faith and trust in God our needs will be satisfied. Oh, not by our merits, but by God’s. And so, over the next couple days, I invite you to take a moment to pray; to rejoice in your blessings, to give thanks to God, to be grateful for those whom we love and hold in our hearts. May we be grateful for all of God’s blessings to us, rejoicing in God’s goodness. Amen.