Thanksgiving Sunday – 2024b
Old Testament – Psalm 133:1-3
New Testament – Ephesians 1:15-23
“Please Watch Out for Each Other.”
INTRODUCTION: In her 1827 novel Northwood, Sarah Josepha Hale provides a detailed account of a New England Thanksgiving dinner.
In fact, she takes an entire chapter to describe the meal! And the highlight of the account? Well, it’s a beautifully roasted turkey placed center stage at the head of the table.
And it was Hale’s description of that New England Thanksgiving meal, many believe, that led to turkeys becoming synonymous with the Holiday. Were there other factors that also contributed to turkeys becoming the meat of choice for Thanksgiving? To be sure.
One other factor, according to some, was Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, which was published in 1843. You might recall, at the close of that beloved story, old Scrooge has a giant turkey sent to Bob Cratchit’s house for the family to feast on. A hugely popular story, it was easy for people to also quickly equate Thanksgiving meals with turkeys.
And still some say Lincoln’s proclamation in 1863 making Thanksgiving a national holiday also played a big role. By formally marking Thanksgiving Day as a holiday, it was only natural for the meal itself to take on a standard form. Hence, turkeys, which were already commonly used by many on Thanksgiving at that point, became a must.
But more than anything else, according to many, it was Sarah Josepha Hale’s account of a New England Thanksgiving meal that formalized turkey as standard fare.
So we Yates, like a lot of families, alternate between spending Thanksgiving with my family and with Audrey’s. This year? Well, this year we are heading to Knoxville to spend the holiday with my family.
And while we always enjoy it, Audrey and I do share a common lamentation. You see, in my family, beef tenderloin has long been the meat of choice for the holiday celebration. Yep, as much as it pains me to say, there isn’t a slice of turkey or a drop of gravy to be found anywhere when celebrating the holiday with my family. (What is wrong with them!?)
ONE: Of course, it’s also good to remember that when Lincoln made his Thanksgiving proclamation in October of 1863 the nation was far from being a tightly knit and harmonious one, right?
Nope. Deeply embroiled in the Civil War, in some ways it seems strange that Lincoln would decide to make his Thanksgiving Day Proclamation that year . After all, there hardly seemed much to be thankful for. Hundreds of thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers had died by that point and the nation was literally and figuratively in tatters.
And yet, Lincoln felt the need to invite Americans, including those living outside the United States, to observe the last Thursday of November as a Day of Thanksgiving. Or as he wrote in his proclamation after acknowledging God’s tender mercy even amidst the Civil War:
“I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.”
And then after commending to God’s care the “widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” afflicting the country, Lincoln then goes on to ask everyone to “fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes…”
It was Lincoln’s way, I think, of saying that, in the end, we need each other. That despite the deep differences that were dividing the country at the time, we were better together than apart.
TWO: Well, the psalmist, it seems to me, also knew the importance and value of community.
1Look at how good and pleasing it is
when families live together as one!
2It is like expensive oil poured over the head,
running down onto the beard—
Aaron’s beard!—
which extended over the collar of his robes.
3It is like the dew on Mount Hermon
streaming down onto the mountains of Zion,
because it is there that the Lord has commanded the
blessing: everlasting life.
While brief, the psalm expresses the same basic idea, I think. That life is better when lived with other people, or “families” as the Psalmist likes to put it.
Another translation of the passage puts it this way: “Look at how good and pleasing it is when brothers [and sisters] live together as one!” And by brothers and sisters the Psalmist doesn’t just mean those folks we are related to or share similar DNA coding. Nope. The Psalmist means “brothers and sisters” in the same way our Baptist friends do, who many of you might know from personal experience love to refer to each other as brothers and sisters even beyond bloodlines.
No wonder Saint Augustine would later claim Psalm 133 was the basis for the formation of monasteries - those communities of faith where men from all walks of life intentionally live together as, well, a family even though they aren’t actually related to one another.
Years ago, while at Vanderbilt Divinity School, a professor and his wife would open the doors of their house on Thanksgiving Day to any student who might wish to join them for dinner. “Come one, come all!” they essentially said. And every year 15 students, give or take, would show up for the meal.
Well, that divinity school professor and the wife got it, right? They got that it is pleasing and good when families (when brothers and sisters) live as one.
THREE: And based on Paul’s remarks to the Ephesians this morning, I think we can safely assume that early band of believers also got it - they got that it is good and pleasing when brothers and sisters live together as one.
Or as Paul puts it, “Since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, this is the reason that I don’t stop giving thanks to God for you when I remember you in my prayers.”
You see, the church in Ephesus had, apparently, developed a pretty good reputation for being a loving, caring, and compassionate lot. Not just for fellow believers, but for people in general. And Paul, who had heard about the congregation’s faithful witness himself, couldn’t help but praise them and ask for God’s continued guidance and direction.
Yep, turns out the church in Ephesus took to heart much of Jesus’ teachings, and because of that, its members went out of their way to be caring and, well, merciful.
Keep in mind, in the Roman world mercy wasn’t actually seen as a virtue. Instead, mercy was seen as a defect and even a pathological emotion. What really mattered in the Roman world was justice. And since mercy meant offering undeserved help or relief, it was seen as contrary to justice.
Even stranger, Jesus’ earliest followers also thought love and mercy weren’t to be confined to just his disciples. No, in a move that mystified the rest of the Roman world, Jesus’ followers actually believed love and mercy should be extended to all people - even to those who weren’t his followers!
And that wide expression of love and concern, according to many scholars, is why Christianity eventually took root and spread throughout the world. Because like the Psalmist, Jesus’s earliest disciples understood that it was, indeed, good and pleasing when brothers and sisters live together as one!”
Philip Yancy once said, “No one ever converted to Christianity because they lost the argument.” Meaning, of course, that people converted because they saw how Jesus’ followers were living lives of grace and love and forgiveness.
FOUR: And so it’s good to be reminded, I think, of that basic charge for us to be concerned for all people - especially in a time when we seem to be so divided as a nation.
Granted, we’re not in the midst of another Civil War, but it does feel sometimes as if we are so divided right now it can be hard to see those we disagree with as, well, brothers and sisters. And yet, as hard as it can be in this acrimonious time, we are asked to do just that. To see even those we have deep disagreements with as brothers and sisters.
Or as Jim Henson famously put it to his five children in a letter he wrote to them just before his death, and which was later read at his funeral: “Please watch out for each other and love and forgive everybody. It’s a good life, enjoy it.”
Scott Russell Sanders is a prize-winning essayist and English professor at Indiana University. In one of his books, he tells about a prominent builder in a small Ohio town who was asked to join the volunteer fire department. He politely declined. After all, what could he get out of it? His home was brick, wired to code, and contained the latest fire-resistant materials.
But one day his house caught fire and so the volunteer firemen promptly showed up with the pumper truck. And in the midst of putting out the small fire, they playfully asked the contractor if he still saw no reason to join. Without hesitation, he said he would be glad to join that very moment, and was soon helping to extinguish the fire.
And while the prominent builder didn’t harbor any animosity toward the volunteer fire department, Sanders says the story is still a helpful reminder of how much we really need each other in the end. Or as Sanders puts it: "We should not have to wait until our houses are burning before we see the wisdom of facing our local needs by joining in common work...We had better learn how to live well together, or we will live miserably apart."
CONCLUSION: Well, despite being my own kind of Calvinist, I actually agree with Jim Henson. Life is good, or at least can be good.
And of course, one of the ways we make it good, is to be concerned for all people, right? Yep. We make it good by reaching out into the world with love and grace and mercy for all God’s children, even when we might have some very deep disagreements with some of those very same children of God.
So, what ya say we get back to our high calling? What ya say we get back to watching out for each other and loving and forgiving everybody.
For how good and pleasing it is when brothers and sisters live together as one!
And now praise and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength to our God forever and ever. Amen!