Happy Thanksgiving!

Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh.

It's a good day.

Sitting here in our little room at the Lewis and Clark hotel in Bozeman, Montana at the end of a very non-traditional Thanksgiving with Dennis' daughter Emma-Leigh, talking with my brothers and sisters and kids via text where they are gathered in Reno with my Dad, with a marathon of The Godfather playing in the background for some reason, it is a very good day.

All day long, thoughts of Thanksgivings past. My mom's recipes, and all of us kids gathered around a noisy table. Her in the kitchen all day, from before we were even awake, making the different dishes. the whole house smelling so good. Our first Thanksgiving away from home, when we were living in San Anselmo while I went to seminary, and how sad we all were...but how we made it our own by letting the kids each pick their favorite thing to have for the feast, and laughed about how steak and tomato soup and macaroni and cheese and stuffing really didn't go together, but eating it anyway. How off-kilter holidays have felt ever since my mom died a few years ago, but how hard we have all worked to create a new normal. How happy we all are this year, that it is my sister's first holiday in 2 years that she hasn't been in the hospital!!

I keep thinking, too, of the happiness and love that filled the Wolf Center on Monday, while 250+ people gathered for Fallon Daily Bread's special Thanksgiving feast. I had to seclude my coughing self from most of it, but I wish I had better words to describe how meaningful that all was. The smiles on everyone's faces, feeling so...I don't know. More than cared for, and enthusiastically welcomed. More than gratified by doing a good thing. Just feeling...together.

I ran across this hymn the other day, written (and copyrighted) by a woman named Carolyn Winfrey Gillette for Thanksgiving. I just love it. It can be sung to several different tunes, but she prefers the "Hymn to Joy" by Beethoven. You know, the one that goes "Joyful, joyful we adore thee, God of glory, Lord of love..." Let that tune play in your mind, and sing these words:

All of life is filled with wonder, so we thank you God of love
For the crash of evening thunder, clearing clouds, then stars above;
For the night that turns to glowing as we feel the morning mist,
God, we praise and thank you, knowing every day we're truly blessed.

For the joy of daily waking, for the gift of each new day,
For the smell of fresh bread baking, for the sound of children's play,
For the ways we seek to serve you, as we work and volunteer,
God we humbly praise and thank you, for your presence with us here.

For the ways we're blessed with plenty, love and laughter, neighbors, friends,
Nature's wonders, season's bounty, life in you that never ends;
For the ones who've gone before us, giving witness to your way,
We rejoice in all you give us, every moment, every day.

However you have spent the day today, I hope that you have found something to smile about, something to be thankful for. The Carson river snaking through town. The sun coming through the last few leaves on the trees. Distant mountains with snow on top. Something warm. Something that smells good. Something sweet. Someone who was kind to you today. Someone who was kind to you yesterday. Someone who believed in you a long time ago. Someone who trusts you enough to tell you their troubles. Someone who forgave you. Someone who gave you something that you still treasure.

For your love in times of trouble, for your peace when things are tough,
For your help when hardships double, for your grace that is enough;
For a stranger's gentle kindness, for a doctor's healing skill,
God we thank you that you bless us, and you bless your world as well.

Maybe this Thanksgiving is especially difficult for you. Maybe something hurts, and maybe the hurt makes it too hard to be thankful right now. If that is where you are today, then I want you to hear this truth: the God of love and life hurts with you, cherishes you, and is beside you even now, giving you strength. That absolutely nothing could ever make God leave your side. That this present darkness is not the end of your story, and that as surely as the sun rises tomorrow morning you will find the light just a bit brighter, your heart just a bit stronger, and the love of God just a bit warmer inside you. God has a new gift for you, right around the corner. Just wait, and see.

For the baby in the manger, for the cross and empty tomb,
For each time a searching stranger finds at church a welcome home,
For your kingdom's great surprises, poor ones lifted, lost ones found,
God, we thank you! Hope still rises, for your gifts of grace abound.

It is a powerful thing that the Christian year begins and ends with Thanksgiving. The secular Christmas holiday tries to overshadow and overwhelm everything else, but -- whether the secular world is fully aware of it or not -- the birth and life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ IS THE REASON we celebrate Thanksgiving! So, I hope that you linger here, on this holiday that is rooted in all of that. Linger here, around the table, and remember Jesus eating with saints and sinners...

sharing meals with Pharisees and disciples, as a woman washes his feet with her tears and dries them with her hair,

sharing a few loaves of bread and a few fish, that became enough to feed thousands,

sharing a last supper with friends and betrayers,

sharing a breakfast of forgiveness and miraculous life on the beach,

making himself known to them in the breaking of the bread.

I hope you let a spirit of gratitude infect absolutely everything you do, from this moment onward. May the simply, powerful act of gratitude melt away the stresses in your life, strengthen your relationships, fill you with new energy, and enable you to walk through life fearlessly and joyfully.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Pastor Dawn