Today is Thanksgiving. In the reformed faith,
it is one of the last days of celebration in the church calendar year, before
beginning the New Year with Advent. Thanksgiving! A wonderful
time of year when our thoughts turn toward Pilgrims that risked a perilous
journey from the continent to come to the new world. Jamestown is not
just a name for most of us, but rather a place we have visited. Jamestown,
a place where some of the first settlers of this country came.
The first year in a new land must have been hard. Food was scarce,
and until the crops could be planted and grow, there would be little food
to spare. Yet up and down the east ern seaboard where there were families
of settlers, the natives shared what they had with these new comers.
And finally the first harvest. What a glorious time that must have
been. The first thanksgiving, when all were invited to share.
And so much to be thankful for: a bountiful harvest; food for the winter;
religious freedom; life itself!
Legend has it that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated with a Turkey.
Now this wasn't your domestic bird, but rather a Wild Turkey. But what
is a Turkey really? Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines Turkey
as "a large American Gallinaceous (gal-li-na-ceous) Bird that is of wide
range in North America". Well that is only half helpful to me.
What in the heck does Gallinaceous mean. Webster's again is helpful...."of
or relating to an order of heavy-bodied, largely terrestrial birds including
the pheasants, turkeys and grouse". Ok, so a Turkey is a large-bodied
bird.
Growing up in a suburb of Los Angeles, California, my only experience with
Turkey's was that small 10-20 pound thing that sat on the dining room table
at certain times of years. It looked docile enough to me. I didn't
find it frightening at all. But the lady who was to become my wife
had had different experiences with Turkeys.
A friend of mine was raised in a suburb in the Los Angeles area too.
However, her Grandparents had a Turkey Farm in the northern part of Southern
California along the coast. She and her siblings would often go to
the Turkey Farm for a week or more during the summer to visit their Grandparents.
And some of the stories she shared with me.
Turkey's are BIG creatures. Especially the Toms or male birds.
She told me about getting rides from her Grandfather, in the scoop of the
tractor. At times, he would drive the tractor over to the Turkey pens
and lower the scoop into the Turkey yard. Since the Turkeys received
their food from the scoop each day, the thought of "dinner time" ran through
their heads. They scurried over to begin eating out of the tractor
scoop as her Grandfather began lowering it. Of course, the turkeys
never got close to the kids in the scoop...Grandpa made sure of that.
But it was a wild ride never the less.
Turkey's are not very bright animals either. As a matter of fact, I
have become convinced that they are some of the dumbest creatures God ever
put on the earth. I've heard stories from Turkey Ranchers about an
airplane flying over the Turkey Ranch and all the Turkeys flocking to one
side of the pen in terror. They would pack themselves so close together,
that invariably some Turkeys would be crushed to death. Dumb!!
And then, God help the Rancher if an unexpected rain came. The Turkeys
that were out in the yard would feel the rain drops on their heads.
Wondering what was happening they would look up. And as they looked
up their mouths would open. And their mouths would fill with water
and they would drown.
Turkey's must be the dumbest creatures on the planet. Certainly, they
are a bird to stay away from, except when they are packaged and ready for
the oven.
But Webster's Dictionary has another definition of Turkey: "Turkey--one
who fails; a failure". A Turkey is a person who is perceived by others,
as a failure. A Turkey...one who can't do anything right; one who others
would rather not be around; one who is disagreeable; one who doesn't fit
in! Boy have I known some Turkey's in my life time!!
I remember a manager in the General Electric Company when I was working there.
His name was...to protect the guilty, we'll call him Joe. Joe was one
of those people no one really liked, but he had proved once again that Murphy
was right: Joe had been promoted beyond his ability to do the job.
One week, there were many people who were out sick in our unit. To
help out, I took home some of their assignments. I worked from right
after dinner into the wee hours of the morning. A few hours sleep,
and then up early to shovel the 70-foot driveway. We had had 14 inches
of snow over night.
I worked in Schenectady, New York where General Electric had 25,000 persons
working in various buildings in a rather large complex. After walking
a half-mile with all these extra papers, I arrived at my desk. Standing
there was Joe looking at his watch. I was five minutes late.
He let me know in graphic terms what he thought of my tardiness. After
4 or 5 minutes of yelling at me, with the entire office embarrassed and looking
on, he left. I tossed the work across my desk, smiled at my colleagues
and shook my head. Then I turned and headed for the coffee machine.
I spent most of the morning in the engineering section talking to friends
rather than my desk.
More than one person called Joe a Turkey that day. Here was yet another
example of his inability to be sensitive to his employees and to know what
they were doing. A Real Turkey!!
Then there was a pastor I once knew. I'll call her Jane. Poor
Jane had a real problem. Although she was excellent at finding and
hiring good staff, she was also very insecure. She would encourage
her staff to take on new projects, to begin new programs, to improve existing
programs. And when her staff was successful, Jane couldn't take it.
She would find ways to sabotage her colleagues and ultimately push them out
of the congregation.
Jane is now retired, and feels lost. She has few friends, and no one
wishes to have her working with them, even part time. Jane was a real
Turkey in many ways.
Another Turkey I've known was a kid who wore glasses back in junior high
school. He was not very articulate. As a matter of fact he was
scared of his own shadow. Kids often made fun of him, especially bullies.
He was uncoordinated until he reached his late teens. He could hardly
put one foot in front of the other without falling all over himself.
He certainly didn't fit the mold of what "cool" kids were like. He
was a Real Turkey!
And I remember that Turkey very well. For that Turkey was ME.
In this book (hold up the Bible), it tells of yet another Turkey. One
young man who was from Nazareth. He didn't fit in either. A real
Turkey said the Pharisees; a real troublemaker; a man called Jesus.
As a Christian, what is our response to Turkey's we meet along life's path?
What do we do with those who are insecure, those who are disagreeable, to
those who are different, to those who are a problem, to those whom society
considers a failure...A Turkey?
Well, let's see what that famous Turkey of all time, Jesus the Christ, might
say about this subject. Maybe there is something we can learn from
the Scripture for today--Matthew 25: 31-40 (Jerusalem Bible).
1. Turkey's--bosses that are insecure.
2. Turkey's--People who do not agree with you.
3. Turkey's--People who don't have our values.
4. Turkey's--People whom society has written off.
5. Turkey's--People who don't fit in.
And the King will answer, "...in so far as you did this to one of those Turkey's,
you did it to me."
This Thanksgiving Season, as we offer our Christian Love, our patience and
understanding, may we also be willing to offer shelter and food to Turkey's
whom we meet, as Jesus has done to you and me.
As you say a prayer of Thanksgiving tomorrow before you carve your turkey
(definition #1--a big bird), remember those other Turkey's (definition #2--failures)
who have been entrusted to our care. May you and I be Christ-like in
our actions to all the Turkey's we have met and will continue to meet along
life's journey.
And let all the Turkey’s say,
As a young kid, one of my favorite times of the year was at Christmas.
There was only one problem: Once the gifts were open, my mother insisted
I write thank you letters that day to everyone who had sent me a gift.
I remember loving the gifts, but feeling it was a real chore to thank everyone
for everything!
But eventually I grew up and found myself even enjoying
thanking people for their kindness. Then I had kids of my own!
And sure enough: At Christmas their Dad insisted that they write thank
you letters too. But he went one step further: All the gift money
was collected and held until the thank you letters were written. And
the toys could not be played with the next day, until the thank you letters
were written. What a strict dad!!
Some people seem to be blessed with the gift of gratitude.
They are able to say a simple thanks so easily, and really mean it.
Some do it all the time, while others do not. Does it make any difference
whether or not one feels gratitude, and then acts on those feelings?
When I was in 8th grade, I had Mrs. Case for social studies
and English. Mrs. Case was a tough teacher. She gave me my first
letter grade of “D”. Simply because I did not turn in my assignment
for the whole semester! Sure I gave my oral report, just like 35 other
kids. Sure I took notes on all 36 reports. But then she wanted
us to submit an outline of all our notes—a 36 topic outline. What a
waste of time. So I didn’t do it. When Mrs. Case, my mother and
I met after the reports card came home, I knew all was lost.
My mother asked if I could turn the outline in late and
still receive a grade. “Yes,” Mrs. Case said. And so the next
afternoon, Friday, I found myself lost with my typewriter and report notes.
All weekend I worked under the watchful eyes of my mother. Late Sunday
night I finished.
The next day I turned the paper in to Mrs. Case.
She read it that night and gave it back to me on Tuesday. B+/B+ was
my grade; with a handwritten note saying this was the best report she had
ever seen. I was angry. B+ and it’s the best
report ever!! I marched up to her desk after school and demanded to
know why I had not received an A+. Mrs. Case simply said, “Your report
was turned it late.”
And so I learned. It was years later when I realized
the gift she had given me. Actually two gifts—the gift or organization,
and the gift of fairness! Some 15 years later I tracked down her address,
and wrote to her….to say thanks! I don’t know if she received the letter
or not, but she is a teacher I will never forget.
Truth be known, we would all like to have someone say they
are grateful to us for something. It feels good. It helps make
the hard work we do for another worthwhile. But scientists are discovering
something else being grateful does….and it does it for the person who is
being grateful.
David Columbia was having one of those days. New
to New York City, David was tired from the pace of Manhattan. A young,
talented writer who was working in a magazine office. But life was passing
him by. One day when he was feeling exceptionally down, he was headed
across town. David said, “I don’t know what possessed me, but I decided
to start counting things along the way that made me happy.” And so
it went, until he found himself truly happy, and thankful for all the neat
things around him: A mother with her child in a stroller; a mixture
of ethnic people & restaurants; eye-catching window displays; and on
and on.
Scientist are now proving that feeling grateful can actually
make one healthier! Recognizing the good things in our lives can change
us for the better. Dr. Robert Emmons has proved this in his lab.
A professor of psychology at the University of California at Davis, Dr. Emmons
has discovered that gratitude plays a positive role in one’s physical, mental
and emotional well-being.
And the difference isn’t just with the person who feels
grateful; people around that individual recognize something different about
him and begin to act differently too. People who feel grateful are more
likely to be active socially, be more compassionate, are more optimistic,
have more energy and are more joyful. They have fewer illnesses and
are less materialistic.
According to modern science, feeling gratitude changes
one for the better.
But maybe God already knew that. The story of the
Lepers in Luke tells of 10 men who were stricken with a horrible disease.
They were not allowed to mingle with the rest of society. When someone
approached them, they had to move back and shout, “Unclean, unclean.”
Kind of likes AIDS was in this country not too many years ago. A horrible
disease that few people understood, and a condition that few wanted to talk
about, much less be close to someone who had HIV or AIDS. And things
haven’t changed much over the years.
These lepers find themselves in the presence of Jesus.
They had probably heard of the miracles he had performed, and they ask him
for help. Jesus sends them off healed physically, to see the priest.
This was the custom of the time; the priest is the only one that could declare
a leper ‘clean’ and return him or her to society. So off went the 10.
But one came back, and only one. A Samaritan, a
foreigner of Israel. And this man says thanks to Jesus. He says
it with all the feeling and heart he can. This man is different.
He appreciates what Jesus has does for him. He is grateful.
And Jesus questions why only this one came back to give
thanks to God. Only one was grateful. And because of this man’s
faith, he found salvation. He came to be healed physically, and was.
He came back to say a simple thanks, and found salvation.
It should come as no surprise that God wants you and
me to be thankful for what the Lord has done and does for us. Today
scientists tell us that our being thankful does some wonderful things for
us personally. And Jesus reminds us that being thankful to God, builds
our relationship with God and with one another.
Gratitude can not be commanded. It must come forth
from the depths of an individual, as it did from the one leper. In many
ways, being grateful to God is a call to faith; acknowledging what God has
done in our lives. Only where gratitude is present, is there truth faith.
This week, I invite you to consider the ways that God
has blessed you. And to share with God your gratitude. And then
look at your other relationships. To whom are you thankful? For
what are you thankful?
I invite you to begin that process right now. Let
us take a moment, bow our heads, open our hearts, and silently offer to God
our gratitude for something the Lord has done for us this week. And
then think of one person for whom you are thankful; and share that with the
person in the next few days.
Let us pray silently…… And all God’s
people said….Amen.
