November 25, 2020
/Thanksgiving Eve
Deuteronomy 8: 7-18; Psalm 65; 2 Corinthians 9: 6-15; Luke 17: 11-19
The Rev. James M.L. Grace
In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. AMEN.
I am going to go ahead and state what is completely obvious to all of us, which is that this will be a Thanksgiving unlike any of us have experienced before. Usually each year for Thanksgiving, our house is full of people – friends and family, young and old, behaved and misbehaved. It is always a joyful day. This year it will be much quieter as it will just be our family.
What is true in our home will certainly be true across countless other homes across our country. And to be fair, while I am saddened by that, I also am reminded of something very important in the reading we hear from 2 Corinthians. The apostle Paul writes these words: “the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”
Paul is taking an image that was widely familiar to people at the time – sowing seed – and applying it to life. I personally have never sown seeds before. I’ve planted them, but never sown them, so the image is not a familiar one to me. Perhaps it is a familiar image for you.
The point Paul seems to make here is one we already know – we get what we put into life. And that is certainly true in all things – especially so in rendering our thanks. If we do not take time to say that we are thankful – even in a as strange a moment of time in history as this moment certainly is – we are not going to feel thankful.
When we give thanks and when we really mean it – not just pay lip service to it – our personalities will change. That is something COVID-19 does not have the power to take away from Thanksgiving. Sure COVID can make gathering difficult. But COVID does not have the strength to rob us of our gratitude. It is not that powerful.
So this Thanksgiving, I am going to try to do what the apostle Paul asks of us - to be reckless in bountifully sowing gratitude and thanksgiving for the miracle that is the simple fact that we are alive and able to offer thanks.
Earlier today in our Memorial Garden, I baptized a baby. What an astounding thing. To impart a blessing upon such a new life. I was reminded of how freely God gives to us. There is no limit to God’s giving, there is no limit to God’s blessing. Like the sower scattering seed across the land, so to does God scatter blessings all around us. We have so much to be thankful for.
In closing, I will in a few moments walk down the aisle carrying holy water, and will sprinkle it upon your hands, if you desire. Like the water I poured upon the forehead of an infant, the water sprinkled upon your hands reminds you they are holy, and that you are holy. Sow bountifully, reap bountifully, live bountifully. AMEN.