CLERGY CORNER: Thank God, it’s Thanksgiving again!

Posted on 27 November 2013 by LeslieM

Thanksgiving has been a favorite holiday of mine since I was young.

I remember waking up as a young child on Thanksgiving Day morning to the aroma of turkey cooking in the oven. Ah, the day’s high hopes and expectations preceded my feet hitting the floor.

An early morning tradition at our home included scrumptious warm cinnamon rolls with lemon icing melted over the top. “Um- mm good!” I usually ate a handful of these because they were small and so was I, at the time.

First things in the morning included finding out who was coming and when they were expected to arrive, watching a little of the Thanksgiving Day parade on television and finding out when the football games were to begin.

Thanksgiving Day meal happened in the middle of the day, but a little later than normal to give the family extra time to arrive. Thanksgiving Day travel back then was more a matter of traveling across town than dealing with airports and homeland security.

An early afternoon meal meant I would have time to recover from all those cinnamon rolls. It also gave us time to adjust and turn the old antenna on the roof. HD television back then stood for “Hard-to-Determine” rather than “High-Definition,” so a clear picture of the game required the antenna to be pointed in just the right direction.

I never understood how the Bears and Cowboys were always among the teams duped into playing on Thanksgiving Day, but it explains how I became a Bears and Cowboys fan.

Once everyone arrived, we had a great meal topped off with pumpkin pie. After filling our stomachs, the sports enthusiasts of a certain gender and age would then fall asleep in a comfortable chair before the end of the game they had been so excited to watch.

There were afternoon board games and discussions about family, sports, church and state and maybe a look ahead to Christmas. Early evening was time for the best tasting leftovers in the history of the world and, before the sun went down, everyone was gone.

Traditions can change with time when children become parents and parents become grandparents. Skype, Face- Time and Facebook are not same as being there; but, even when families find themselves scattered across the globe, Thanksgiving has not lost its luster.

This is so because Thanksgiving is more than turkey and cinnamon, or parades and football. Somewhere in the love of family, one for the other, in familiar scents and sounds, in memories, in emotions is found the Spirit greater than our own.

We discover the Source of the food in the oven is the One who creates and sustains our high hopes and expectations. This is the Spirit of Thanksgiving and this is the Spirit of the Lord.

The Psalmist says “Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us and we are his. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. For the LORD is good. His steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalm 100:3-5 NRSV)

Thank God, it’s Thanksgiving again in this great land blessed with abundance, hard fought freedom and opportunity. I just hope it is my turn to sleep in the comfortable chair.

Join us for Thanksgiving worship this Saturday @ Six or Sunday morning at 8:30 or 11 a.m.

Reverend Andrews is a minister at the Community Presbyterian Church of Deerfield Beach (Steeple on the Beach), located five blocks south of Hillsboro on A1A. See more at www.comm unitych.org or on Facebook.

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