Thanksgiving Day

I do here both acknowledge and declare that the LORD God, of his tender loving-kindness, hath granted us a bountiful harvest in this good land which he hath given us. And, in the company of the faithful, I worship him: for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. (see Deuteronomy 25:1-11)

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Our parish is in the midst of what is probably the most agricultural state of the Union. When it goes badly here, food prices rise and those on the margins go hungry. It was that way last year in the Midwest. But this year, the season has been as nearly perfect as could be, and the harvest is bountiful. Thanks be to God.

We children of the Age of Science do not often give God sufficient credit for good weather, for healthy crops and livestock. We have outgrown such superstitions. Weather is essentially random, we claim (though affected for the worse by global warming). We depend more on the laboratories of Monsanto and Archer Daniels Midland than we do on the vagaries of prayer and faith. [A large percentage of the crops grown in this state are genetically modified. I have heard numbers of over ninety percent, basically everything except the crops raised by organic farmers.]

There is, therefore, no reason for thanksgiving, and no one to thank. Or so they would have us think. Instead, this is a day to eat too much and gear up for tomorrow's shopping. Or to go ahead and get started; many of the big retailers are open today.

But hidden from the scientists (so-called) and the Big Ag people is the Hand of God.

We plow the fields and scatter
the good seed on the land,
but it is fed and watered
by God's almighty hand;
he sends the snow in winter,
the warmth to swell the grain,
the breezes and the sunshine,
and soft refreshing rain.

About twenty of us gathered this morning for the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. We sang hymns – songs such as the above, “Come, ye thankful people come,” and “Now thank we all our God.” We heard the words of Holy Scripture. We prayed, and gave thanks. After that, we had Thanksgiving Dinner in the parish hall, a potluck with lots of good food. Better still, good people.

It sometimes bothers me that I cannot be like normal people, who have Thanksgiving with their family. For thirteen years, every Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day have been at the church, on duty. But when I consider it more closely, I am grateful that I can help give voice to the praises of Holy Mother Church on these days on behalf of the larger community of this parish, this city, this state, this nation and world. The people who gathered today, many of them the same ones who come to this service and dinner every Thanksgiving, are my family.

I believe that the dark days will come, days of gnawing hunger, when fossil-fuel based Industrial Agriculture has been swept away and our grandchildren are sharecroppers or peasants working the land in the way that it has been worked for thousands of years – hand tools, hard labor, and most of its fruits going to the wealthy few in faraway cities.

But for this day, we are well-fed. The grain elevators are full. And we rejoice in the one who has made it so.

And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you. (Deuteronomy 25:11)