[Propertalk] Thanksgiving draft

Robert P Morrison robertpmorrison at charter.net
Tue Nov 24 19:35:34 EST 2015 

Here's the draft for tomorrow (Wednesday) evening.
A very Happy Thanksgiving!
Bob

	THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY THANKSGIVING EVE

	DEUTERONOMY 8:7-18 25th NOVEMBER, 2015

	2 CORINTHIANS 9:6-15 PSALM 126

	LUKE 17:11-19

	 “Be not afraid” – words spoken within the last few days by
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, but also the words occurring
throughout the stories in the Bible. 1

	 “Be not afraid” – not what I’D expect to hear on
Thanksgiving Eve, unless someone was planning on stuffing a turkey
with onions and garlic! Yet there’s a need to hear these words right
now. The world has been filled with hatred personified in killings on
every continent, some of them making newspaper headlines, others
quietly shuffled off elsewhere out of the way. You know, “Out of
sight, out of mind.”

	 Remember how you used to act as children. If something was scary –
a movie, a trip, an unspecial vegetable, a relative – if we closed
our eyes we could imagine that the object, the person, the behaviour
wasn’t there. It never ended well, however. I don’t know about
you, but when I opened my eyes, whatever it was that was troubling me
was still there. Fear can take such subtle but pervasive hold.

	 What’s really interesting about thinking about not fearing is that
this is PRECISELY what the readings say to us. Fear is so
all-consuming. If you go to any meeting; if you come to any place of
worship; if you meet with someone, whether you know them or not; if
you do any of these and you start to have fear pass through your mind,
then you may become partially or wholly paralysed. Your mind will
become clouded. You won’t be able to think straight and deal with
reality. At the very least, your stomach will be tied up in knots and
your dinner will just sit inside you, like a great, acidic, lead
balloon, waiting to explode.

	 THIS is why fear is such an incredible weapon. It withers your sense
of personhood. It dehumanises you.

	 So, when someone holds up an onion to me, I wonder immediately
whether or not the food will be destructive to my nourishment and
well-being. Well, maybe this IS overstating things a bit, but perhaps
that’s why medieval humans and actors in some TV dramas wear cloves
of garlic around their necks. They seem to say, “Be afraid. Be very
afraid!”

	 Thus the terrorist, the interrogators, the TV newsperson the nasty
neighbor all seek to control us way beyond an actual bullet or bomb.
All they need to do is to plant the thought in our minds that
there’s someone or something out there, and it becomes impossible
for us to give thanks fully, to relax, to allow our gifts and
resources to flower, to become total images of God, to be eager
administrators of Jesus’ Justice and Peace.

	 When we acknowledge that there IS nothing that can separate us from
the love of God, then we begin to see things from God’s side of the
picture. We can, fully and truly, give thanks, because God IS good!

	 We’re not necessarily talking about Paris here, or Brussels, or
any number of places in Syria, or Bamako in Mali, or some other
distant place, although this definitely DOES apply there. This is
talking about our own homes, our living rooms, our kitchens and
bedrooms. These are places where we cannot and must not allow
fear-mongering to enter, otherwise they’ll be places where we cannot
overcome whatever is trying to persuade us that we’re in trouble.

	 If we worry whether or not we’ll have enough to eat or drink over
the next few days, indeed, for the rest of our lives; if we worry
about whether we’re going to be creamed by some vehicle on I-5; if
we’re not willing or able to celebrate life because we’re unsure
of what may happen to our health, our jobs, our family and friends; if
we fill ourselves or allow ourselves to be filled with fear, then the
enemy of life has won, and, as the Prayer of Confession puts it, there
is no health in us.

	 But this is NOT what God says to us, God means for us. You and I ARE
here tonight, not out of fear, not out of hate, but out of love, out
of an overwhelming joy at the goodness of God and God’s children.

	 We’re here because, once again, we celebrate that Novak’s is
offering a full dinner to anyone who may have thought that there would
have been none. No charge! Absolutely free! The doors will be
unlocked, the tables set attractively, the food cooked, and the whole
place filled with warmth and delicious smells.

	 We’re here because we and people we know have enough and more to
share tonight and tomorrow, so we can always find room for another
place at the table, and, quite probably, another place again.

	 We’re here to acknowledge one more time that God’s love, God’s
very practical love, continues to spill over to keep us in perfect
peace. Therefore it’s incumbent on us to talk, to act out this love
in our own lives, to challenge and dispel fear wherever it may occur,
to make each one of us, this place, and every place we go signs of
peace, of safety, or welcome – we have to begin Advent right now,
and every day, preparing room for Jesus in our midst and BEING Jesus
in the midst of everyone else, on our own doorsteps or halfway around
the world.

	 Whoever is or feels displaced in this city and in this world, must
know that there is ALWAYS a place for her or him.

	 An article this past week reported that “Nearly 60 million people
are currently displaced from their homes by war and persecution - more
than at any time since World War II. Half are children.” 2

	 What gives some glimmer of hope from these terrible statistics is
that children, though never completely unscathed, have been found to
be remarkably resilient. They are the hope for the world. Perhaps this
is why Jesus said that we have to be like children. “That children,
even under the worst of circumstances, are able to remain children
supplies the world around them with the sense of a future, which is
the equivalent of hope.” 3

	 You may have heard about “A little boy in south Texas (who) did
SOMETHING PRETTY GREAt [1] last week, and the news spread quickly
across the world, via social media. Seven-year-old Jack Swenson took
$20 from his piggy bank and decided to give it to a community mosque
that had been grossly defaced during a Muslim hate crime.
 “Twenty dollars might not seem a lot to some, but to Jack Swanson,
it was a life’s savings. And to Faisal Naem, a board member from the
Islamic Center of Pflugerville [2], Jack’s gift was comparable to
‘$20 million’ to the Muslim community.

	 “What many didn’t know last week was that Jack Swanson was
saving his pennies for an Apple iPad. Ardalan Iftikhar [3] heard about
the story and said he was moved to tears. Known to some on social
media as _The Muslim Guy,_ Iftikar contacted Jack’s mother, Laura
Swanson, and within days, Jack received a package in the mail along
with this note from Iftikhar: 

	 “‘Dear Jack, you had saved $20 in your piggybank for an Apple
iPad. But then a local Islamic mosque was vandalised. So you donated
your $20 to this local Texas mosque. Because of your amazing
generosity & kind heart. ‘PLEASE ENJOY THIS APPLE IPAD WITH OUR
SINCERE THANKS :-). Love The American Muslim Community.’ 

	 “Jack Swanson will most likely always remember how his kindness
was received by many around the world. What a wonderful lesson to
learn so young — that when we give to others, from our hearts,
expecting nothing in return, the good often comes back to us,
_multiplied_. Thank you, Jack,” wrote a reporter, “for this lovely
reminder.” 4

	 Thank you, Novak’s, for the meals you offer. Thank you those who
will open their homes for warmth, and conversation, and food, even for
some crazy relatives! Thank you, God – and the Altar Guild – for
setting up this table, and for inviting everyone, without exception,
to the Feast.

	As Bishop Michael Curry said, live; celebrate; give thanks; and,
above all, “be not afraid!”

	NOTES:

	[1] “_Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry addresses Syrian refugee
crisis: ‘Be not afraid!’” _ November 18, 2015 Episcopal Church
Office of Public Affairs press release Episcopal Church [4] Presiding
Bishop and Primate Michael B. Curry addresses the current Syrian
refugee crisis:

	http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2015/11/18/presiding-bishop-michael-b-curry-addresses-syrian-refugee-crisis-be-not-afraid/
[5]

	2 “_The Displaced: Introduction [6]” _By JAKE SILVERSTEIN 7th
November, 2015.

	
http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=4z5Q7LhI+KVBjmEgFdYACPLKh239P3pg2QzY3JgpkMDkftYVwQpO3OLpWa4oJgdKnpM0CZzdOIK7pJhJqo+rHz636RuWDsvj/fY6AH1rUkbzQPfENmgP1RhBv7P/hndWkaZjaWII+sqexdMreC5lvwIDLFGhIZ9u&campaign_id=129&instance_id=66270&segment_id=80342&user_id=13776d46e58cd1c84bbfacad680c03b7&regi_id=63205127
[7]

	3 Silverstein, Op. cit.

	4 “_Little boy who gave $20 to vandalized mosque receives a special
surprise [8]” _By Leslie Salzillo [9]  Monday Nov 23, 2015 7:07 AM
PST

	http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/11/23/1452887/-Little-boy-who-gave-20-to-vandalized-mosque-receives-a-special-surprise
[10]  

Links:
------
[1]
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/11/19/1452210/-7-year-old-does-something-amazing-after-Texas-Islamic-center-is-disgustingly-defaced
[2] http://www.icptx.org/
[3] https://www.facebook.com/ArsalanIftikharFanPage/timeline
[4] http://publicaffairs.cmail19.com/t/r-l-zykkuhk-xihjhoid-o/
[5]
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2015/11/18/presiding-bishop-michael-b-curry-addresses-syrian-refugee-crisis-be-not-afraid/
[6]
http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=4z5Q7LhI+KVBjmEgFdYACPLKh239P3pg2QzY3JgpkMDkftYVwQpO3OLpWa4oJgdKnpM0CZzdOIK7pJhJqo+rHz636RuWDsvj/fY6AH1rUkbzQPfENmgP1RhBv7P/hndWkaZjaWII+sqexdMreC5lvwIDLFGhIZ9u&campaign_id=129&instance_id=66270&segment_id=80342&user_id=13776d46e58cd1c84bbfacad680c03b7&regi_id=63205127
[7]
http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=4z5Q7LhI+KVBjmEgFdYACPLKh239P3pg2QzY3JgpkMDkftYVwQpO3OLpWa4oJgdKnpM0CZzdOIK7pJhJqo+rHz636RuWDsvj/fY6AH1rUkbzQPfENmgP1RhBv7P/hndWkaZjaWII+sqexdMreC5lvwIDLFGhIZ9u&campaign_id=129&instance_id=66270&segment_id=80342&user_id=13776d46e58cd1c84bbfacad680c03b7&regi_id=63205127
[8]
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/11/23/1452887/-Little-boy-who-gave-20-to-vandalized-mosque-receives-a-special-surprise
[9] http://www.dailykos.com/user/Leslie%20Salzillo
[10]
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/11/23/1452887/-Little-boy-who-gave-20-to-vandalized-mosque-receives-a-special-surprise

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