GIVING THANKS

Welcome, blog reader. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Of all the holidays of the year, Thanksgiving is the most social. It is traditionally the time when family and friends gather together to give thanks for all the blessings of life and to (over) indulge on delicious foods. After stuffing, one group might migrate to the television to flop down and yell at a football game while the kids go off to play on their own away from the domineering adults and another gaggle talks non-stop in the kitchen. 

When I was young, Thanksgiving was always a wonderful time. We did not have a "crazy uncle" spouting off and it was understood that no one should speak of religion or politics. Conversations were usually about individual matters as who was about to get married, who was about to have a baby, who was going away to college, who got a new car, that sort of thing. If the house got too busy, there was always the retreat outside to pick up pecans generously deposited by trees as old as my grandmother or to toss a football back and forth. I once spent a Thanksgiving Day in Grenoble, France, where it was not a holiday. I was buried in the archives and had spaghetti for lunch. I have never missed family as much as on that day.

As for the schism, matters are on hold right now although one may assume the two sides are continuing their private negotiations for a final settlement. We will have to wait until the bishops announce what they have agreed on. Meanwhile, there are five issues hung up in court and seeming to go nowhere. Three parishes are still in dispute of disposition: Old Saint Andrew's, Holy Cross, and Good Shepherd. In addition, the Anglican side has a suit in circuit court against the Episcopal side for betterments payments. Finally, the Remittitur of the state supreme court is still standing in the circuit court awaiting implementation. 

Since Thanksgiving is a social time, it is an appropriate moment to consider the social outreach of one's local church. What does your church do for community, both internally, and beyond its walls? Grace Church Cathedral does a great job supporting countless charities in the Charleston area but then it is a large and wealthy parish. Most churches nowadays are small and limited. They cannot do as much as Grace does. 

But then, it is not quantity that counts, it is quality. My local church, St. Luke's, of Jacksonville AL, is a small parish in a small (10,000) town. The people who built this church more than a century and a half ago were very much community-minded people and incorporated service to the community in the parish DNA. Over the years, the understanding of community has evolved and matured. St. Luke's is now well-known as the most welcoming and inclusive church in town and also the most generous in service to the greater community. In its long list of outreach, it is best known in town as the Thanksgiving meal church.

Last year, the church served more than 600 meals free of charge, even delivering hundreds to homes. This project started modestly twenty-seven years ago and has grown beyond anyone's wildest dreams, so much so that the Methodists generously agreed to help out. This year, thirty-five turkeys and mountains of sides are being prepared.

Even though St. Luke's fame comes largely from this meal, it is far from being the parish's only outreach. It is just one among many. Another is the only free food pantry in town. Kept by the local chapter of the Daughters of the King, it has fed many hungry neighbors. (In this picture, my reflection is in the glass.)

Thus, a parish does not have to be a big one to do big work for the community, both within the congregation and beyond the walls. Of course, a positive side effect of all of this is evangelism. I do not know how many people over the years have come to St. Luke's because they wanted to be a part of a congregation so committed to doing God's work in the world. Love is contagious.

So, as you give thanks this year for family and friends, give thanks too for your local worshiping group whether you are in a big beautiful building or not. Contemplate too on what your group is doing to make a better world all around you. Even small churches can accomplish a great deal with a little imagination and a commitment to living out the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the world. But then, in the end, isn't this what Christianity is ultimately all about? We fill ourselves by emptying ourselves.

Happy Thanksgiving Day to you and yours, blog reader. I am thankful to you for being here.