Thanksgiving & The Great Thanksgiving
One of my favorite TV shows is The Great British Baking Show. The baker I’m rooting for this season is Dylan. He said that he has an emotional connection to food, sharing that, as a child, he cried when his burger fell apart.
I suppose he is right. We do have an emotional connection to food.
Some of the visceral memories I have that are tied to food:
(Not my experience but...) My father once told me that he ate a (rather watery, so not good) sweet potato under a train car for fear of getting it snatched out of his hands after the Korean War. He was only four.
Kimbab reminds me of the time when my mother packed them for me when I went on school field trips. I felt cared for by this kind gesture coming from my mother since it’s somewhat labor-intensive to make.
Steamed dumplings remind me of that New Year’s Day when my parents got into a terrible fight. The sight of them gave me a pang for years.
Tiered cakes - or gateaux - take me back to Germany, where I used to make such elaborate bakes on weekends to deal with the challenges of being a teen in a foreign land.
The smell of Lagman takes me straight back to the days when I was doing soul-searching in Kyrgyzstan.
Every food item has a story and a memory attached to it.
Most of us are about to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families.
It is my hope that your Thanksgiving meal brings you together and that you will savor its taste and cherish the memories being built around it. As you gather around the table, may God’s Spirit be with you.
As you break bread, may God remind you of the Eucharist - the bread and wine offered by our Lord Jesus Christ - during The Great Thanksgiving of any Episcopal service. That is, after all, what the Greek word eucharistia means: 'thanksgiving.'
For me, that is the most important food & drink, that is by no means big in portions or the most elaborate, but which is so saturated with meaning and evokes much emotion of gratitude: Christ’s Body given for us all, an entire life sacrificed for the whole world - the Bread of Heaven. His blood is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins - the Cup of Salvation.
And, should Thanksgiving turn into an unpleasant day with discord, divisive ideas, contentious politics, or unresolved issues within your families, may you return to the Eucharistic Table for nourishment and healing. Come and partake in that one perfect oblation offered some two thousand years ago, which also anticipates the Day when many nations and tongues will gather around the heavenly banquet with Christ Jesus at the center, when race, ethnicity, national boundaries, and political inclinations will be no more and a joyous harmony of blended voices will be singing praises to the One who gave Himself so that we might have life.
May grace abound in you for those who do not think, behave, or vote like you.
And may peace that passes understanding rule your heart and mind this season.
Amen.
Chaplain Kiona Lookingbill