Thanksgiving-2005

Celebrating the freeing, supportive presence of God. So your experience of God may become your experience of life. It is wonderful what God can do!

Special Guest, Gray Feather,

Highlights Thanksgiving

Sunday, November 20

As “we gathered together to ask the Lord’s blessing” on the Sunday just prior to Thanksgiving Day, our special guest for the morning worship hour was James Cromwell, an American Indian. His Indian name is “Gray Feather” and his Indian nick name is “Wa-Ta” which is the short form for “Maple Tree.”

Gray Feather focused on the background of various tribes and how they became federated, with the exception of the Tuscarora.

The program highlighted the aspect of gratitude that made up the Indian way of life and was demonstrated at Plymouth Rock. Parts of his presentation were particularly enjoyed by children and youth. Gray Feather touched on Indian wisdom and morality, and Indian tradition and spirituality. He came fully adorned in traditional Indian dress representing the Iroquois tribes. After the worship service closed, there was time for questions during the social hour, hosted by the Patrick Family.

Mr. Cromwell can trace his Indian roots back to 1620. His English/Scottish roots can be traced to 1100 A.D. This is a man who put us in touch with our own American history as it relates to America’s native sons including the Pilgrim era.

"Community Thanksgiving Service"

November 20, 2005 - St. Joseph's

“The Harvest is Plentiful”

What do you think about when you hear the word ‘harvest’? Do you think about the hard work of preparing the land, planting the seed, and regularly praying for rain? Or do you think about a field already bursting forth with well grown and multi-colored vegetables and grains almost crying out to be gathered in and not left to rot? Or perhaps you think about a farmer’s market or supermarket abundantly stocked with almost every conceivable type of vegetable and fruit available for your perusal and purchase?

In one sense, the last two kinds of thinking (the fields and the markets) are really quite a lot alike. Location, convenience, and ease are the primary differences. Both places are well stocked with endless possibilities. In the field, extra effort is required to bend over and pick vegetables one by one. In the market place vegetables can be scooped or grabbed by the handful at waist-level counters.

In both cases, an intentional effort is required to go and gather. Even back in the days when growers would traverse the city and suburban streets with their vegetable carts, it was still up to the individual to be alert for the call or the passing wagon and run to it before it got too far passed. The harvest requires action! I have yet to encounter a vegetable that all by itself provides door to door service.

The same is true of persons who have yet to get in touch with the power of God’s love, grace, forgiveness, and healing. Much like vegetables, they are valuable and worthy of being gathered up; but rarely will one come rolling across the threshold of the church door. That’s a part of why we provide as many and varied opportunities as possible for people to come to God. Making the church a comfortable place to be must continue to be a high priority.

Why should each of us care so much about this? Need we say that this mission comes from the founder of the church, Christ Jesus himself? Some might say, “Well, we seek more people to help us pay the bills,” but that attitude completely misses the point. Jesus wants persons brought into a living relationship with him and the Creator God. This is our mission, ordained by God and given to us by Jesus Christ. This mission—to relate people to God—should be one of the powerful dynamics that move and motivate us … doing what Christ has asked us to do.

When Jesus thinks about the word ‘harvest,’ he associates it with people! According to our scripture this evening, people are the most important harvest there is. People are growing on their individual stalks all over the place, often good and ready to be harvested for God. Being harvested for God is the beginning of a process whereby we come to a saving knowledge of God’s great love for us. Our hearts come to understand and grow in the power of God’s love as ultimately demonstrated on the cross of Jesus Christ. Who else would be willing to sacrifice their son for the benefit of strangers? —Only the God who loves us so profoundly.

But how shall they hear of this love, let alone begin to experience it, if we who know God continue on our paths of quiet existence? How can they come to Thanksgiving to express thanks to God while God is yet—for all practical purposes—unknown to them? We who know God get caught up in our day-to-day activities and fail to make intentional choices for God. Choosing to work and to worship in the dynamic presence of God results in spiritual growth, and prepares us for life with God in all eternity.

Thinking of the harvest again, Jesus describes this relationship with him as one between a vine and its branches—connected. He tells us that he is the vine and we are the branches, and apart from him, we cannot accomplish anything of lasting worth. We must remain intimately joined to him and in regular communication with him.

You, the Christian believer, are the only hands and feet of God in the world today. God depends on you to help carry out the mission so others might come to know his love for themselves.

Jesus never forced himself on anyone. Quite the contrary; Jesus used a relatively soft sell style for raising people’s interest in God’s kingdom. We need to use that example as we look over the fields white unto harvest and extend a regular, warm, and undying invitation to bring persons to worship where they just may find the answer to some of the hopelessness and aimlessness that they may be experiencing well beyond the surface.

For those who walk to church, offer to come by a friend’s house and walk together. For those who drive to church, offer to pick them up and bring them to the place where the peace of Christ may be found. Please do not leave valuable human lives to rot on the vine of short-term living. Let’s continue a strong mission and ministry of introducing people to the living God now and for eternity.

The harvest is indeed plentiful and the laborers are indeed few. On any given Sunday morning Worship Service and Mass, the attendances in our churches have nowhere near the census numbers of Perry. There is room for much to be done and much love and enthusiasm spread throughout the fields of the Perry harvest. Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart … will you respond to his call?

This evening, let us give God thanks for the hope we have in Jesus Christ, and for the abundance of life which we experience in this great land. God is a gracious and generous giver and we are the recipients of that great love.

This evening, let us also give thanks to God for all those who have served, who have placed their lives on the line, and for all those who have given themselves totally for the cause of peace and democracy in our land. We are grateful for the profound impact that our veterans have had on us and on our nation in the years gone by, and in these present days. God keep them safe and return them to us, making this time of Thanksgiving a time of true blessing. Amen.

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