Oak Chapel United Methodist Church

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Two of the first things we learn to say are "please" and "thank you." They are important social conventions, so our parents teach them to us early and insist upon them. Likewise, when we travel in a foreign country, after the word for "toilet" the words for "please" and "thank you" are among the handiest. "Please" at least gives the appearance that we are not demanding, and that the desires of other people count with us. "Thank you" keeps us from appearing ungrateful, and reminds us that we are, in many ways, dependant on each other. "Please" and "thank you" are also two ways of praying, and, as we grow older, our prayers fall more into one category or the other. Most of us emphasize "please." But by this time in lives, the two words are not simply courtesies. Now they tell us more about ourselves. Are we mostly asking, demanding, requiring (and resentful of what we don't have), or are we mostly thankful, appreciative, grateful? Rabbi Nachman used to say that if, when asked how you are, you answer "lousy," God responds, "You call this bad. I'll show you what bad really is." But, if you answer (in spite of trials and sadnesses), "I am good, thank you," then God says, "You call this good, I'll show you what good really is." I doubt God really thinks like that, but I know there is a momentum in one direction or the other.

When we are resentful and complain, our resentment and complaining feed upon themselves, and things get worse. But when we are thankful, and appreciative, things get better. So we come this evening to this classic Thanksgiving scripture, the one about the ten lepers, only one of whom has the decency to return and thank Jesus for his cleansing. That was an important "thank you," not just a polite one. To be a leper in Jesus' day meant extreme ostracism. Lepers were required to live in colonies and to wear bells so that others could hear them coming and get away. So to be healed of leprosy was to be given back your life. Nevertheless, nine out of ten, in their excitement and their eagerness to get back to family and friends, forgot to express appreciation to the one who made them whole. Nine out of ten failed to say thank you. There are important "thank-yous" we need to say to people right here on earth, even before we give thanks to God.

One woman talks about her and her husband's "exploding turkey" thank-yous. She explains that a few years back they went to an attorney to draw up their wills. "We did the usual things," she says, "left everything to our children, made a few special bequests. But then the lawyer asked, 'What if the turkey explodes?'" When we looked puzzled, he said, 'What would happen if, on Thanksgiving, your whole family was sitting around the table and the turkey exploded -- killing everyone? Then, where would you want your money to go?'" She said the question surprised her and her husband, but in the long run answering it gave them a great deal of insight. "It made us think who, beside our families, we were grateful to, and owed thanks to, in this world. We set aside some money for the community hospital where so many of our loved ones had been cared for over the years, and for the little, local library where we had borrowed books. We gave something to the fire company, whose ambulances had always come when we called. Our church got a gift, and a neighbor down the road who had been especially supportive when we were younger and needed help. The exploding turkey exercise made us stop and consider the major thank-yous we owed but seldom thought about. And, after that, we never quite looked at life in the same way." Thanksgiving reminds us to express many kinds of thankfulness. It reminds us to say "thank-you," and be polite, for the little courtesies we receive every day. That's important, and too often overlooked in our busy times.

Thanksgiving reminds us of the larger thank-yous, owed but often left unsaid. And, of course, rising above this vale of tears, it reminds us of the thank-yous we owe God. For what we have, we give thee thanks, O God! For sunshine and harvest. For our parents and our children. For our health and energy. But we have not yet mentioned the most difficult thank-you (that which separates men from boys, as they say): being grateful even when times are not good, when the sun doesn't shine and the crops are poor, when our parents and children disappoint us, when health fails. That is when it is easy to be resentful and hard to be thankful. But that is when it's most important to give thanks. We make a lot over the Pilgrims, their famous feast, and their gratitude to God for a good harvest in that first summer. But we ought to recall the larger picture. The thing to remember about the first Thanksgiving is that the Pilgrims gave thanks that day with broken hearts. Less than a year before (in December) they had settled in this wilderness, had come very late in the year, and had endured a terrible winter. 102 of them had boarded the Mayflower, when she left England in mid-September (much too late for a departure to the new world). The Mayflower, by the way, was 104 feet long and 25 feet wide, slightly longer than this chapel and not as wide.

Out of the 103 who had landed at Massachusetts Bay (a baby had been born along the way), fewer than fifty were still alive when they sat down at that Thanksgiving table. The others had died and been buried at night, in unmarked graves, so the Indians would not realize how depleted their numbers were. Almost everyone at that feast was a recent widow, widower or orphan. Twelve women (all that were left) fixed a huge meal of roasted goose and turkey, corn bread, hasty pudding, stewed eels, boiled lobsters, clam chowder. They invited the Indians, and were horrified when ninety showed up. (There were twice as many Indians at the First Thanksgiving as Pilgrims.) The feast lasted three days. It was probably the first happy moment they had had, the first moment with any promise at all, since arriving in the new world. Their toughness and their faith came to symbolize the new nation which they were establishing. They thanked God when things were good, but we remember them for thanking God when things were bad. And we thank God for them. There example continues to be an inspiration for us. May you all have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow!