Thanksgiving - Then and Now

During this Thanksgiving Season, we embrace an extraordinarily powerful spiritual practice, that of giving thanks. When we give thanks, we notice what is present rather than what is missing. We live in gratitude and that means our spirit is lifted up.

A Harvest Story from Illinois
I grew up in rural Illinois where October and November were literally months of harvest. Since my grandparents on both sides of the family were farmers, I was accustomed to discussions about crop yield and prices per bushel. By mid to late November, the hay had been baled and stored in the barns. The soybeans and corn were combined. The soybeans were sold and the corn stored in bins. Year after year the fields provided sufficient harvest to feed the cattle through the winter. Most years the yield was high enough that excess grain was delivered and sold to the local grain elevator.

You may think that after the corn was combined, the harvest is over, but there is a little known practice that followed. We would ask the farmer’s permission to pull a wagon through the fields and pick up the “extra” corn. Most years we’d pick up several wagons of “extra” corn. Delivered and sold to the local grain elevator, this “extra” corn provided money for our Christmas giving.

We relished in our abundance. We had money for the gifts we gave to family and friends, and we had money for dinners provided to local charities. During those days our home was not filled to the brim with stuff. We often waited months for a special gift and not infrequently the “special” gift was a humble blanket to replace one that had become threadbare. Focused on what we did have, we rarely concerned ourselves with what we didn’t have. We were grateful for every gift and felt very blessed to be able to give so much.

Gleaning the extra corn from the fields wasn’t all about the corn – or the money it would bring. Since we gathered with our neighbors to pick up the corn, this was also a social event. After hours of walking the fields, picking up corn and tossing it in the wagon, we gathered for a potluck feast and story telling. So … November was a wonderful time of harvest.

When we gathered around the family tables on Thanksgiving Day, we not only celebrated the harvest, but our good fortune to have wonderful relationships and the abundance from which we would give. Christmas was always a joyous time of giving from our plenty.

Fast forward to 2008.
At Unity Church of Raleigh we gathered for a Thanksgiving feast on Sunday, November 23rd. Our tables were filled to overflowing with turkey and favorite foods. Our harvest includes a conscious awareness of the many gifts God has given us. We celebrate both our individual growth and our growth as a spiritual community. Sharing the common bond of agape love, our love for God, Unity and these wonderful spiritual principles that continue to bless our lives, we also share gratitude for the connection that is so evident in our church family. We are a welcoming community – a community that joyfully shares our spiritual journey.

Our collective prayer life is deepening. After our visioning session in October, a number of people formed prayer partnerships. We’ve also begun to consciously pray for the emergence of God’s gifts in and through one another. The photos on the walls represent our core essence and thus our gifts as a spiritual community. What FUN to watch new photos appear on the wall each Sunday and to celebrate the emergence of these gifts in all of us.

Sunday, we celebrated this and so much more!

A BIG thank you to Karen Grover and her team for providing such a grace-filled feast. Kudos to everyone on the planning team who made it possible for over 70 people to share a HOT meal together. It is no trivial matter, actually due to impeccable planning, that everyone was able to walk through the line, be seated and eating within ten minutes of saying grace.

We laughed and talked, answered Turkey Trivia questions and relished in our relationships with one another. What a delight to share our gratitude and abundance. And share we did! Outreach is one of the emerging passions within our community. Terri Conyers, a representative of The Healing Place, introduced their program to us. This organization has an impressive success rate supporting drug and alcohol addicted men and women in reclaiming their lives.

This year, in addition to our Share-a-Bear and animal rescue projects, our Christmas Outreach Projects include providing gifts for the men at the downtown location of The Healing Place. I look forward to sharing the emerging story of our reaching out to these men who are willing to step up and experience something new. That’s right. They signed up for a “project with a local church” and do not know that they will be the recipients of your thoughtful generosity. Meanwhile, we delighted in being able to give so abundantly from our tables. Terri brought pans of food to the women at the north location of The Healing Place, the surplus from our dinner.

So … we receive and we give … and we give and receive … and we participate whole heartedly in the good God has for us! Clearly, the harvest at Unity Church of Raleigh has only just begun!!