A Thanksgiving Miracle
Stories
Object:
Contents
What's Up This Week
"A Thanksgiving Miracle" by John Sumwalt
"Scenes around Thanksgiving Day Tables" by Fanny Seville
"Wacipi Waste (Good Gathering)" by Fanny Seville
"Fat-finger Dialing" by Timothy Merrill
What's Up This Week
In this season of Thanksgiving, how many of us are truly thankful? It is so easy to be caught up in what we don't have or what we cannot do. We become greedy and self-centered, thinking that unless we can become like that other guy who we think has more... whatever... only then will we be happy. Rather than focusing on what we don't have, why don't we look at what we do have? Even when we may not deserve it, we have been given so much, as shown in John Sumwalt's "A Thanksgiving Miracle." Fanny Seville shows us gratitude in action in "Scenes around Thanksgiving Day Tables," as well as the gratitude and fellowship that created this holiday in "Wacipi Waste (Good Gathering)." "Fat-finger Dialing" by Timothy Merrill reveals that even when the world around us tries to take and take from us, we still have something of infinite, eternal value. Through it all, we know that because of Jesus, we could never be thankful enough.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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A Thanksgiving Miracle
John Sumwalt
Enter his gates with thanksgiving; and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever; and his faithfulness to all generations.
-- Psalm 100:4-5
For the first time in her life Annie Templeton was dreading Thanksgiving. Annie loved Thanksgiving. It was her favorite holiday. Everyone would be gathering at Gran's house, as they did every year, and that was the problem; everyone would be there. Annie would have to face her uncles and aunts and seven cousins for the first time since her shoplifting conviction had made the front page of the Templeton Observer, the newspaper her grandfather, Herb Templeton, had published for fifty years in the little town that was named for his grandfather.
Annie had made her peace with Mom and Dad and her sister, Kate. They had bailed her out of jail and gone with her to court, had anguished with her as she struggled with why she had done "such a stupid thing." They supported her through six months of counseling and the humiliation of fifty hours of public service picking up trash along every highway leading into Templeton.
She wasn't worried about Gran. She had taken Annie aside the day she got out of jail, kissed her on the forehead, and given her the longest and the hardest hug she had ever had in her life. Then Gran had said, "You will get through this and you'll be the better for it." Annie wasn't so sure. Her aunts and uncles were very dear to her, and she had always been close to her cousins. She didn't see how things could ever be the same with them now that she had sullied the family name.
Annie resisted the urge to turn her car around and phone to say she had to work. Not going was not an option and lying would be a step in the wrong direction. She would just have to face them. Her stomach turned as she pulled up across the street from Gran's house. The driveway was full of cars and the side of the street nearest the house was already full of cars. How they all fit into Gran's little house was something of a miracle. And that was what Annie needed now, a Thanksgiving miracle.
Annie arrived late, as usual. She could see that people were already gathered around the table, which had been extended the full length of the living room by the addition of several leaves and a couple of card tables set at right angles on either end. Gran insisted that everyone sit at one table, always had even when the cousins were all small.
Annie opened the door and walked quickly through the kitchen to the dining room. Before anyone could greet her, Gran called out. "We're just sitting down, Annie, come and take your seat." Gran pointed to the chair just to her right, not Annie's usual spot between Kate and her favorite cousin. The turkey, with the knife poised for carving, was positioned in front of Annie's place. Gran always did the carving and serving with great flair: to say she reveled in it would have been a vast understatement.
"Now," Gran said, taking charge as she always did, "this year we are all going to tell about one thing for which we are thankful. That will be our Thanksgiving grace. Jeremy, you start." Gran looked at her oldest son who was sitting just to the right of Annie. Uncle Jeremy told how thankful he was for a good year at the hardware store in spite of the new Sam's World that had just opened on the edge of town. The others chimed in with gratitude for family and friends, good grades, new cars, fabulous vacations, a baby on the way; they were a thankful bunch.
Then it was Gran's turn. She took a deep breath and said, "I'm going to tell you all something that I have never spoken of to anyone. Dad knew of course," she added, referring to Annie's late grandfather, "but he was the only one who knew after my parents passed away."
There was absolute silence around the table. Every eye was fixed on Gran. This was not the usual Thanksgiving fare.
"Before I moved here to Templeton and met Herb, I was married to another man. We were both too young, but there had been a baby on the way and we thought getting married was the only thing to do. When I miscarried, it was clear that the marriage was a miscarriage, too. We went to Vegas for a quick divorce and I moved here where no one knew me. Herb was an understanding man and that was that. We never even told his folks, and my parents didn't say a word at the wedding. Today I am so thankful for all of you and for the wonderful life God has given me."
Shock and awe and tears all around might be an apt description of this unexpected Thanksgiving moment. Then, before anyone could react, Gran looked at Annie and said, "Your turn, girl." But before Annie could open her mouth, she added, "I think we all know what you're thankful for, so how about if you just carve the turkey before we all starve to death?" Everyone laughed and there was a much needed, communal sigh of relief.
That is how Annie Templeton was promoted to Templeton family turkey carver, a position in which she would serve with great flair and grace for the rest of her life.
John E. Sumwalt is the lead pastor of Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church in suburban Milwaukee. He is the author of ten books, including How to Preach the Miracles: Why People Don't Believe Them and What You Can Do About It, now available from CSS Publishing. John and his wife, Jo Perry-Sumwalt, were the editors of StoryShare from 2004-2006.
Scenes Around Thanksgiving Day Tables
Fanny Lee Seville
John 6:25-35
Expressing gratitude is a healthy human trait. Today, throughout the United States hundreds of thousands of people gather around their Thanksgiving Day tables for a brief time of celebrating life and giving thanks.
A soldier places a call to the United States. He's nineteen years old and this is his first Thanksgiving away from home. He's frightened and lonely. He misses his family. It's extremely hot and dusty where he's stationed. In the distance other soldiers patrol the surrounding area. At the moment all is quiet except for the barking of a dog off in the distance. In a few minutes he will forget his being frightened. He will forget he's been lonely. He will forget how much he misses his family, and the heat will no longer bother him.
Through the use of the latest technology, a web camera, this soldier vicariously shares his family's Thanksgiving Day dinner. Seated at the table he sees his parents and his siblings. For the first time he watches the smiles of his infant nephew as his mother cradles him in her arms. He sees his family's smiling faces and hears their joyful voices. They in return see him and talk with him as though he were seated at the table.
This is a Thanksgiving Day to remember. As the family clasps their hands together, the soldier places a hand on the screen in front of him. His father reaches up and places his hand on the big screen, which is beside the dining room table. All bow their heads as the soldier prays, "Dear God, thank you for allowing me to visit my family this Thanksgiving Day. Thank you for our good health. Thank you for never leaving us alone. Thank you for family, friends, and food. May Jesus, the bread of life, be with us every day. Amen."
Slouched in her wheelchair placed next to the kitchen table, head to one side with feet firmly planted on the floor, a mother, suffering from cancer, waits patiently as her daughter blends her Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, green beans with bacon dressing, potato filling, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce are mixed to the consistency of baby food. This will be their last Thanksgiving Day together.
It is a struggle for the mother to swallow, but the daughter is patient as she feeds her mother small spoonfuls of food. After eating, with gratitude the mother smiles and says, "May Jesus, the bread of life, be with you every day."
In a hospital room, a young couple and their parents celebrate the birth of a baby boy. The pregnancy was in crisis from the beginning. Bedridden for months, the mother was relieved when she gave birth to a healthy baby.
What a special gift. On this Thanksgiving Day new life arrives to bring love and joy to the young couple. Although the traditional Thanksgiving dinner is not served, the family enjoys turkey sandwiches shared around the young woman's bed. While holding hands and circling mother and son, the family prays together, "May Jesus, the bread of life, be with us every day."
A lonely, homeless woman strays into a church sanctuary where a Thanksgiving Day service has just begun. Hymns and prayers of thanksgiving are lifted up to the glory of God.
After the service, everyone is invited to the dining room where a delicious Thanksgiving meal awaits them. Shyly the woman moves from her pew not quite sure she will be accepted. Surprised by a warm hand on her shoulder and a quiet voice saying, "Let's sit together," the woman reluctantly walks forward.
Like the Native Americans who shared their crops with the New England settlers on that first Thanksgiving Day, members of this church serve a feast to those in need of a nutritious meal. More than a thousand people join the circle of grateful souls and pray, "May Jesus, the bread of life, be with you every day."
As this family gathers around the table, they pause to remember and reflect upon the goodness of life and to share its hope for the world. A candle is lighted, given to the youngest child, and then makes its way around the table until everyone has spoken.
Expressions of gratitude and hope fill the room with grateful spirits.
-- Here's to good health and happiness.
-- Here's to a loving family and faithful friends.
-- Here's to the ability to release harmful feelings and to let go of our anger and pride.
-- Here's to a world where no one knows the pangs of hunger, where the homeless find a place to rest their weary heads, where the sick are healed, where no one fears the threat of terrorists, and where no one hears the blast of a gun.
-- Here's to our never taking for granted all the gifts that we have received.
-- Here's to believing in Jesus, the One sent from God.
-- Here's to our knowing that Jesus, the bread of life, is with us every day.
On this Thanksgiving Day and every day, may Jesus, the bread of life, be with you.
Wacipi Waste (Good Gathering)
Fanny Lee Seville
John 6:25-35
There she sat in front of her grandmother's dressing table, brushing her beautiful, long, black hair and remembering all the times she longed to be old enough to perform the Jingle Dance at the annual PowWow. In a few minutes she would braid her hair and then tie brightly colored ribbons around each braid. Her chance to dance had finally arrived.
Summertime announces to Native Americans across the United States that PowWow season is about to commence. Guests, sitting around the focal point of the PowWow, stand when the sound of beating drums is heard. Each drummer's beat is sacred and replicates the beat of the human heart. Quietness fills the air as an eagle staff bearer and flag attendants enter the arena followed by all the dancers who will participate in the PowWow.
Among this year's dancers is the young woman who is beautifully clad in her jingle dress. As the legend goes, a tribal elder is ill with a high fever and is near death. While sleeping, he has a vision. His daughter comes to him, dancing in a dress that jingles. She tells him that this dress is very special. It is a medicine dress that will make him well again. After instructing him how to make the dress, his daughter teaches him the songs that will make the medicine come alive in the dress. When the elder awakes, he shares his vision with his daughter who immediately runs to gather all the materials necessary to make the healing dress.
Once made, the daughter dances and sings the songs in the manner in which her father envisioned them. Miraculously, the elder is healed. Native Americans believe the Jingle Dance was a gift from the Great Spirit for the purpose of healing and realizing the importance of the jingle dress, the young woman dances reverently throughout her performance.
This year the PowWow's theme was "Wacipi Waste." In the Lakota language, this means "good gathering." It was a "Wacipi Waste" when the early pilgrims gave thanks for their very survival. It was a "Wacipi Waste" when the Native Americans shared their crops with these strangers from across the ocean.
Even though their first year in the New World was very harsh and costly, the Pilgrims had much for which to be thankful. Newly built homes kept them warm. Plentiful crops kept them alive. Peaceful Native Americans kept their spirits high. Now was the time for giving thanks.
To celebrate, the Pilgrims invited their Native American neighbors to their gathering. Chief Massasoit and ninety of his braves came to the harvest celebration, which lasted three days. Games were played, races were run, and people marched to the beat of drums. All enjoyed a feast of Indian corn, barley, peas, squash, beans, nuts, dried berries, deer, wild turkeys, and fish. Perhaps for dessert they had Indian pudding sweetened by syrup tapped from maple trees.
For the Pilgrims it was their belief in Jesus, the Christ, and in a God who never leaves anyone alone that sustained their lives through the most difficult year of their experience and caused them to be a thankful people. For the Native Americans it was their belief in a Great Spirit who was known to them in all creation from the four corners of the world through the wind and the fire, the sun and the moon, the sky and the earth, to the corn and beans and squash that sustained their lives and caused them to be a thankful people.
Two very diverse cultures gathered together around God's table and was surrounded by the warmth of the Great Spirit. It was the first Thanksgiving. One could say it was a PowWow. It was a "Wacipi Waste." It was a very "good gathering" of God's people, coming together to celebrate and to give thanks.
A prayer of thanksgiving, familiar to the peoples of the Iroquois Nation, speaks to us today:
"We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us.
We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water.
We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.
We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have given to us their light when the sun was gone.
We return thanks to the sun that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye. We return thanks to you, Great Spirit, in whom is embodied all goodness, and who directs all things for the good of your children."
As we gather around our tables this Thanksgiving Day, may we come with grateful hearts, remembering that Jesus is the bread of life and that through him we shall never be hungry or thirsty. Thanks be to God.
Fanny Lee Seville is a retired educator who devoted her entire career to teaching children with disabilities and "at risk" high school students. She is a lifelong member of the United Church of Christ, and has served in many capacities at the local, conference, and national levels. Fanny is married to Jack Seville, Conference Minister Emeritus of the UCC's Northern Plains Conference. She is the author of Sing Stories of Jesus, a children's music book of 25 biblical stories in song.
Fat-finger Dialing
Timothy Merrill
Philippians 4:4-9
Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (v. 6)
I reach for the phone and punch in 1-555-274-2406.
I then get a series of options offered by a cyber-voiced human clone for a company called International Publishing. Oops! That's not who I wanted. I had inverted the last two digits of the number. I hang up and call again. But that mistake will cost me a couple bucks.
Joel Drizin of New York City put in a call t his brother in New Jersey using one of the nation's long-distance carriers and his four-minute call cost him %16.42 because he misdialed his access number and ended up with a different carrier. A call that should have cost him about $6 instead cost him about $10 more. He filed a lawsuit charging "deceptive business practices."
Misdialing or misspelling phone numbers is known in the industry as "fat-finger dialing." It's a problem because there are more than ninety phone numbers very close to toll-free numbers that are managed by companies that charge ass much as three times the amount charged by AT&T, for example.
Here's how it works. You intend to call 1-800-CALL-ATT, but instead you dial 1-800-CALL-LAT. Instead of AT&T, you are connected with ASC Telecom and you are allegedly charged at a much higher rate and you don't even know about it since you are unaware that you misdialed and that you got a different long distance carrier.
The problem is so serious that the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau has issued warning bulletins to consumers along with a procedure to use to file a complaint.
You already know where I'm going with this.
In our communication with God, there is no fat-finger dialing. "Not to worry," Paul says (v. 6). We're not going to get a wrong number. We are not going to be charged excessive fees.
But we must dial.
Regrettably, many of us do not dial in too often. Prayer is not high on our list of things to do. Like these two men who obviously were not in top praying form.
The first challenged the other, "If you are so religious, let's hear you quote the Lord's Prayer. I bet you $10 you can't."
The second responded, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. And if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."
The first pulled out his wallet and fished out ten bucks, muttering, "I didn't think you could do it!"
That's fat-finger prayer dialing!
When we do pray our "prayers and supplications," we should - with thanksgiving - let God know what we need.
That's all there is to it.
And that's something to be thankful for.
(from Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit, Series IV, Cycle C [CSS Publishing Co.: Lima, Ohio, 2003], pp. 140-141)
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StoryShare, November 22, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
What's Up This Week
"A Thanksgiving Miracle" by John Sumwalt
"Scenes around Thanksgiving Day Tables" by Fanny Seville
"Wacipi Waste (Good Gathering)" by Fanny Seville
"Fat-finger Dialing" by Timothy Merrill
What's Up This Week
In this season of Thanksgiving, how many of us are truly thankful? It is so easy to be caught up in what we don't have or what we cannot do. We become greedy and self-centered, thinking that unless we can become like that other guy who we think has more... whatever... only then will we be happy. Rather than focusing on what we don't have, why don't we look at what we do have? Even when we may not deserve it, we have been given so much, as shown in John Sumwalt's "A Thanksgiving Miracle." Fanny Seville shows us gratitude in action in "Scenes around Thanksgiving Day Tables," as well as the gratitude and fellowship that created this holiday in "Wacipi Waste (Good Gathering)." "Fat-finger Dialing" by Timothy Merrill reveals that even when the world around us tries to take and take from us, we still have something of infinite, eternal value. Through it all, we know that because of Jesus, we could never be thankful enough.
Happy Thanksgiving!
* * * * * * * * *
A Thanksgiving Miracle
John Sumwalt
Enter his gates with thanksgiving; and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever; and his faithfulness to all generations.
-- Psalm 100:4-5
For the first time in her life Annie Templeton was dreading Thanksgiving. Annie loved Thanksgiving. It was her favorite holiday. Everyone would be gathering at Gran's house, as they did every year, and that was the problem; everyone would be there. Annie would have to face her uncles and aunts and seven cousins for the first time since her shoplifting conviction had made the front page of the Templeton Observer, the newspaper her grandfather, Herb Templeton, had published for fifty years in the little town that was named for his grandfather.
Annie had made her peace with Mom and Dad and her sister, Kate. They had bailed her out of jail and gone with her to court, had anguished with her as she struggled with why she had done "such a stupid thing." They supported her through six months of counseling and the humiliation of fifty hours of public service picking up trash along every highway leading into Templeton.
She wasn't worried about Gran. She had taken Annie aside the day she got out of jail, kissed her on the forehead, and given her the longest and the hardest hug she had ever had in her life. Then Gran had said, "You will get through this and you'll be the better for it." Annie wasn't so sure. Her aunts and uncles were very dear to her, and she had always been close to her cousins. She didn't see how things could ever be the same with them now that she had sullied the family name.
Annie resisted the urge to turn her car around and phone to say she had to work. Not going was not an option and lying would be a step in the wrong direction. She would just have to face them. Her stomach turned as she pulled up across the street from Gran's house. The driveway was full of cars and the side of the street nearest the house was already full of cars. How they all fit into Gran's little house was something of a miracle. And that was what Annie needed now, a Thanksgiving miracle.
Annie arrived late, as usual. She could see that people were already gathered around the table, which had been extended the full length of the living room by the addition of several leaves and a couple of card tables set at right angles on either end. Gran insisted that everyone sit at one table, always had even when the cousins were all small.
Annie opened the door and walked quickly through the kitchen to the dining room. Before anyone could greet her, Gran called out. "We're just sitting down, Annie, come and take your seat." Gran pointed to the chair just to her right, not Annie's usual spot between Kate and her favorite cousin. The turkey, with the knife poised for carving, was positioned in front of Annie's place. Gran always did the carving and serving with great flair: to say she reveled in it would have been a vast understatement.
"Now," Gran said, taking charge as she always did, "this year we are all going to tell about one thing for which we are thankful. That will be our Thanksgiving grace. Jeremy, you start." Gran looked at her oldest son who was sitting just to the right of Annie. Uncle Jeremy told how thankful he was for a good year at the hardware store in spite of the new Sam's World that had just opened on the edge of town. The others chimed in with gratitude for family and friends, good grades, new cars, fabulous vacations, a baby on the way; they were a thankful bunch.
Then it was Gran's turn. She took a deep breath and said, "I'm going to tell you all something that I have never spoken of to anyone. Dad knew of course," she added, referring to Annie's late grandfather, "but he was the only one who knew after my parents passed away."
There was absolute silence around the table. Every eye was fixed on Gran. This was not the usual Thanksgiving fare.
"Before I moved here to Templeton and met Herb, I was married to another man. We were both too young, but there had been a baby on the way and we thought getting married was the only thing to do. When I miscarried, it was clear that the marriage was a miscarriage, too. We went to Vegas for a quick divorce and I moved here where no one knew me. Herb was an understanding man and that was that. We never even told his folks, and my parents didn't say a word at the wedding. Today I am so thankful for all of you and for the wonderful life God has given me."
Shock and awe and tears all around might be an apt description of this unexpected Thanksgiving moment. Then, before anyone could react, Gran looked at Annie and said, "Your turn, girl." But before Annie could open her mouth, she added, "I think we all know what you're thankful for, so how about if you just carve the turkey before we all starve to death?" Everyone laughed and there was a much needed, communal sigh of relief.
That is how Annie Templeton was promoted to Templeton family turkey carver, a position in which she would serve with great flair and grace for the rest of her life.
John E. Sumwalt is the lead pastor of Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church in suburban Milwaukee. He is the author of ten books, including How to Preach the Miracles: Why People Don't Believe Them and What You Can Do About It, now available from CSS Publishing. John and his wife, Jo Perry-Sumwalt, were the editors of StoryShare from 2004-2006.
Scenes Around Thanksgiving Day Tables
Fanny Lee Seville
John 6:25-35
Expressing gratitude is a healthy human trait. Today, throughout the United States hundreds of thousands of people gather around their Thanksgiving Day tables for a brief time of celebrating life and giving thanks.
A soldier places a call to the United States. He's nineteen years old and this is his first Thanksgiving away from home. He's frightened and lonely. He misses his family. It's extremely hot and dusty where he's stationed. In the distance other soldiers patrol the surrounding area. At the moment all is quiet except for the barking of a dog off in the distance. In a few minutes he will forget his being frightened. He will forget he's been lonely. He will forget how much he misses his family, and the heat will no longer bother him.
Through the use of the latest technology, a web camera, this soldier vicariously shares his family's Thanksgiving Day dinner. Seated at the table he sees his parents and his siblings. For the first time he watches the smiles of his infant nephew as his mother cradles him in her arms. He sees his family's smiling faces and hears their joyful voices. They in return see him and talk with him as though he were seated at the table.
This is a Thanksgiving Day to remember. As the family clasps their hands together, the soldier places a hand on the screen in front of him. His father reaches up and places his hand on the big screen, which is beside the dining room table. All bow their heads as the soldier prays, "Dear God, thank you for allowing me to visit my family this Thanksgiving Day. Thank you for our good health. Thank you for never leaving us alone. Thank you for family, friends, and food. May Jesus, the bread of life, be with us every day. Amen."
Slouched in her wheelchair placed next to the kitchen table, head to one side with feet firmly planted on the floor, a mother, suffering from cancer, waits patiently as her daughter blends her Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, green beans with bacon dressing, potato filling, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce are mixed to the consistency of baby food. This will be their last Thanksgiving Day together.
It is a struggle for the mother to swallow, but the daughter is patient as she feeds her mother small spoonfuls of food. After eating, with gratitude the mother smiles and says, "May Jesus, the bread of life, be with you every day."
In a hospital room, a young couple and their parents celebrate the birth of a baby boy. The pregnancy was in crisis from the beginning. Bedridden for months, the mother was relieved when she gave birth to a healthy baby.
What a special gift. On this Thanksgiving Day new life arrives to bring love and joy to the young couple. Although the traditional Thanksgiving dinner is not served, the family enjoys turkey sandwiches shared around the young woman's bed. While holding hands and circling mother and son, the family prays together, "May Jesus, the bread of life, be with us every day."
A lonely, homeless woman strays into a church sanctuary where a Thanksgiving Day service has just begun. Hymns and prayers of thanksgiving are lifted up to the glory of God.
After the service, everyone is invited to the dining room where a delicious Thanksgiving meal awaits them. Shyly the woman moves from her pew not quite sure she will be accepted. Surprised by a warm hand on her shoulder and a quiet voice saying, "Let's sit together," the woman reluctantly walks forward.
Like the Native Americans who shared their crops with the New England settlers on that first Thanksgiving Day, members of this church serve a feast to those in need of a nutritious meal. More than a thousand people join the circle of grateful souls and pray, "May Jesus, the bread of life, be with you every day."
As this family gathers around the table, they pause to remember and reflect upon the goodness of life and to share its hope for the world. A candle is lighted, given to the youngest child, and then makes its way around the table until everyone has spoken.
Expressions of gratitude and hope fill the room with grateful spirits.
-- Here's to good health and happiness.
-- Here's to a loving family and faithful friends.
-- Here's to the ability to release harmful feelings and to let go of our anger and pride.
-- Here's to a world where no one knows the pangs of hunger, where the homeless find a place to rest their weary heads, where the sick are healed, where no one fears the threat of terrorists, and where no one hears the blast of a gun.
-- Here's to our never taking for granted all the gifts that we have received.
-- Here's to believing in Jesus, the One sent from God.
-- Here's to our knowing that Jesus, the bread of life, is with us every day.
On this Thanksgiving Day and every day, may Jesus, the bread of life, be with you.
Wacipi Waste (Good Gathering)
Fanny Lee Seville
John 6:25-35
There she sat in front of her grandmother's dressing table, brushing her beautiful, long, black hair and remembering all the times she longed to be old enough to perform the Jingle Dance at the annual PowWow. In a few minutes she would braid her hair and then tie brightly colored ribbons around each braid. Her chance to dance had finally arrived.
Summertime announces to Native Americans across the United States that PowWow season is about to commence. Guests, sitting around the focal point of the PowWow, stand when the sound of beating drums is heard. Each drummer's beat is sacred and replicates the beat of the human heart. Quietness fills the air as an eagle staff bearer and flag attendants enter the arena followed by all the dancers who will participate in the PowWow.
Among this year's dancers is the young woman who is beautifully clad in her jingle dress. As the legend goes, a tribal elder is ill with a high fever and is near death. While sleeping, he has a vision. His daughter comes to him, dancing in a dress that jingles. She tells him that this dress is very special. It is a medicine dress that will make him well again. After instructing him how to make the dress, his daughter teaches him the songs that will make the medicine come alive in the dress. When the elder awakes, he shares his vision with his daughter who immediately runs to gather all the materials necessary to make the healing dress.
Once made, the daughter dances and sings the songs in the manner in which her father envisioned them. Miraculously, the elder is healed. Native Americans believe the Jingle Dance was a gift from the Great Spirit for the purpose of healing and realizing the importance of the jingle dress, the young woman dances reverently throughout her performance.
This year the PowWow's theme was "Wacipi Waste." In the Lakota language, this means "good gathering." It was a "Wacipi Waste" when the early pilgrims gave thanks for their very survival. It was a "Wacipi Waste" when the Native Americans shared their crops with these strangers from across the ocean.
Even though their first year in the New World was very harsh and costly, the Pilgrims had much for which to be thankful. Newly built homes kept them warm. Plentiful crops kept them alive. Peaceful Native Americans kept their spirits high. Now was the time for giving thanks.
To celebrate, the Pilgrims invited their Native American neighbors to their gathering. Chief Massasoit and ninety of his braves came to the harvest celebration, which lasted three days. Games were played, races were run, and people marched to the beat of drums. All enjoyed a feast of Indian corn, barley, peas, squash, beans, nuts, dried berries, deer, wild turkeys, and fish. Perhaps for dessert they had Indian pudding sweetened by syrup tapped from maple trees.
For the Pilgrims it was their belief in Jesus, the Christ, and in a God who never leaves anyone alone that sustained their lives through the most difficult year of their experience and caused them to be a thankful people. For the Native Americans it was their belief in a Great Spirit who was known to them in all creation from the four corners of the world through the wind and the fire, the sun and the moon, the sky and the earth, to the corn and beans and squash that sustained their lives and caused them to be a thankful people.
Two very diverse cultures gathered together around God's table and was surrounded by the warmth of the Great Spirit. It was the first Thanksgiving. One could say it was a PowWow. It was a "Wacipi Waste." It was a very "good gathering" of God's people, coming together to celebrate and to give thanks.
A prayer of thanksgiving, familiar to the peoples of the Iroquois Nation, speaks to us today:
"We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us.
We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water.
We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.
We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have given to us their light when the sun was gone.
We return thanks to the sun that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye. We return thanks to you, Great Spirit, in whom is embodied all goodness, and who directs all things for the good of your children."
As we gather around our tables this Thanksgiving Day, may we come with grateful hearts, remembering that Jesus is the bread of life and that through him we shall never be hungry or thirsty. Thanks be to God.
Fanny Lee Seville is a retired educator who devoted her entire career to teaching children with disabilities and "at risk" high school students. She is a lifelong member of the United Church of Christ, and has served in many capacities at the local, conference, and national levels. Fanny is married to Jack Seville, Conference Minister Emeritus of the UCC's Northern Plains Conference. She is the author of Sing Stories of Jesus, a children's music book of 25 biblical stories in song.
Fat-finger Dialing
Timothy Merrill
Philippians 4:4-9
Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (v. 6)
I reach for the phone and punch in 1-555-274-2406.
I then get a series of options offered by a cyber-voiced human clone for a company called International Publishing. Oops! That's not who I wanted. I had inverted the last two digits of the number. I hang up and call again. But that mistake will cost me a couple bucks.
Joel Drizin of New York City put in a call t his brother in New Jersey using one of the nation's long-distance carriers and his four-minute call cost him %16.42 because he misdialed his access number and ended up with a different carrier. A call that should have cost him about $6 instead cost him about $10 more. He filed a lawsuit charging "deceptive business practices."
Misdialing or misspelling phone numbers is known in the industry as "fat-finger dialing." It's a problem because there are more than ninety phone numbers very close to toll-free numbers that are managed by companies that charge ass much as three times the amount charged by AT&T, for example.
Here's how it works. You intend to call 1-800-CALL-ATT, but instead you dial 1-800-CALL-LAT. Instead of AT&T, you are connected with ASC Telecom and you are allegedly charged at a much higher rate and you don't even know about it since you are unaware that you misdialed and that you got a different long distance carrier.
The problem is so serious that the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau has issued warning bulletins to consumers along with a procedure to use to file a complaint.
You already know where I'm going with this.
In our communication with God, there is no fat-finger dialing. "Not to worry," Paul says (v. 6). We're not going to get a wrong number. We are not going to be charged excessive fees.
But we must dial.
Regrettably, many of us do not dial in too often. Prayer is not high on our list of things to do. Like these two men who obviously were not in top praying form.
The first challenged the other, "If you are so religious, let's hear you quote the Lord's Prayer. I bet you $10 you can't."
The second responded, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. And if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."
The first pulled out his wallet and fished out ten bucks, muttering, "I didn't think you could do it!"
That's fat-finger prayer dialing!
When we do pray our "prayers and supplications," we should - with thanksgiving - let God know what we need.
That's all there is to it.
And that's something to be thankful for.
(from Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit, Series IV, Cycle C [CSS Publishing Co.: Lima, Ohio, 2003], pp. 140-141)
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How to Share Stories
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StoryShare, November 22, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
