I asked a friend what about Thanksgiving inspiring her. “People, community, come together without having to decorate the house, without having to buy gifts, and it is a buffer before all the tension of the Christmas season.” Groups gather, watch sports together, eat together, play games together and for a day or at least until stores open for Christmas shopping after dinner, many can lay aside the tensions of work. My family likes to list the months of the years and remember highlights of each month. It is amazing how, when we put our heads together, how many good things we can remember.
A meal that inspires brings to mind the story of Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector at the time of Jesus so a person despised by many. Tax collectors were notorious for overcharging and pocketing the surplus as their income. Zacchaeus heard Jesus was passing and because Zacchaeus was short, he climbed up a tree to see Jesus in the crowd. Jesus stopped under the tree and told Zacchaeus he would dine with him. Many were aghast that Jesus would enter the home of a known sinner. Zacchaeus, though, was so inspired that:
Luke 19:1-10 8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”
Many stories in the New Testament that touch our heart happened at meals: the Last Supper, Mary pouring expensive ointment on Jesus’ feet, and the famous one where Martha looses her cool because Mary is not helping her in the kitchen.
Meals pull people together as community and inspire sharing, helping, and grow memories. I pray your Thanksgiving meal will inspire your community of friends in spite the work to prepare. If someone can not come, perhaps picking up the phone and calling to affirm relationship will inspire them! Blessings as you plan!
On the Way to Wonder 