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I was up at six this morning, listening to the radio as I was shaving, and they kept announcing “Today is Turkey Day.” I was at a meeting of ministers and priests on Tuesday and one of the ministers, a Presbyterian minister, said, “They call it Turkey Day! I hate that. I hate that when they call it Turkey Day. It’s not right!” And I understand that because I guess if you call it Turkey Day instead of Thanksgiving it removes the idea, or at least the word, of thanks and thanksgiving. And I guess there’s a feeling that a turkey isn’t a particularly attractive bird or appropriate symbol. As a matter of fact, when they were picking the symbol of our land in 1770, Benjamin Franklin argued against the eagle. He said “The eagle is a bird of bad character and lousy nature.” rather than the turkey which he argued for. He said “The turkey is a true and original American.” Wouldn’t it be great had he won! We would have turkeys on our banners, turkeys on our buildings. We would have a turkey on top of each flag pole. We would have a turkey on the Presidential seal! And whenever Air Force 1 had visited around the country, we would announce “The turkey has landed.” And, on top of that, today or yesterday, we would be going to the supermarket to buy a frozen eagle to take it home and stuff it, and we would say, “It’s Eagle Day!”

Turkey Day! I personally.... I like it! I like calling it Turkey Day. It brings back a lot of memories for me. It brings back my own personal memories of growing up, watching my mother prepare the turkey. In those days, I don’t think she yet was using a thermometer, sticking it into the turkey. I remember a little boy who said, when he saw his mother sticking that thermometer in, “If it’s that sick, I don’t want any.” But I love turkey. I love turkey dressing. I love cranberry sauce, the jello kind that comes out of a can. None of this Martha Stewart fresh stuff! And looking forward to cold turkey sandwiches the next day! Except (How many, raise your hands, can remember this?) when I was growing up you couldn’t eat meat on Friday. You had to wait ‘til Saturday. That is one of the memories. Somebody mentioned to me, a parishoner outside, about growing up, when they were dating, they would go out on a Friday night and they would wait, stay out, ‘til after midnight so they could have a hamburger because they couldn’t on Friday. But turkey and Turkey Day brings back family memories, all the people who were connected to us, who raised us, who fed us, who loved us all along the way. Turkey Day ain’t bad.

It also brings back memories of our nation, not our nation in its dark side. And every nation has a dark side. Not in our weak days, not sometimes even what we really are, with so many hungry, so many homeless, becoming purveyers of arms and of landmines around the world, sending our young off to war in the largest numbers in history, but rather at our best, memories of growing up with a nation at our best, or at least with a promise to be at its best. Its human rights, its shared prosperity, its offering opportunities people got nowhere else and being generous in the face of tsunami and hurricane and tragedies around the world.... It brings back memories of that for me.

It also brings back our nation’s earliest memories of Turkey Day, the first Thanksgiving between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans. It wasn’t a single afternoon. It was a three-day feast that they had in the Fall. The Pilgrims had arrived in January of 1621, one hundred two of them. Fifty-two of them died during that winter. Less than half remained. And the Native Americans saw their plight and reached out to these newcomers, taught them how to handle the soil and crops and brought them food. Two came and lived with them. They did not exclude them but they shared and they helped.

So then, at this first Fall Festival, at Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims wanted to return the favor and invited the Indians to join them. We think they expected two. Actually, ninety men came with all their families, with the women and children. But not to worry! The Native Americans brought the main course. They brought venison and deer and, (I love it!) they brought turkey. So that gives us the memories of open hands and open hearts, especially to those different from us. In that day, it was a welcome to the undocumented aliens of the day who were the Pilgrims.

So, when I hear “Turkey Day,” I think of a lot to give thanks for, Thanksgiving. When you feel good, when you feel blessed, when you feel grateful, you become good. You become blessed. You become grateful. And so, it’s a wonderful celebration we have. And who are we going to thank? There is no one else to thank but first, foremost and always to thank our God. Even George Bernard Shaw was asked by a woman once, “What’s your religious denomination?” He said, “I’m an atheist and I thank God for it every single day.”

Well, I want you to take a little bit of quiet the next few minutes and see what you thank God for in your heart. Let’s begin with our nation. Despite disagreements and divisions and shortcomings, there is so much to be thankful for. Sit back for a few moments and see if you can list two or three things about our nation you would be thankful for, just in quiet, just in silence.....

And now, there is our Church, which on occasion is embarrassing and upsetting to us, and yet, our Church that nourishes in many ways. Would you think about two or three things in your heart that you are thankful for about our Church.....

And now, our personal lives. We think about family or friends who, on occasion, can be difficult, can be distant, but at the same time, for whom we are thankful. Would you think about the people in your life that you are thankful for....

Now, we are going to take two minutes to do this. If you would take a couple of minutes anyway and turn to someone around you, maybe someone you don’t know, and share with them at least one or two things that you are thankful for. Share with one another.....

Let’s stand together and, first of all, we pray in thanksgiving for the people and things and items that you just shared with each other. In thanksgiving, let us pray to the Lord. Gathered as a Church, we pray that it might be always a welcome place with the gospel of Jesus as its test and standard, and in thanksgiving for the gifts of community, of values, of word, and of sacrament. In thanksgiving we pray to the Lord.... Gathered as a nation, for justice, for peace and for sharing, for keeping our young people safe from harm, especially for those serving in Afghanistan and in Iraq, for liberty, for human rights, for good vision and leadership, for this let us pray to the Lord.... We are gathered as a family. For those loved ones here and away, living and gone before us, for understanding, harmony and peace around our family tables, for this let us pray to the Lord.....

Now, I invite you to raise up the bread and the wine that you have taken. Hold up that bread, that wine that you will be sharing at your Thanksgiving meal and, if you don’t have wine or bread in your hands, you might hold your hands out because you will be using those to serve and greet one another.

Loving God, we ask your blessing upon this bread and wine that we will be sharing in our homes this Thanksgiving Day. May they strengthen and nurture us as good and faithful people who are trying to witness to you in our homes, our neighborhoods and the places where we work. May this bread that we break with one another and the wine we share be also a sign of our oneness with you and with our brothers and sisters throughout the world. Be with us, Lord, in the breaking of the bread and bless our hands that, in greeting and serving one another, we may remember we are called to be instruments of your peace and of your love. We make this prayer through Christ Our Lord. Amen.