Homily
by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC
23
Nov. 2016, Thanksgiving Eve Year C:
Deuteronomy 26:1-11;
Psalm 100; Philippians 4:4-9; John 6:25-35
On
this night before Thanksgiving tell me: If
participants in the 1st
Thanksgiving were here to celebrate with us, what would we call them?
Answer: Old.
[One
parishioner answered correctly! I asked how she knew the answer? Had she
played the same Thanksgiving game I played last year which has this
answer? She just smiled.]
On
a serious note:
Why don't we bring a pet turkey to church?
Answer:
They use fowl language!
[Again
the parishioner answered correctly, adding amusement to our gathering!]
God
gives us laughter as a gift, a grace. Without laughter, life would be
unhealthy. You
may recall my sharing this fact with you:
One good belly laugh raises the immune system for 3 days, a
fact I learned long ago as a reporter covering a stress awareness
workshop.
We
know the importance of staying healthy through holiday stress. The
joy we express in laughter dispels fear & shines the light of
God's grace into distressed lives & fear-filled hearts.
God’s
grace guides us when we are stuck having to do Thanksgiving
differently when life changes.
God’s
grace guides us when we are stuck having to do Thanksgiving the way
we always have.
God's
grace stands at the center of
our Thanksgiving celebrations.
On
Thanksgiving we may have in our minds Norman Rockwell pictures of
families at a table, heads bowed to say grace. We say grace at meals
often without thinking.
How often do we say grace without thinking of
food which perishes & food which endures for eternal life, as
Jesus tells us about in our Gospel?
How
often do we say grace & think of the difference between grace as
a noun & grace as a verb – something we do?1
In
our Gospel, we hear people asking Jesus to do something. The people
ask for a verb, for action.
The
people stay stuck in the past, knowing how God has provided way back
when & how Jesus has fed them recently on the other side of the
Sea of Galilee2. Yet they hesitate to move forward in trust.
Trust relies on grace.
I
wonder if they have overlooked the grace God includes in our lesson
from Deuteronomy: the feast includes the stranger among us. This is
grace.
I
understand “grace” as a noun. I know well Grace [with a capital
G]: Grace is the mother
of 3 sons. [I married her first-born.] Grace is a golfer, an artist,
fashion designer, space program illustrator.
Grace
is a positive gift we receive.
What about “grace” as a verb?
In
his meditation “Grace: the Verb,” Brother
Mark Brown of the Society of St. John the Evangelist says:
our
words based on the word “grace” are influenced by Greek words for
joy, rejoice, give freely, thanksgiving. He says:
“There’s
something of joy in grace.”3
There
is joy in our Thanksgiving meals, gatherings, parades & special
events. What brings you joy?
How often do you thank God for the joy
you experience?
What
do you think about Jesus saying in our Gospel, “Whoever
comes to me will never be hungry,...whoever believes in me will never
be thirsty"?
I
know after our Thanksgiving meal, I will eventually be hungry &
thirsty. What does Jesus mean? [Answers:
“spiritual hunger”.]
Yes.
Jesus speaks of hunger in our souls, hunger for joy, security,
serenity, grace.
Grace
endures.
We
see how much God's grace endures as we
see Jesus’ dying for us, rising again & sending the Holy Spirit
to guide us.
Br.
Mark says much of our beliefs revolve around grace:
- By God’s grace our world has been created, redeemed, sustained.
- By God’s grace our sins are forgiven.
- By God’s grace we can live as Jesus tells us to in our Gospel:
Do
not work for food which perishes,
but
for food which endures for eternal life,
which
the Son of Man will give you.
We
share this true bread from heaven, bread God gives for life to the
world, each time we gather at God’s Holy Table. Jesus gives us this
bread always.
Jesus
gives us grace, & we can face down fear.
We
hear fear & hesitation
from the people in our Gospel. These children of God have just
experienced the miracle of having enough to eat, yet doubt
sneaks into minds & hearts, breeding fear about what to do, whom
to trust, whom to follow.
These
children of God know the past, which we hear in our lesson from
Deuteronomy. They know life in the present & want a guarantee.
Beloved
Brothers & Sisters, may we have grace to do as Paul reminds the
Philippians & us:
Stay
on message.
Be
true to our calling as Christians in
this
Body of Christ.
You
are
a beautiful, love-overflowing Body of Christ. You ARE change agents
for our brothers & sisters living in old ways, with fearful
thoughts
& fear-filled hearts.
Remember:
with God’s grace you/we can remain strong in the Lord &
confident in our work as agents for positive change. God's love &
guidance through the Holy Spirit will strengthen you/us as you/we
share God’s grace as both a noun & as a verb.
How
do we do this?
Br.
Mark suggests:
Being
gracious to the one who has only unkind words to say – [this] is
grace.
Generosity
to those who cannot give in return – [this] is grace.
Kindness
to those who wish us harm – [this] is grace.
Going
beyond what is strictly necessary into a realm of sheer possibility –
[this is] grace.4
Bibliography
Bible
Gateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/
Accessed: 22 Nov. 2016.
“Grace:
the Verb”. Br. Mark Brown, Society of St. John the Evangelist.
Accessed:
21 Nov. 2016.
http://ssje.org/ssje/2010/03/09/grace-the-verb-br-mark-brown/.
Harper’s
Bible Commentary. Gen. Ed: James L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper &
Row Publishers. 1988.
Holy
Bible with the Apocrypha. New Revised Standard Version. New York:
Oxford University Press. 1989.
Jewish
Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation. New
York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
The
New American Bible for Catholics. South Bend: Greenlawn Press.
1970.
1
Idea from “Grace:
the Verb”. Br. Mark Brown, Society of St. John the Evangelist.
http://ssje.org/ssje/2010/03/09/grace-the-verb-br-mark-brown/.
Accessed: 21 Nov. 2016.
3
Ibid. “Grace: the Verb.”
4
Ibid.
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