Thanksgiving 2012
November 18, 2012, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary
Time
Daniel 12:1-3 Hebrews
10:11-14, 18 Mark 13:24-32
The Book
of Daniel
In those days, I Daniel, heard this word of the Lord: "At
that time the great angel Michael, who guards your people, will appear. Then
there will be a time of tribulation, the worst since the nations first came
into existence. When that time comes, all the people of your nation whose names
are written in God’s book will be saved. Many of those who have already died
will live again: some will enjoy eternal life and others will suffer eternal
disgrace. The wise leaders will shine with all the brightness of the sky. And
those who have taught many people to do what is right will shine like the stars
forever.”
The word
of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Alleluia,
alleluia.
A reading
from the holy Gospel according to Mark
Glory
to you, Lord.
Jesus
said to his disciples: "In
those days after that tribulation the sun will grow dark, the moon will no
longer shine, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in space will be
driven from their courses. And then will
appear `the Son of Man coming in the clouds[1]’
with great power and glory. He will send out the angels to the four corners of
the earth and gather God’s chosen people from one end
of the world to the other.”
"Learn
a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves,
you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things
happening, know that the time is near, ready to begin. Remember this! All
these things will happen before the people now living have all died. Heaven and earth will pass
away, but my words will never pass away. But of that day or hour, no one
knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."
Introduction
A very busy
calendar
At
the moment we have a very busy calendar. Today, Nov. 18th (the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary
Time) is the 2nd last Sunday of the liturgical year of 2012. This
coming Thursday Nov. 22nd the nation will celebrate its feast of
feast: Thanksgiving. Then this coming Sunday, Nov. 25th (the very
last Sunday of the liturgical year) the Church
will celebrate the feast of Christ the King as a grand finale to the church
year. The Sunday after that, Dec. 2nd will be New Year’s Day in the
Church with the arrival of the 1st Sunday of Advent in preparation
for Christmas 2012. In city parks towering Christmas trees already light up a
world darkened by “wars and the rumor of wars,” darkened also by a very slowly
recovering economy, by the price of gas at the pump, by the unwillingness of
Republicans and Democrats to compromise for the sake of the common good, and
darkened especially by the recent deeply contentious presidential election.
An apocalypse – to scare people
The readings for the
33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time speak about the End Time. These End Time readings are called
Apocalypses. An apocalypse is a literary form which appeared
two centuries before and three centuries after Christ. At first glance, an
apocalypse seems to be scaring people:
"In those days after that
tribulation the sun will grow
dark, the moon will no longer shine, the stars will fall from the sky, and the
powers in space will be driven from their courses.” (Mk. 13:24-25)
One staunch
believer writes,
Yes, Jesus’ words are scary and not pleasant to read. Yes, Jesus’
words grab your attention, and they had better grab your attention! This is not
your world or my world to pick and choose what we like and don't like about
what Jesus tells us. If you are a person who refuses to believe in a punishing
God and who ignores anything `scary,’ then how do you understand the words of
Mark 13?: "In those days after that tribulation the sun will grow
dark, the moon will no longer shine, the stars will fall from the sky, and the
powers in space will be driven from their courses. And then will appear `the
Son of Man coming in the clouds’ with great power and glory." (Mk
13:24-26)
An
apocalypse – and to scare but to console
Strange as it might seem, apocalypses were
written not to scare but to console people. They were written because the times
were incredibly tough, and the writer believed that only a stunning intervention of God and His Messiah could fix matters. The
apocalyptic strokes themselves are not to be taken literally, as some preachers
like to do. At second glance, therefore, the
seemingly frightening event described in Mark 13 was for Mark's readers not a
prediction of frightening things to come, but were actually words of consolation
for a generation that was accustomed to this kind of literary genre:
“Then will appear 'the Son of Man coming in
the clouds'[2]
with great power and glory. He will send out the angels to the four corners of
the earth and gather God’s chosen people from one end of the world to the other.”
(Mk. 13:26-27)
Thanksgiving
- our purest feast
On this
33rd Sunday, some preachers will choose to scare people, and some
will choose to console them. Other preachers (perhaps many) will simply skip over this somewhat confusing and
fuzzy subject of the End Time, and will happily hasten to speak rather about the nation’s most
popular feast: Thanksgiving - this coming Thursday, November 22.
Thanksgiving
is not only the nation’s most popular feast, it’s also our purest feast. Unlike
Christmas which has gone astray with its tinsel and toys, and Easter which has
gone astray with its bunnies and bonnets, Thanksgiving has remained faithful to
an original inspiration: to give thanks at the family table. Thanksgiving still
sends us all hastening “over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s
house we go.” At Thanksgiving sons and daughters (scattered all over the
country) crowd the airways and highways, as they hurry home, uncluttered with no
other gift but themselves.
Thanksgiving
remains faithful to its original inspiration. It doesn’t call us to give thanks
for high-tech toys like ipods, iphones, etc. Rather, Thanksgiving calls us
to give thanks for the basics of life – like family and friends, a roof over
our heads, a warm bed to sleep in, food aplenty to eat, good health - and
tender loving care when we are ill. Thanksgiving remains faithful even to its original
menu itself: turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie.
A Thanksgiving story
A
long email received some time ago reads:
Late last night, I received a frantic call
from my elderly mother whose furnace wouldn’t turn on. It was in the lower 30's
here in Milwaukee. When I offered to pick her up and have her sleep over at my
house until the furnace could be fixed, she declined the offer. She said she
had plenty of blankets and that she’d be alright. I immediately contacted a
friend who works for a heating business. He said he didn’t want her to spend
the night without heat. So I picked him up with his tools at his house.
At my mom's place it took him two hours to
fix her furnace. (A bee’s nest was not allowing the furnace to start.) He also
fixed her fireplace. So she can now use that also to help heat her home. She
has a fancy thermostat which a Philadelphia lawyer would have had trouble
figuring out. So my friend also patiently walked her through. My mother asked,
“How much do I owe you?” and he quickly replied, “Don’t worry about it.” (On
the side I had told him that I would take care of the bill.) My mom then gave
him a turkey for Thanksgiving. When we got into my car, I asked, “How much do I
owe you?” He said, “Your mom just gave
me a Turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, and then he added, “How about 2 gallons of
cider?” 2 measly gallons of cider and nothing more for such a greatly
appreciated deed!
Conclusion
Thanks -
despite the lingering tough times
Many of us are still
struggling to extricate ourselves from a long and deep recession. Despite the lingering
tough times, we will still manage this Thanksgiving to prepare a bountiful
dinner of an 18 pound turkey, tasty stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce
and pumpkin pie. Despite the lingering tough times, there are still many
blessings to count. Those blessings come in many forms. It came in the form of
the man in the heating business, who came to the rescue of a poor woman whose furnace
shut down on a cold winter day. He and people like him are great blessings to be
counted along with the turkey and pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving Day. 
