Pastoral Message + Thanksgiving Reflections

Week of the Last Sunday after Pentecost, the Reign of Christ
November 23, 2022

Dear People of God at Faith-La Fe!

While our National Day of Thanksgiving is not on our liturgical calendar and is essentially a secular holiday, it certainly does have religious overtones and associations. Thanksgiving Day often, in my experience, has given opportunity for ecumenical and even interfaith observances, when people of varying Christian and even religious traditions can gather together publicly in common cause to give thanks for many, shared sacred blessings in our national life. Unfortunately, I’m not aware of any local ecumenical or interfaith worship services in which Faith-La Fe might have participated this year. Maybe, I’m still too new on the scene to know about such things.  

That said, my weekly pastoral message does provide occasion to reflect on the meanings of the Thanksgiving holiday for us these days. It seems that Thanksgiving is now eclipsed by Halloween, which has grown enormously in significance during the course of my lifetime, and also by Christmas, the beginning of the season of which gets earlier every year it seems. It used to be that Christmas decorations would not appear in stores until after Thanksgiving. Now Christmas stuff appears immediately when Halloween is over. Perhaps it’s the case the candy sales at Halloween and the other major retail sales of Christmas far outweigh and outpace money spent on turkeys and fixin’s in our current age. 

But Thanksgiving continues to be observed, with traditions of family gatherings persistent and often involving complicated travel. The Thanksgiving holiday weekend is still a heavily traveled time of the year, indicating its continued prominence. These days, there seems to be a begrudging nature to participation in Thanksgiving traditions, as if people no longer look forward to it, as if it has become a burden to get together as family. And given the divisiveness of our political climate, it is certainly true that family discourse around the table at Thanksgiving can easily turn fraught when the topics turn to politics. 

I also wonder sometimes if a lot of people have forgotten how to say thank you, how to take time to express gratitude for the many blessings of life. Maybe it’s the case that many people these days feel entitled to what they possess and don’t have a sense that everything we have is ultimately a form of blessing or gift that comes from beyond ourselves, and often from the very people sitting around the turkey-laden tables with us. Ultimately everything we have and everything that we are comes from above, from divine sources.

Which then gives me occasion now to reflect theologically on our National Day of Thanksgiving. Again, it’s a largely secular holiday. It’s not explicitly biblical in nature, though the Hebrew tradition did and does have harvest-related festivals during which to thank God for life’s blessings. Thanksgiving Day does not relate to any event in Jesus’ life, which is why it’s not on our liturgical calendar for observance. 

All of that being the case, it’s still true that the theme of thanksgiving, of giving thanks, is central to the Christian life. In the biblical Greek, there is a root word that is shared among the following common, but profound words and phrases: joy, grace, generosity in giving, and saying thank you. In fact, our word Eucharist, which means to give thanks, shares that same root word, which is in the Greek (using our alphabet), “chara,” the word for joy and gladness. That same root word is found in the first word from Jesus’ mouth after his resurrection in one of the gospel accounts of the empty tomb: “Rejoice!” One little root word, therefore, contains so much that is central to Christianity, and it’s all about grace and generosity and gratitude and joy. 

From a Lutheran perspective the whole of the Christian life is marked simply by saying thank you to God for grace and mercy given to us, though we are undeserving. Since there’s nothing we can do to earn God’s favor, all we are left with is receiving the gift of forgiving and redeeming grace with profound gratitude. Everything we do in response, for example, in serving our neighbors in need, is a way of saying thanks to God. Thus, we give thanks at the Eucharistic table, and that gratitude extends to our saying thanks to God when we also share our many blessings to feed the poor, the sacramental table leading to tables that serve more ordinary, but still profound, meals – including turkey and more on Thanksgiving Day. 

I hope that these brief musings on Thanksgiving will help you redeem what for many has become a tired holiday. However you happen to observe our National Day of Thanksgiving on Thursday of this week, I pray that it will include occasion to offer profound thanks to God and others dear to you for many gifts of grace you enjoy, even amidst the turmoil and difficulties and fears of scarcity of our current days in nation and world. 

I know that this year, I am especially grateful for the graced gift of my move to Phoenix to lead and to serve as a pastor at Faith-La Fe and to do so in close proximity to my son, with whom I will spend Thanksgiving Day, and that when the day draws to a close, I’ll return to a lovely gift of a dwelling which I now call home. 

Thanks to be God. Thanks be to all of you, too.

In Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jonathan Linman

Pastor’s Office Phone Number: 602-265-5860

Email: pastor@faithalive.com 

Announcements

Day for a Lutheran Refresher Course – for All of Us and Prospective New Members

Everyone – and especially those who wish to become members of Faith-La Fe – plan to join us on Saturday, December 10 beginning at 10:00 am for a day of getting reacquainted with the basics of the Lutheran tradition by worshipfully engaging themes of Martin Luther’s Small Catechism (a devotional work that is decidedly NOT just for kids!). Our day will follow the patterns of Sunday worship, and we’ll do together the things that the Small Catechism teaches – remember our baptism, explore in conversation the Ten Commandments and the Creed, pray and deeply engage the Lord’s Prayer, share in Holy Communion, have lunch, blessed by one of Luther’s table prayers, and more. During lunch we’ll have occasion to get to know each other better and share why being a member at Faith-La Fe is so desirable. After lunch, we’ll talk about ministry and mission opportunities and activities on offer at Faith-La Fe. We’ll conclude our time by about 2:30. Again, this is a day for everyone, but also those who feel drawn to join our congregation. Mark your calendars now and plan to attend.

Tamales Sale for the Holidays

Back by popular demand – tamales! Please see the pre-order sign-up sheet in the Narthex. If anyone is interested in helping to make tamales or donate for materials, or would like to order via email please contact Pr. Veronica at  pastoradelafe@faithalive.com. 

Volunteers Needed to Provide Food for Coming Social Occasions!

Thanks be to God, we have new and renewed opportunities to be together in Christian fellowship over food! Which also means that we need additional people to sign up to volunteer to provide such things as soup and bread for our Advent Wednesday Midweek Soup Suppers and goodies for C-Time between the Sunday morning worship services as well as food for Convivio after the 11:00 am service. 

Sign up sheets are available to you on the bulletin board in the breezeway outdoors near the entrance to the courtyard and nave.

Looking to Advent and Christmas

Mark your calendars now and await further descriptive word about the upcoming events for Advent and Christmas: 

• Wednesday evenings in Advent – Soup Dinner at 6:00 pm with Worship at 7:00

• November 30 – St. Andrew, Apostle

• December 7 – St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan

• December 14 – Advent Lessons and Carols presented by the Chancel Choir

• December 21 – La Posadas, with dinner following worship

• Saturday, December 10 beginning at 10:00 am – Lutheran Refresher Day for All and for Prospective New Members

• Sunday, December 11 at 7:00 pm – Celebrating the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe

• Saturday, December 24 at 7:30 pm (with special prelude music beginning at 7:00 pm) – Christmas Eve Worship in English

• Sunday, December 25 at 9:00 am (in English) and 11:00 am (in Spanish) – Worship on Christmas Day

• Wednesday, December 28 at 7:00 pm – Observance of “Blue Christmas” also commemorating The Holy Innocents, Martyrs

• Friday, January 6 at 7:00 pm – A Casual Social and Prayerful Gathering on the Feast of the Epiphany

• Sunday, January 8 at 9:00 am (in English) and 11:00 am (in Spanish) – Baptism of Our Lord and the Sacrament of Holy Baptism

An Additional Counter Team Desired

Many hands make lighter work. For that reason, and for the fact that best practices call for counting and depositing our offerings weekly, we are seeking additional volunteers to serve as a second team of those who count and then deposit our weekly offerings. Those interested will be given appropriate training. Please speak to Treasurer, Dave Hulin, if you feel drawn to this particular service, or otherwise might be talked into it!

Faith Community Garden – Gardeners Invited!

If any member wants to claim some garden space to grow your own fresh vegetables, please contact Gail Turner (gmturner0123@aol.com) or Jan Hulin (janhulin@cox.net) for details…the gardens are ready!”

Arizona Charitable Giving Tax Credit 

A member of Faith/La Fe reminds us that the state of Arizona offers tax credits ($400 for single filers and $800 for joint filers) for charitable contributions to 501 (c)(3) organizations. Here’s a link for further information: lss-sw.org/donate