Advent Lutheran Church

"Betwixt and Between (The Eve of Thanksgiving)"

 Grace and peace to your from God, our Creator, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

 

                It is always a good time to receive little tidbits via email, and I get stuff from a wide variety of sources.  Some of those sources supply me (bidden or unbidden) with the “latest, greatest funny stories to include in your Sunday sermons.”  So I thought I’d share some of those little blessings with you tonight.  Here are the three best Thanksgiving sermon illustrations for 2010: 

               

                #1 - According to Andy Rooney, the two biggest sellers in any bookstore are cookbooks

                and diet books.  Andy thinks it odd that the cookbooks tell you how to prepare the food

                and the diet books tell you how not to eat any of it. 

 

                #2 - Famously overweight actor/director Orson Welles once said, "My doctor has advised me

                to give up those intimate little dinners for four, unless, of course, there are three other people

                eating with me." 

 

                #3 - A California scientist has computed that the average human eats sixteen times their own

                weight per year, while a horse eats only eight times its weight. This all seems to prove that if

                you want to lose weight, you should eat like a horse.
               

                But seriously, we have come to the point in our history when we define our holidays and ourselves by the food we eat or don’t eat, and by how early we are planning to get up Friday morning to be able to throw ourselves into the crush of humanity who can’t wait to save on a tee shirt on Friday that will cost about a nickel more on Monday.  As to the giving of “thanks” for our many, many blessings, this holiday itself is sort of anti-climactic.  After all, after you say, “thank you” – what’s left?

                I find Thanksgiving sermons strange.  For it is not a “Church” festival, after all, not even truly a religious observance at all.  And, like the Sunday after Easter, this opportunity is usually given to an Intern!  But this event, American Thanksgiving, is sort of a quaint remnant of a bygone time.  A time when there was time, and families lived closer, and cooking was a daily ritual, not to mention sitting down at a table together for a meal that always began with a prayer.

                It occurs to me that we are in a place which might be titled, “Betwixt & Between.”  Now there’s an idiom in our English language that means “undecided, midway between two alternatives, neither here nor there.”  If you like hearing an idiom, you’ll probably also appreciate the trivial fact, that the adverb betwixt, originally meaning "by two," is seldom heard except in this expression, which was first recorded in 1832.

                Betwixt and Between.  Last Sunday was Christ the King Sunday, the end of our church year.  And this Sunday is Advent I, the beginning of a new church year.  So where are we now?  Limbo?  Perhaps.  But perhaps that is not so bad a place to be, between the end and the beginning.  In fact, Lutheran theology talks about the Kingdom of God as “already/not yet,” something that is NOT black and white and well-defined, but something still on the way, in process, open to new possibilities and creativity. 

                We need that now, in our economic “downturn” which feels like an end, but might be a healthy beginning.  Our life situations, which may find anxiety in a new beginning or a long-awaited ending.  Our relationships, always ending and beginning, beginning and ending – changing, shifting, growing, dying.  But all of this is simply part of the ups & downs of living this side of heaven.  David Dickson, a Scottish Puritan of the seventeenth century, describes these seasons of our lives, this betwixt and between, as a blend of “crosses and sweet comforts.”

                You know, Jesus knew what we experience in this life very well.  He lived out his own “betwixt and between” in his Incarnation, which was called by John earlier in his Gospel, “Word made Flesh.”  But Jesus himself said, “33For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”  And then he calls himself, “the Bread of Life.”

                So, assuming with our Preschoolers that “GOD” is the Answer to any Question we might ask, Jesus is the Word made Bread – Daily Bread, in fact.  He is The Answer to The Thanksgiving Question I posed before, “What’s left after you say ‘Thank You?’”  Well as any child awaiting their turkey leg can tell you, what follows the table grace is food.  Bread.  Daily sustenance, hopefully at a table filled with the people you love the most in the world.

                Your faith in the loving Lord of the universe brings you to the table of grace, where forgiveness awaits.  And then, the hard work of spiritual hunger fed, Jesus nourishes you with his very self:  through the Visible Word in bread and in wine. 

                One of our speakers at the recent Bishop’s Convocation made reference to the name Bethlehem meaning House of Bread in Hebrew (which I believe you already know.)  What I had not heard before was what he added.  “Bethlehem means City of Bread in Hebrew, and City of Wine in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke.”  I have not been able to verify that, but is certainly makes for a wonderful Thanksgiving Eucharist illustration!

                So we gather in this strange moment betwixt and between – to stop for just moment and give thanks before we eat, to notice those things that oftentimes are left unnoticed.  In fact, here’s a little exercise for you to practice in the days to come.  Notice everyone you encounter the rest of this week, and thank them:  family, friends, salespeople, servers, checkers, attendants, hosts, protectors and defenders.  Children and Adults.  Those who work and those who play.  Everyone deserves to be noticed.  And everyone deserves to be thanked.

                But for tonight, come to the table.  Come let the Babe who is coming again to Bethlehem, the “city of bread and wine,” feed you and give you strength for your journey. Then return to the world with hearts overflowing with gratitude for God’s good Creation and for God’s abundant grace and mercy to you.  And wherever, however you may be - betwixt or between – may you know the joy of noticing God as daily bread.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the top three illustrations to King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com