In this time of global pandemic with significant fear and heartbreak, many of us are making the difficult choice not to be with our families and loved ones for Thanksgiving. Not for the usual reasons -- long-held family grudges, long distances, or bad weather.
Our choice not to gather, or gather differently, will be due to our love for one another: because we love beyond our own comfort and preference.
Each person, each family, will make decisions that feel best for them, taking into account their particular situation, need and risk. But all gatherings will be overshadowed by an awareness of the vulnerability we face together.
In past years, Thanksgiving has been one of our family's favorite gathering times. We decorate our home in candles and twinkling lights. On the long dining table, construction paper and pinecone turkeys roost among the delicate wedding china of great-grandparents; the entire table covered with preserved leaves and colorful pumpkins and gourds. Food platters overflow the kitchen counters, and nearby a small "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" table is stocked with jelly beans, toast, pretzels and marshmallows - ostensibly for little ones, but enjoyed by all. Everyone gets to eat what makes them happiest.
But of course, this is not true for the larger world. There are so many without... So many that have no family Thanksgiving table - not just this year, but every year. So many who have lost precious loved ones, particularly in this year of Covid.
Perhaps this year our hearts can open wide -- far beyond our disappointment and sadness for not being with our dear ones as usual -- to those who are neglected, forgotten, and hungry every day.
Let's open the table of our hearts. Let's pray that we will know how to respond to the most hungry in our world, our country, our neighborhoods, our families -- those who have hungry bellies, hungry hearts, hungry minds. We can ask God to show us how to feed one another.
May we be open to our own hungers too. May we have greater self-compassion, sit at our own heart's table, and allow ourselves to be fed by others. May we embrace our interdependency with our human family and all of nature with deep gratitude.
Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
(Isaiah 55:1)
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