WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Is This The Only Day When We Give Thanks?

In 1621, the Pilgrims celebrated after their first harvest in the New World, and some Americans call this the "First Thanksgiving."  Wikipedia tells us that the first Thanksgiving feast was held at the Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts, lasted three days, and was attended by 53 Pilgrims and 90 Native Americans.

It was already an established practice in Europe to hold feasts celebrating such blessings as a military victory, the end of a drought, or a successful harvest.  For some, it was probably seen as a religious event, for others it was perhaps a time to "let off steam and 'party'."

One of the guests at the Pilgrim's feast was Squanto, a Patuxet Native American who resided with the Wampanoag Tribe.  He had taught the Pilgrims how to catch eel and grow corn, and served as an interpreter for them.  Squanto had learned English while being taken around Europe as a curiosity, and during travels in England.  In addition, the Wampanoag leader Massasoit donated food stores to the fledgling colony during the first winter when supplies brought from England were insufficient.

The Pilgrims held another Thanksgiving celebration on July 30, 1623, after a long and nearly catastrophic drought ended with a refreshing 14-day rain, and assured a large harvest,  This 1623 Thanksgiving was significant because the order to recognize the event was from the Plymouth Colony's Governor William Bradford, a civil authority, and not from the church..  Therefore, this probably made it the first civil recognition of Thanksgiving in New England,

"In the years following," Wikipedia continues, "irregular Thanksgivings continued after favorable events, and days of fasting after unfavorable ones.  In the Plymouth tradition, a Thanksgiving Day was primarily a church observance, rather than a feast day.  But such Thanksgiving Days would be a civil occasion linked to the religious one, as in 1623.  Gradually, an annual Thanksgiving after the harvest developed widely in the 17th century.  But, this did not occur on any set day, or necessarily on the same day in the different colonies in America."

Then in the middle of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November, 1863, "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficial Father who dwelleth in the Heavens,"  Since 1863, Thanksgiving has been observed annually throughout the United States, but today we use the fourth November Thursday.

Over the years, a number of traditions have grown up around Thanksgiving, that have no relationship to the event's early religious and civil intention.  For most Americans who celebrate with a Thanksgiving feast, a roasted turkey is the center of attraction on the dinner table.  Perhaps it was back in the era of President Harry Truman when the annual practice began for the President to "pardon" a live turkey, who would thus escape "capital punishment" and thereafter live out it's days on a nearby, peaceful farm.

In addition, many high school and college football teams will play their final games of the season on Thanksgiving Day or on the days immediately following.  This is facilitated by the common practice of employers to give workers as much as a four-day weekend.  Also, for many children, the big event of the weekend will be the annual Thanksgiving Day parade televised from New York City ---- but with much more emphasis on entertainment than on thankfulness for the year's bounty.

For many religiously-inclined Americans, the annual Thanksgiving celebration reminds us once again to thank God for the rich bounty so many of us find in our lives, whether material or spiritual.  But, many of us do say prayers of thanks throughout the year.  So, for such folks, perhaps the really unique gift of Thanksgiving is the strong sense of community with others, which it fosters.

The "community" around the Thanksgiving dinner table may be family, neighbors or just good friends ---- but, at this time of year we make a real effort to be there, even if we need to fly from a distant place.  Young and old gather.  The aroma and food delicacies create relaxed conversation and sweet recollections of people and times from the past.  In our very mobile and digitized America, has Thanksgiving Day reinvented itself yet again ---- morphing into an annual, not-to-be-missed day of COMMUNITY?

Perhaps not ---- think about the first Thanksgiving in 1621.  The Native American guests outnumbered the Pilgrims nearly two to one.  The Pilgrims were not just celebrating a good harvest and thanking God for this bounty ---- they were also recognizing their community with the Native Americans in their lives.

Today, we should be reminded that a God-given community is with us every day, not just one day each year.  We need to thank God regularly for the presence of those people in our lives,  After all, the Pilgrims were grateful for the blessing of being in community, from the very beginning.

Perhaps we each need a more frequent, personal Thanksgiving conversation with God, more than once a year.

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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage your pursuit of personal spiritual growth this Fall at CPC.

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WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Helping The Poor - Does It Have To Be So Complicated?

Imagine you are a member of the Members In Mission Team at Central Presbyterian Church.  At today's Team meeting, you are told that $60,000 is available but the grants must be in multiples of $20,000.  So, there could be three grants of $20,000 each ---- or two grants: $20,000 and $40,000, or one grant of $60,000.

We must decide today exactly how we will give to the poor.

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GRANT  APPLICATION #1:  The Kindly Shepard Soup Kitchen

This grant would help fund daily operating expenses.  The Soup Kitchen provides a hot lunch every day for about 350 men, women and children in Newark.  Participants are welcomed and fed without any limitation, and some have come regularly for years.  Without our grant, says the Director of the Soup Kitchen, they will have to start limiting participation, particularly with their longer-term guests.

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GRANT  APPLICATION #2:  Hopkins  House

A former hotel in Newark, Hopkins House is operated by a private, charitable association as a no-frills, but safe and clean, shelter for mothers and their children.  House rules of behavior are strict and forbid all drugs and alcohol;  no visitors are allowed above the first floor.  Residents provide all routine maintenance, such as cleaning the common areas, shoveling snow from sidewalks, and decorating for holidays.  Every adult must contribute at least 5 hours of service weekly to Hopkins House, or risk eviction.  Our grant would let Hopkins House avoid charging rent, which most of its present residents would be unable to afford.  However, some of these people have been residents for 10 years or more.

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GRANT  APPLICATION #3:  Saw and Hammer

This vocational training facility in Newark teaches basic carpentry skills, as well as more advanced subjects like woodworking.  It provides remedial math and reading instruction as needed for its vocational program.  Participants are paid a subsistence allowance because the combination of classes and shop practice constitutes a full-day session.  Participants are in the program for 5 months, and are tested regularly with difficult projects along the way,  Because the program is challenging, it is highly regarded and its graduates later find good jobs.

The grant request is for helping to fund the subsistence allowances, and for shop supplies.  The Director is afraid that a reduction in the subsistence allowance would place the program out of the reach of many candidates with potential for vocational development.  At the end of 5 months, participants must end the training whether or not they satisfy the graduation requirements.

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QUESTIONS  TO  CONSIDER:

1.) When we give to the poor, should there be strings attached?  Of the three grant applications, the "string status" was different for each:

          ---- #1 = no strings

          ---- #2 = some work required, but no outer limit

          ---- #3 = work required  +  5 month limit

Might your answer depend on the nature of the particular "poor" you are trying to reach?   Given the wide diversity of the "poor", could there somehow be an equal need for all three grant-request programs, necessary to reach the several different segments of the "poor"?

2.)  Perhaps our target for financial support should focus on:

            ---- a.) programs which enable those who are willing to work hard and who take care of themselves.  But, is it that simple?  The disadvantage of being among the "poor" is less about income, more about environment.  For example, the best metrics of child poverty aren't monetary, but how often a child is read to or hugged.  Or, conversely how often a child is beaten, how often the family descends into alcohol-fueled fistfights, whether there is lead water poisoning, whether ear infections go untreated.  This is  "poverty" that is far harder to escape.  Some think success is all about "choices" and "personal responsibility."  Yes, those are real factors, but it is so much more complicated than that.

             ---- b.) efforts which help particular individuals who are otherwise deserving, to recover from misfortune.  Individuals do not always deserve either their wealth or their poverty ---- but, pulling oneself up by one's boot-straps is often impossible without help.

3.)  The apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians, 8:13, "Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.  At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need.  There will be equality . . ."

Are we on our way to realizing this wonderful goal, or is the process much more complicated than Paul let's on?  Is it fair to impose Middle Class values of work and self-sufficiency on the "poor," when their life experience is so different from ours?  But how do we avoid a "free ride" for them, which may poison their ever seeking to be self-sufficient?

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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to find some personal spiritual growth this year at CPC.

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WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Does A Loving God Really Send People To HELL?

"In our culture, divine judgement is one of Christianity's most offensive doctrines."  So says Timothy Keller, pastor of the Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, a church with 6,000 regular attendees at five services each Sunday.  As a minister and preacher, he says, he often finds himself speaking on Biblical texts that teach the wrath of God, the final judgment on individual people's lives, and the doctrine of HELL.

In Christianity, Keller continues, God is in fact both a God of love and a God of justice.  Many believe that a loving God cannot be a judging God, sometimes filled with wrath and anger.  "If He is loving and perfect, he should forgive and accept  everyone.  He should not get angry at us."

However, Keller then points out that all loving persons are sometimes filled with wrath, not just despite, but because of their love.  If you love a person, he says, and you see them ruining themselves with unwise actions and relationships of their own doing ---- you get angry.

"Ah," says Keller, "God fighting evil and injustice in the world is one thing, but sending people to HELL is quite another.   The Bible speaks of eternal punishment, but sending people to HELL as popularly envisioned is much more extreme."

I remember that as a college Freshman I was required to take a Humanities course with a challenging reading list.  One of the requirements was to read Dante's Inferno and discuss in class the symbolism and fearful consequences of possibly going to HELL when we die.  The instructor came prepared, with a selection of reproduction pictures of a flaming landscape rendered by famous Renaissance painters.  His portfolio showed in excruciating detail each of the layers of HELL, as Dante visualized them, and to this day I can recall these dreadful scenes.

Keller's analysis continues:  "Modern people inevitably think HELL works like this ---- God gives us a time alive on earth, but if we haven't made the right choices by the end of our lives, he casts our souls into HELL for all eternity, as our punishment.  As the poor souls fall through space, they cry out for mercy, but God says: "Too late.  You had your chance!  Now you will suffer!"  But, says Keller, this caricature misunderstands the very nature of the punishable bad behavior.

Importantly, the Biblical picture according to Keller, is that the bad behavior being punished is our willful separation from the presence of God, the source of all joy, love, wisdom, and good things of any sort.  This is his definition of sin.  Since we were originally created for God's immediate presence, only before his face will we thrive, flourish, and achieve our greatest potential.  Keller believes that if we were to lose God's presence totally, that would be HELL ---- the loss of our capacity for giving or receiving love and joy.

A traditional image of HELL, Keller tells us, is that of fire.  In this life we can see the kind of soul disintegration that self-centeredness creates.  We know selfishness and self-absorption leads to bitterness, envy, anxiety, paranoid thoughts, and the mental denials and distortions that accompany them.

Now ask the question: "What if when we die we don't end, but spiritually our life extends on to eternity?"  HELL, then, is the trajectory of a soul, living a self-absorbed, self-centered life, going on and on forever.

Keller concludes that HELL is simply one's freely chosen identity to be separated from God on a trajectory that goes on for a billion or more years.  We see small examples of this process in addictions to drugs. alcohol, gambling and pornography.  The general process of never conquering  self-centeredness and accepting God as our master, is less obvious but similar.

First, there is some kind of dependency (but not dependency on God), says Keller, and as time goes on one needs more and more of the addictive substance to get an equal kick, which leads to less and less satisfaction.

Second there is increasing isolation, by one's blame of others and circumstances, in order to justify one's own behavior.  When we build our lives on anything but God, says Keller, that thing ----- though perhaps a "good" thing in a sense (for example wealth) ---- becomes an enslaving addiction, something we must have to be happy.  Keller believes that this personal dependency can go on forever, with increasing isolation, denial, delusion and self-absorption.

People go to Heaven, Keller says, because they love God and want to submit to Him.  People go to HELL because they want to be away from God.  So, they do not want somebody ruling over them, telling them how to live their lives.  They want to be their own savior, their own Lord.  They want to live their lives their own way.  That's HELL!

Keller believes that HELL is eternal, but it is not inevitable.  God gives you what you want.  He says that Heaven and HELL essentially are our freely chosen identities going on forever.  And, says Keller, you stay wanting it ---- you cannot suddenly change your mind.

So, Keller leaves us with this thought:  It is not a question of God "sending" us to HELL.  In each of us there are temptations which will direct us to HELL, unless we nip them in the bud.

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 These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth this year at CPC.

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WEEKLY COMMENTARY: When Tragedy Strikes ---- Where Was God?

Many years ago, I took my family on a winter vacation to the Saranac Lake area in the Adirondack mountains of upstate New York.  It was during the school break between Christmas and New Year's.

In the mid-1930's, the nearby Village of Lake Placid had been the site of a Winter Olympics, so today there remain Olympic ice rinks, toboggan runs and other Olympic facilities open to the public. 

We were joined by six Summit families, and we shared a large rented house with a grand fireplace and a good supply of fire wood.   So, in the early evenings, when the wives and kids headed off to bed, the dads would relax by the fire and chat over a glass of wine  or a beer.

One dad was newly returned from an overseas business trip.  By chance he had been to a country which had just suffered an earthquake.  He was quite consumed by the devastation he had seen.  Buildings had collapsed, falling on occupants and passersby, and some 23 people had been killed.  Of course, there had also been the loss of electric power and clean water, and the streets were filled with rubble.

"Why did this tragedy happen," he asked us, "Where was God?"

After a moment or two, one of the dads suggested that God has His reasons for making this happen, and that we are in no position to judge God.  The dad said he believed there was some purpose in this suffering, but that it was beyond our ability to understand.  Furthermore, if God initiated this tragedy, who were we to now to ask God for help in our prayers?  So, if God is so powerful that He doesn't have to explain Himself to us, perhaps He does not have to be fair.

A second dad had a different thought:  "Tragedy in our lives is for our own good.  It teaches us to be strong.  Perhaps God does painful things to us as His way of helping us ---- like a drill sergeant in the Marine Corps.  Can't suffering be educational?  Can't it cure some of our faults and make us better people?   Just as a parent sometimes must punish a child?"

But, dad #3 had a negative reaction to this.  "To explain suffering by saying it is a "cure" for faults, implies that tragedy is a testing.  Is God really testing us?  He must know by now that many of us will fail that test.  If He is only giving us burdens we can bear, we have seen His miscalculations far too often."

Dad #4 had a very different opinion.  "God is not doing this to us.  Our God is a god of justice and not of power.  Thus, he can still be on our side when bad things happen to us.  He can know that we are good and honest people who deserve better.  Our misfortunes are none of His doing, and so we can turn to Him for help.

"Regardless of how our tragedies are caused," he continued, "God stands ready to help us cope with the tragedies, if we can only get beyond the feelings of guilt and anger that separate us from Him.  Could it be that, 'How could God do this to me?' is the wrong question for us to ask?  We should ask, 'God, see what is happening to me?  Can you help me?'  We should therefore turn to God, not to be judged or forgiven, not to be rewarded or punished, but to be strengthened and comforted."

Dad #5 had yet a different approach.  "Assume that God is the cause of our suffering.  But our God is a god of justice and righteousness.  Our God is all-powerful and causes everything that happens in the world.  Our God is also just and fair.  He stands up for people so they get what they deserve.  The good prosper and the wicked are punished.  He gives people exactly what they deserve.  In a time of tragedy people should  think it is the victim who should be blamed, not God ---- then the the tragedy doesn't seem quite so irrational and threatening.  Because God punishes people for their sins, it is our misdeeds, they can say, that cause our misfortunes."

"However, people do feel guilty sometimes, assuming they were somehow responsible for their misfortune.  But, they may not understand which action of theirs caused the suffering as they review what may have been said, done or not done.  Others will ask if pointless suffering for some unspecified sin is a contribution to the development of humankind?  But, blaming the victim helps fortunate people believe that their good fortune is deserved, rather than being a matter of chance."

Now, dad #3 had some more thoughts:  "Why is there seemingly an unfair distribution of suffering in the world?  Does God really give everyone what they deserve and need?  Why do totally unselfish people suffer, people who never did anything wrong?

"Also," he continued, "When a friend tells a sufferer that the suffering has a purpose, it really does not help the sufferer or explain the suffering.  It is meant primarily to defend God, to use words and ideas to transform bad into good, pain into privilege.  Such answers are thought up by people who believe that God is a loving parent who controls what happens to us, and on the basis of that belief they adjust and interpret the facts to fit their assumption."

Finally, we heard from dad #6:  "Could it be that things happen to people for no reason ---- that God has lost touch with the world and nobody is in the driver's seat?  If God is not in charge of all things, then who is?  Worse yet, could it be that God does not care what happens to us?"

"Bad things happen to good people in this world, but it may not be God who wills it.  For example, could it be that God doesn't decide which families will give birth to a handicapped child?  Perhaps God would like people to get what they deserve in life, but he cannot always arrange it.  Are we forced to choose between a good God who is not totally powerful, or a powerful God who is not totally good?  Perhaps we should choose to believe in God's goodness."

"When we were children, we came to realize that our parents were not all-powerful, and that a beloved broken toy had to be thrown out when they could not fix it, not because they did not want to fix it.  Likewise, there are some things God would like to fix, but He does not control them.  The Bible repeatedly speaks of God as the special protector of the poor, the widow, and the orphan, without raising the question of how it happened that they became poor, widowed, or orphaned in the first place."

It was getting late, but next it was my turn.  "It is hard to follow so much sincere wisdom, spoken by you guys," I said.  "But, I confess that my simple human brain cannot reconcile these many conflicting perspectives on the nature of God.  I keep coming back to what a beloved Bible scholar has said many times ---- " It is a mystery!"

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These thoughts are brought to you CPC's Adult Spiritual Education Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth this Fall at CPC.

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