Thanksgiving was a time originally shared by Native American Indians and the Pilgrims at Plymouth to give thanks for survival, support, and a surplus of crops. It was only celebrated in some states and on different days or even months. It was made a national holiday because of the advocacy and intense letter writing of Sarah Josepha Hale, author of Mary had a little Lamb and editor of Gody’s Lady’s Book. For over 17 years she wrote to various presidents, asking that a day be set aside as a day of Thanksgiving. One president finally paid attention and in 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared it a national holiday, to be celebrated on the 4th Thursday of the month of November.

The new instant and sometimes factual internet resource, known as Wikipedia gives this comment about Thanksgiving: In 1941 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt attempted to move it to the third Thursday of November, at the request of numerous powerful American merchants so it would give people an extra shopping week for Christmas.

So what started out as a way of giving thanks to God and to other people for survival, support, and a surplus of crops, eventually unearthed the human trend toward being less thankful and more desirous of accumulating more…or accumulating something other than what we already have.

Sometimes we humans suffer from a collective ‘forgetfulness’ about the abundance of blessings that God has given to us over the years. We become so independent and individual in our thinking that we forget we are inter-dependent upon God and others.

Reminds me of a woman who was looking desperately for a parking place on a rainy day. “Please God,” she prayed, “let me find a place right by the front door so I can run in without getting soaked.” Suddenly, there appeared in front of her and open space – and it was right smack at the front door of the building. “Oh never mind,” she said, “I found one myself.”

In this country, especially now at the gas tank, we tend to have a mind-set of not having enough when actually we are over-flowing in abundance. I know the economic times are tough. I think I am going to faint every time I fill up my car and see that $2.89 a gal sign! But here’s another view of scarcity and cost. Last summer the bishops of the Episcopal Church and others from the Anglican Communion gathered in England for a once-every-ten years meeting. One of the Bishops, George Packard, who is Chaplain of the Armed Services for the Episcopal Church, kept a blog about his experiences.

One evening he found himself in the food line with a bishop from Torit, a very small diocese in the Sudan. It is so small and so close to the border that the mail doesn’t come to Torit – it has to be picked up in Uganda. Bishop Packard said the Bishop of Torit enthusiastically witnessed about his faith with nary a care even though – by world – or church standards – he had next to nothing.

He and his wife have 30 children. Two of the children belong to the bishop and his wife. The other 28 were orphans. The bishop said, “Who would care for them?

The diocese – the area assigned to him, has 1,000 people – it takes a while for the bishop to visit everyone because he walks wherever he goes in his diocese. He has no car. He was asked, “Did you ever have a car?” the reply was, “No, the bishop before me had one but it wore out.”

Suddenly that $2.89 a gal is not looking so bad after all.

A community that gives me strength and an expanded world view is the Iona Community, whose home base is the Island of Iona, Scotland. At an evening worship service the preacher, a young woman from the states, introduced the music we sang tonight: Rain down, rain down, Rain down God’s love on your people.

She told us that she had been watching people during a rainy week on Iona. Everyone, she said, pulled their hoods over their heads or opened umbrellas or put on hats to ward off the rain. She posed the question to us: Is that what we do with God’s abundance of love…pull on our hoods of apathy or open the umbrellas of our own insecurities or put on our hats of indifference so we don’t experience God’s unconditional love raining down upon us, don’t recognize how blessed we are?

At lunch the other day a minister said we are really good at praying to God when we need help but we are not very good at giving thanks for what we have.

What is the abundance in your life? Is it wealth – or good health – or a job where you can passionately use your gifts? Where did that abundance come from? How have you given thanks for it.?

Who in your life gives you joy – makes you smile – shares your joys and sorrows – is there when you need them the most? How have you given thanks for their involvement in your life?

Thanksgiving is a time when we give gratitude for what we have and perhaps take time to take a hard look at this fragile and lop-sided world where some have plenty but most go hungry. We can see that the signs of the times appear to be terrible, that people in this country and beyond are suffering…but we also need to acknowledge that the suffering does not come from God. It exists because world-wide we have not shared the abundance of our lives. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

I believe from the depths of my soul that God has given us the means – the gifts - through our creativity, through our words, through our compassion and through our actions – to help bring about God’s vision of Shalom – of well-being. We can be God’s agents for ending hunger and poverty. Tonight we have an opportunity to share our abundance by giving to the Good Neighbor Food Pantry. I urge you out of your thankfulness for the abundance in your life to give generously.

Let us each strive to live a life based on thankfulness of God’s gift of life to us. And as a community composed of households of faith let us share our abundance so that there is plenty for everyone – always.

And never, ever, think that as one person you can’t make a huge difference in the world. Remember that one lone woman, Sarah Josepha Hale, whose constant nagging for 17 years brought about the observance of a National Holiday based on giving thanks.