"Whatever is foreseen in joy must be lived out from day to day. Vision held open in the dark by our ten thousand days of work. Harvest will fill the barn;for that the hand must ache, the face must sweat. And yet no leaf or grain is filled by work of ours; the field is tilled and left to grace. That we may reap, great work is done while we’re asleep. When we work well, a Sabbath mood rests on our day, and finds it good." Wendell Berry

We have begun the slow march toward Thanksgiving. Preparations intricate and simple are happening in homes across the land. Restaurants are gearing up to provide a traditional Thanksgiving feast for those who want to spare the fuss, or stress, of all the fixings. The travel report on television this morning predicted a staggering number of people taking to air to get home for this Thursday. I’ve heard more than one person exclaim that they are "so excited", that they "can’t wait" for Thanksgiving. Many college students are home or will travel for the long weekend to sit around the table with family and friends, eating food that hasn’t been mass-produced.

In some ways it is an odd holiday. If people think at all about the ‘original’ Thanksgiving, Pilgrims, Native Americans, turkey, etc., it is only a brief, passing thought. Instead the focus is the food…so many favorites..and the gathering. In this instance, the holiday has very little to do with the American experience and everything to do with how we live a life of gratitude. It is that set-aside time for remembering all the gifts that come our way through nothing we actually do to receive them.For people of faith it is the set-aside time, a Sabbath time, to remember that we are the created of the Creator, and to offer our thanks.

"And yet no leaf or grain is filled by work of ours; the field is tilled and left to grace." writes poet and farmer Wendell Berry. How much of our Thanksgiving meal will find its way to our table through our own work? For most of us, very little. The food which we look forward to will have been planted, nurtured, harvested, packed, shipped, unloaded, sold, and bagged by countless laborers who work at fair or possibly unjust wages. Their jobs depend on sun and rain, climate and weather, blue sky, storms….all things over which they have no control.

So, you see, this Thursday we will be welcomed to the table by all those hands who labored on our behalf. As we offer our prayers, they will stand invisibly with us. They have given the hours and days of their lives to make our celebration possible. As we offer our prayers, the elements…Earth, Air, Fire, Water….live within the food which will nourish our bodies, another sacrifice.As we offer our prayers, the Creator binds us all together in a sacred act of grace……and communion……and finds it good.