We head now into what are called “The Holidays.” That’s uniquely American language. Sometimes it’s called the “Fall Festival.” Friday night was “Light-up Night” in downtown Pittsburgh. It launches the season. All of this is worthy, but rather cold and secular in its impact. 

We are fully loaded with the secularization of life these days. Someone recently said we are “floating on a sea of secularism.” It’s not necessarily evil, but it tends to block or blur the deeper things of life. 

Thanksgiving is somewhat unique among American holidays. It is not as commercialized as Easter or Christmas. There is no particular hoopla or specific details. There is no hard and fast tradition. There are no rigid customs. There are no gifts to buy, or major spending requirements. 

But Thanksgiving is the only American holiday with specific religious overtones. There are none in Memorial Day, or Veterans Day, or July the 4^th. There are no religious implications in Presidents Day, or Martin Luther King’s birthday, or even New Year’s Day. But Thanksgiving has that religious overtone. 

The whole matter is rooted in a simple act by some simple people called the Pilgrims. Early in their time on these shores, they got together after a particularly cold and brutal time, and said, “Thank you, God, that we are still alive.” Theirs was probably not a sumptuous feast—like many of us will probably enjoy this week. They simply said, “We live in God’s world. We are not alone. God is with us. Thanks be to God.” They lived out what I call Kingdom Feasting. 

For you and me, our feasting may be simple, or it may be sumptuous. (I am remembering, however, that Jesus told a rather sobering story about a man who feasted sumptuously every day.) We are called to this Kingdom Feasting. We are called without apology and without hesitation. 

Jesus spoke often about the Christian journey as a great feast. Stories about wedding banquets and festive tables abound in the gospels. The story of the Prodigal Son is a story about a great celebration. This is where the text for today comes from. Jesus spent a lot of time around the table with people. He ate a lot of home-cooked meals. Some of them were probably very good. He ate so much—he did this so often—that his enemies sometimes referred to him as a “glutton.” What is the character of Christian Kingdom feasting? I can think of three or four elements. 

OPEN 

First of all, the Kingdom feasting is open to everyone. The Pilgrims invited Native Americans, did they not? In all probability the Native Americans were not Christians. The Kingdom feast is always open. 

I spent Thursday and Friday of this past week in Montgomery, Alabama. We were planning a large church event to be held in about 16 months. Montgomery, Alabama is the birthplace of the Confederacy. It is also the birthplace of the Civil Rights movement. Back in the 1960s when people from the north were going down to Montgomery to demonstrate against racial segregation, they were basically not welcomed in that city. In fact, I was told this past week that only one church expressed a willingness to open its doors for outsiders to worship. That church was the local United Methodist Church. Specifically, it was Frazer Memorial United Methodist Church.  

When God designs a feast, it is open to all. It does not matter who you are or where you’ve been. It doesn’t matter what mistakes you may have made. It does not matter what wrong choices you may have exercised. It does not matter if you have failed at your marriage or even failed at parenting. You are invited to Kingdom feasting. 

This is the story of the Prodigal Son. He wasted his father’s inheritance. He wasted his youth. He lived loosely at best. Yet when he returned to his father, his father said, “Kill the fatted calf. We are going to celebrate.” 

Tony Campolo tells a story of something called the “reject prom.” It was started by a young Lutheran pastor in Minnesota. He believed that senior proms were too exclusive to be Christian. They were reserved for the beautiful and the popular and the dating. This past week Matthew McConaughey was designated by People magazine as the sexiest man alive. Proms are reserved for the bold and the beautiful. It always leaves out those the system has rejected as uninvited or losers. Can there be anyone more lonely on Prom night than the uninvited? 

This minister planned a party for these people. He called it the “Reject Prom.” Those who didn’t have dates came to this prom. It was held the same night as the regular prom. It was so much of a blast, it made the senior prom seem dull. 

In fact, the Reject Prom caught the attention and imagination of the press. Companies began to send gifts to the attendees. Timex Corporation gave watches. Before too long, some of those who had dates made the decision to attend the Reject Prom instead of the real prom.[i] 

Jesus would have loved that story. Jesus would have attended the Reject Prom. 

Kingdom Feasting is an open affair. That’s why some Christians and some families to serve Thanksgiving meals to the homeless on Thanksgiving Day. 

I heard this past week that there is a potential movement afoot to change the United Methodist logo: “Open minds, open hearts, open doors.” I’m not sure whether it’s true or whether it’s a rumor. But the word is they want to change it to something less. 

I certainly hope that does not happen. God’s Kingdom is open to all persons. Sure, God asks for some personal discipline along the way. God asks for humility and simplicity and stewardship. Sure, God asks us to remember the poor as a high priority. God shows us a bold and radical way to live. But God does not demand perfection or total certainty. If you want to come to the feast, you are invited. That’s the nature of Kingdom Feasting. 

DIFFERENT 

Secondly, the Kingdom Feast is different from what the world offers. Kingdom feasting does not necessarily celebrate Thanksgiving the way the world celebrates it. The world always has lots of turkey, at least two desserts, plus a football game. Kingdom feasting is different. If Thanksgiving is only about turkey and football, we as Christians have failed in our witness.

In his Thanksgiving proclamation, Abraham Lincoln called for a day of thanksgiving and praise. I fear that sometimes in the 21^st century, the only time prayer is said in our homes at a meal is on Thanksgiving Day. 

A corporate worker traveled Alaska Airlines fairly frequently in the early 1990s. He flew before meals were eliminated from airline service. Whenever a meal was delivered to his seat, it always had a card on the tray which included Psalm 92 verse 1. The Psalm reads, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name, O most high; to show forth Thy loving kindness in the morning and Thy faithfulness every night.” I’d say that’s a different way to run an airline! 

How can your Thanksgiving Day be different? How can your Thanksgiving meal be different? How can you celebrate the physical, the intellectual and the soul food of this holiday? 

DEEPER 

Thirdly, Kingdom Feasting goes deeper. In Kingdom Feasting we look at the wonder and the mystery of life. Life is so much more than the size of your TV screen or how many pairs of shoes you own or the size of your pension check. 

I heard an executive from one of America’s great companies say recently, “We must prepare ourselves to possibly live a less affluent lifestyle and still be grateful.” That’s one way in which Kingdom Feasting goes deeper. 

Helen Keller once said, “The best and most beautiful things cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” 

Or this quotation from a great preacher of the 1980s: 

It is not easy to speak a good, clear word for God in these cluttered and clamorous times. It is not easy to maintain confidence in the local congregation as an instrument of the Divine purpose… It is not easy to hold to the efficacy of prayer in a culture that is increasingly skeptical about the things of the spirit… To cope and thrive we need each other and the steadying presence of the One who called us.[ii] 

Kingdom Feasting is open, it is different, and it is deeper. 

FOCUSED 

Finally, Kingdom Feasting is focused. It is focused beyond ourselves. It is focused beyond the ups and downs of life. It is focused toward the Creator, Sustainer God. 

Secular culture does remind us to be thankful. But it is generic. It is not focused. Some vague term like “divine providence” may be used.

I note with appreciation that Lincoln used the word “God” at least twice in his initial Thanksgiving proclamation. In the hymns we sing,

   “We gather together to ask the LORD’S blessing…”

   “Sing praises to HIS NAME…”

   “Now thank we all OUR GOD…” 

J. B. Phillips has a useful paraphrase of Romans 12 in his translation of the New Testament. It says, “With eyes wide open to the mercies of God…”  Thanksgiving for us is not just good luck. It is not just relative abundance. It is not just safety. It is not just protection from terrorists. Thanksgiving is focused on the ongoing mercies of God. 

There’s a lot of conversation today about “infrastructure.” We have crumbling bridges and crumbling water and sewer systems. The infrastructure of Thanksgiving is God. God is the highway, God is the bridge, God is the pipeline, God is the power distribution system. 

Dick Van Dyke wrote a book a number of years ago. In it is a story about a little girl named Laurie, who came home from Sunday school. She called out to her family, “They sang a song about me today in Sunday school!”  

“Really?” the family responded. “What did they sing?” 

She said, “They sang, ‘Laurie, Laurie, hallelujah.” 

Her brother responded, “Oh, Laurie, those aren’t the words at all. These are the words they were singing: ‘Glory, glory, Honolulu.’” 

There may be more wisdom in this story than we can possibly know. The Thanksgiving feast is focused on every part of our world. It is focused on Laurie, and it is focused on Honolulu. It is also focused on Rome and Paris and New York and Dallas and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. God is in the infrastructure of this season! 

Arthur Ashe was a great tennis star who died in the early 1990s. He had some open heart surgery, was given a blood transfusion, and contracted AIDS. He wrote a book called Days of Grace. In that book he speaks of his faith. 

Above all, I have faith in God. God’s presence makes all the difference. I may linger or I may die. I may suffer acutely or rest upon an undercurrent of muted agony. Nevertheless, God is sufficient. I shall not be overcome. God is with me and God is the source of my comfort and the heart of my peace.” (p. 327) 

Join me in some Kingdom Feasting this week. Let that feasting be open and welcoming. Let it be distinctively different from the world. Let it be deep and soul-stirring. Let it be fully focused. And may God be praised through your Thanksgiving week.