Who wants to talk about the end of the world on Thanksgiving? Who wants to be told to “Keep Awake!” in the one guaranteed, nap-allowing four-day weekend in our ever-more-jammed national calendar? How will we engage Advent today when we’re preparing stuffing, preparing pies, preparing turkeys, pre…
Wait a minute. What’s that word? Preparing? Isn’t that the quintessential Advent word? Prepare ye the way for the Lord? Maybe this won’t be so tough. We’ll just have to mash up our holidays a little before we mash our sweet potatoes.
We might take a spiritual lesson or two from preparing a turkey for Thanksgiving Dinner – and no, I’m not going to compare the turkey’s sacrifice to Jesus’. What I will do is invite us to think about the things we do to get a turkey ready to be feasted upon, and see how those might be applicable to our spiritual growth.
First, we buy the turkey. We have decisions to make about what kind – fresh, organic, frozen. We don’t expect the turkey to plop into our lap – we select it. We might be as intentional about our choices to grow spiritually as we are about selecting our turkey.
We prepare the turkey – we wash it (baptism? repentance?). We might brine it in salt water - Jesus did say his followers were to be like salt for the world, tenderized, full of flavor…
On the big day, we get up early to get that thing ready for the oven. What if we regularly got ourselves up early to get ready for the world, spending some of our prep time in prayer and quiet with God?
Next we oil or butter the outside of the turkey so it shines with a nice glow as it bakes. Some add some paprika to that process, to enhance the golden color. (The first time I ever roasted a turkey, I mistakenly grabbed cayenne instead of paprika – that was a spicy bird!) In the same way, we as Christ-followers can be anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit, to shine with joy whatever our circumstances.
And we stuff that bird full of good things that help make it moist and flavorful. So we might stuff ourselves with holy-making ingredients… the bread of life, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, worship with others, prayer, ministry, contemplation, the sacraments, ministry to others. All these things make us tender and flavorful too, more conscious as disciples.
Then we roast the bird… we allow heat to transform it into something we can consume. I would like to think we do that as Christians too – really allow the heat of the Spirit to get to us, to transform us so we become more useful to the people around us.
And while the bird is roasting, we baste it, frequently, so it doesn’t dry out. Our regular immersion in worship and spiritual practices are meant to serve the same function, to keep us well-oiled and limber. If you feel dried out as a Christian, get more basting! That might be a good prayer for us today.
If we can be as intentional about our spiritual lives as we are about our Thanksgiving turkeys, I have no doubt God will feed many, many people through us. Here endeth the metaphor! Gobble, gobble.
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