The Week of Thanksgiving - "All that God does is done well"

Next to Easter, Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. Growing up in the New York City, Thanksgiving Day meant the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with those marvelous balloons, fantastic marching bands from around the country, and at the very end Old Saint Nick. I still believe that the Holiday Season begins when Santa Claus arrives on the stroke of Noon at Broadway and 34^th Street. Old traditions die hard!

Thanksgiving was and still is about attending church and offering thanks to God for the year of blessings, known and unknown. In High School, there was a marvelous Thanksgiving service always held at Saint James’ Episcopal Church in Montclair, New Jersey. The massed choir was a delight to sing in for the small choir at the church I attended never had “the horses” to sing such repertoire. So, the opportunity to make a joyful noise unto the Lord was always met with great expectation and anticipation.

Thanksgiving is about a plentiful table – turkey, stuffing, sweet potato pie, string bean casserole with crunchy onion topping, ham, pies with ice cream, and don’t forget the “canned” jellied cranberries – surrounded by family and friends from near and far. After dinner, my parents would finally allow us to play Christmas music on the record player – Andy Williams, Andre Kostalantez and, my favorite, the fabulous organ being played from the Radio City Music Hall (I do not believe there were any more groves on that LP!)

Happy Memories of days gone by.

This uniquely American holiday is a time to give thanks to our loving God for all the many blessings of our lives. Thanksgiving reminds me that I must keep things in perspective. Each one of us will face difficulties in our life journey. There will be great pain, trials, health issues, natural disasters, struggles with family members, and even death. This is the very nature of life. The Creator of all things never promised that life would be easy. But, in the midst of the struggle, God’s faithful people find that place where we can lift up our voice and say with confidence, “All that God does is done well.”

There is a story found in the Talmud of a rabbi who lived many years ago. This rabbi was walking through the country travelling from one town to the next with three possessions – a lamp, a rooster and a donkey.

Late in the afternoon, the rabbi came to a village where he had hoped to find lodging and when he went there and asked for a place to stay, the townspeople, seeing that he was a Jew, ran him out of town and into the nearby forest. The rabbi did as he was always known to do, and his reaction to the situation was to say, “All that God does is done well.”

He found a tree, under which he could sleep that night, set himself down, turned on his lamp and was reading from his holy book when a terrific gust of wind knocked down the lamp and broke it to pieces. The only thing the rabbi could do now was to go to sleep. Again, he was known to say, “All that God does is done well.”

A few moments later, in the utter darkness of the forest, some wild animals came and chased away his rooster which was followed an hour or so later by thieves coming and stealing the rabbi’s donkey. Before he finally was able to get to sleep that night, the rabbi uttered those same words, “All that God does is done well.”

The next morning when the rabbi awoke from his sleep, he went back to the village where he had been thrown out. He discovered to his surprise that through the night an enemy army had come into the village and had killed everybody. The rabbi knew that if he had stayed in the village that night he too would have been killed. He also learned that the enemy army had passed close to where he had been sleeping and if they had seen the light, or the rooster had crowed, or the donkey had brayed, the rabbi would have lost his life. His response…. “All that God does is done well.”

The story, in some respects is about how God can bring out of evil and wrong something good. It reminds me how often the Spirit moves and protects us when we have no earthly idea what is happening. You can think of all the angles in this story – why this or why that? But, so much in life, and with God, is not rational.

“All that God does is done well.”

Life is about keeping things in perspective. The past twenty months have been an ordeal filled with roller-coaster rides of emotion and turmoil. It has been tough and painful. But in the midst of all the trials, grace abounds. Friendships endure. New beginnings are all around me. The opportunity to serve God, and use the many gifts and talents given to me, has never been greater. Life is difficult but God is faithful. In the end, “All that God does is done well.”

More tomorrow on Thanksgiving and being thankful. I hope you will join me.

Love One Another - Brian