Thanksgiving Eve & Pie Night at Zumbro

It is Thanksgiving 2015 and I am spending it as I have for the last handful of years with my relatives in the city of Mayo, Rochester, Minnesota. Each year, I join in the tradition of going my cousin and her husband to the Thanksgiving Eve service at their church, Zumbro Lutheran.

In years past, I have enjoyed and found some sustenance in the church service. But I am not Lutheran and have to admit that the fact that this is also Zumbro’s annual Pie Night and the thought of all the delicious homemade treats following the service have been the main draw.

This year, however, I decided to approach Thanksgiving Eve with a new frame of mind. This year, I am consciously choosing to embark on spiritual journeys wherever I roam. This year, I am a Spiritual Traveler, enriching my life—and, I hope, yours—through my spiritual adventures.

Therefore, it is with mind of a Spiritual Traveler that I approached attending this year’s Thanksgiving Eve service at Zumbro. This is my frame of mind as I joined my cousin Mary Ann, her husband Bob and their neighbor Dan at the Wednesday night service.

This perspective helped me become a true participant in this Lutheran service, instead of the mere visitor and observer.

Of course, I did a lot of observing. But, that observation was blessed now with a depth of feeling and connection that was absent in years past.

After taking our usual seats at the back of the church, I observed my cousin-in-law Bob go and sit for a few minutes with an elderly woman. And I felt his connection with this woman and the entire congregation, his spiritual family. This feeling deepened when I discovered that he has invited her to our Thanksgiving Day dinner.

The Simple Gifts of Gratitude

The service itself is a joyful tapestry of words and song accompanied by piano, violin, mandolin and guitar. We raised our voices in song and so did the choir. The song that particularly brightened my soul was “Simple Gifts:”

‘Tis the gift to be simple, “tis the gift to be free, ‘tis the gift to come down where we ought to be. And when we find ourselves in the place just right, ‘twill be in the valley of love and delight. When true simplicity is gained to bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed, To turn, turn, will be our delight till by turning, turning, we come round right.

For me, a definite turning came as I listened to the reading from Thomas Merton that followed that song. Oh, how I wish I had turned on my iPhone recorder as Pastor Lisa spoke. I thought it was enough to pencil in Thomas Merton’s name next to the title of the reading: “WHEN.”

But my Internet research of Thomas Merton and the WHEN title turned up a blank. But I know that reading was about gratitude and I did find this passage on gratitude from Merton’s “Thoughts in Solitude.” It sparked my soul in the same way as Pastor Lisa’s words and I share a few of these words with you now:
Gratitude is more than a mental exercise, more than a formula of words… To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything He has given us…Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder, and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference… Gratitude is therefore the heart of the Christian life.

Thomas Merton. The words of a Catholic monk said at a Protestant service. Significant—perhaps as significant as Pope Francis’s recent embrace of Merton during his address to Congress on September 24th! Food for thought—and a future blog post, but not now…

Now, I focus on gratitude and know in the depths of my being that it is not only the heart of Christian life, but also the heart of all our lives—whatever religion or non-religion that we follow.

Stop, Look & Feel Grateful

I feel grateful for so much now including the sermon by Pastor Jason. Strange, I switched on my iPhone recorder for that, but don’t need it now as I remember his words.

His lesson to us came from his own experience. Pastor Jason told the story of his own preoccupation with juggling the tasks of making dinner and answering emails. At first the interruption of his five-year-old son asking for a glass of water was irritating. After all, he had set up the glasses and sink in such a way that the child could get that glass of water all by himself.

The boy continued to ask and finally Pastor Daddy caved in. Turning back to his juggling tasks, however, he is stopped short by the sincere words of his son: “Thanks dad! Thanks for getting me that glass of water.”

Out of the mouths of babes! Once again the pastor has learned a lesson from his children.

He shares that lesson with us. Like we were taught as kids. We need to STOP AND LOOK before we go, go, go and keep on going with the hectic stresses of our lives. We need to stop and look at the blessings that are right there before us. We need to stop and appreciate these blessings instead of seeing them as interruptions into our busy lives.

We need to learn, as he did, from this child. We need to cultivate our attitude of gratitude.

Pie Night

And yes, there was Pie Night. I certainly appreciated my piece of homemade pumpkin pie with the flakiest crust I’ve tasted since the crust my Aunt Sophie made when I was a little girl. Even more, I appreciated and was grateful for being part of this Zumbro church family which warmly embraced me, the stranger in their midst.

As I wrote this, I looked over the “Life at ZUMBRO” pamphlet that was handed to me at the beginning of the service. It is a welcoming document. The words that resonate and find a deep place in my heart are these:

Every person is a unique and valuable creation of God. Because God loves us, we are called to love one another.

The love I experienced at Zumbro, nourishes this Spiritual Traveler and inspires me to extend this love to all those I encounter, not only during this Thanksgiving sojourn in Minnesota, but throughout my life and throughout the world.

And for this, I say:

THANK YOU!

CAPTION FOR FEATURED PHOTO: 
The Thanksgiving Alter at Zumbro Lutheran Church was a cornucopia of pumpkins and squash symbolizing the bounty of our blessings.

RESOURCES:

Zumbro Lutheran Church: Zumbro, located at 624 Third Avenue Southwest, Rochester, Minnesota 55902, has this mission statement: Our journey of faith leads us to build bridges of understanding and peace, to reach out with compassion, and to share the hope of Jesus.

Thomas Merton Thoughts in Solitude: Gratitude: A beautiful blog based on this Thomas Merton passage is featured here.

The Thomas Merton Center & The International Thomas Merton Society: The Center the official repository of Merton’s artistic estate, which includes over thirteen hundred photographs and nine hundred drawings in addition to his writing. The International Society includes chapters throughout the world, which promote the study of Thomas Merton.

Why The Pope’s Mention Of Thomas Merton Was More Controversial Than You Think by Rose Marie Berger, Huffington Post, Religion News Service, October 3, 2015.