A FAST FOOD THANKSGIVING
“Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal.’”
John 6:26-27
One of my favorite New Yorker Magazine cartoons shows a man leaning over to turn on the television. He looks back over his shoulder and calls out to his wife, “Helen, do you have anything to say before football season begins?”
In another cartoon, two football fans were discussing the game. One says, “My wife put her foot down again last night – she said she will leave me if I don’t give up following football.” His pal said, “I’m so sorry.” His friend answered, “Me too. I’m going to miss her.” However, Erma Bombeck’s sarcastic comment might have been appropriate for these two men. She said, “anyone who watches three football games in a row ought to be declared brain dead!”
Brain dead or not, probably football will be high on the agenda for millions this Thanksgiving. However, many of us have other images of Thanksgiving. We have visions of Norman Rockwell’s Saturday Evening Post cover painting of the all-American Thanksgiving with grandpa eyeing favorably the steaming, golden brown turkey Grandma gives to him to carve at the head of the table. Children and grandchildren are grouped around a beautifully set table laden with vegetables, potatoes, dressing, cranberries and other delectables.
However, if Rockwell were to paint today’s Thanksgiving feast, another scene might be prevalent. Instead of grouped around a beautifully set table, the family clan might be packed before the big-screen television cheering their favorite football team. And on their television snack trays, might be bags of McDonald’s burgers and fries and drinks. For some, it may well be a fast-food Thanksgiving as well as a fast-food lifestyle.
Whether tailgating at the stadium or running to the Thanksgiving table between important plays, Americans increasingly have opted for a fast-food Thanksgiving and lifestyle. If previous Thanksgiving feasts required days of preparation, today’s microwave foods and pre-cooked dinners speed up the process considerably. Indeed, comedian Milton Berle once quipped that his wife put the turkey in the microwave at 7:30 a.m. and they had instead of a Thanksgiving dinner at 2:00 p.m. they had a Thanksgiving breakfast at 8:30 a.m. So with modern conveniences and pre-cooked foods, it’s no more sweating long hours over the stove for some moms and grandmas. It’s a fast food Thanksgiving.
However, this Thanksgiving we can be grateful for the over-abundance of wonderful food in our land. Whereas once we were seventy percent an agrarian country, it now takes less than four percent of our population to feed the nation as well as many others in the world.
And we can be thankful not only for growers of good food, but for good processors and packagers and handlers of good food which make our celebration of the good life much easier. After all, we are to be reminded, that our religious ancestors, The Mayflower Pilgrims of 1620, had only five kernels of corn for each family to plant for the next year’s harvest. During the first year, one-half of their people at Plymouth Plantation died. And yet, in November of 1621, they gathered with the Indians to give thanks to Almighty God for a bountiful harvest to supply their daily bread.
And so too would we gather to give thanks for the miracle of seedtime and harvest which provide our abundance of daily bread. The time around the Thanksgiving table should be more than a fast-food thank-you.
