Sermon from Christ Church, Little Rock
I’m posting the attention-grabbing introduction to the 8/31/2003 sermon by the Rev. Mary Craig Caruthers of Christ Church, Little Rock, mainly because it might give people a chance to rethink what they’d like as a centerpiece on their Thanksgiving dinner table this year. (If the idea of tofu turkey doesn’t appeal to you, there are many recipes available on-line for nut roasts. Or you can check the ’search’ option on this site for links to a number of recipes.)
I’ve heard many sermons dealing with people’s unwillingness to accept change, with the excuse that “We’ve always done it that way”. But I’ve never heard a sermon quite like this. And I thought it was surprising and refreshing!
One of the saddest Thanksgivings I’ve ever had was one year we went to a relative’s house and had pasta salad. There was no turkey and dressing, no sweet potato casserole, no rolls, no pumpkin pie. No matter how good that pasta salad was, Thanksgiving is just not Thanksgiving without all those traditional dishes, even if it’s tofu turkey.
It’s not like those specific foods are necessary for our physical survival.
If we don’t eat turkey on Thanksgiving, we are not going to die.
The reason we eat turkey on Thanksgiving is “We’ve always done it that way.”
Now if we look back on WHY the pilgrims (or whoever started this ancient meal) ate turkey at the original celebration maybe we’d discover that they ate turkey because they first burned the chicken to a crisp. Or maybe they were fresh out of buffalo meat. Whatever the original reason was for eating turkey at Thanksgiving has long been forgotten by most of us, but Thanksgiving just isn’t Thanksgiving without turkey and the trimmings (or the vegan alternative). Why do we eat turkey at Thanksgiving? “Because we’ve always done it that way.”…
The whole sermon can be found here:
http://www.christchurchlittlerock.org/sermonProper17YearB2003.htm
When you go to church on Thanksgiving this year, please note what a vegetarian-oriented liturgy it is! Even the hymns are. I’ve always found that ironic on an otherwise secular National Day of Carnage and Gluttony.
[photo from www.factoryfarming.org]