Celtic Advent - Day XII - November 26

 

Celtic Advent - Day XII - November 26

"If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you,

it will be enough." Meister Eckhart.

As I write this, we have just finished eating Thanksgiving dinner. I hope the tryptophan stupor doesn't hit as I'm writing this and I can communicate my thoughts on the incarnation in complete sentences that express coherent thoughts. 

The incarnation has proven to be a difficult subject to discuss, even when one is not over loaded with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy - not to mention all the amazing desserts that spread out across our dining room table. 

Thanksgiving 2020 has proven very difficult because we are in the midst of a pandemic. Actually, the COVID virus is "surging" or "spiking" at this time so we can't have the same kind of Thanksgivings we've enjoyed in years past - or, even last year - with lots of family and friends. 

We can't meet "in person". Even those of us who have created safe "pods" of people with whom we feel "safe" being in contact with, it's still a time to be on guard and keep a safe distance - no hugging or physically close contact - washing hands often. 

It's quite the opposite of the Incarnation. 

The holidays are a difficult time to keep your balance - especially for those who struggle with addiction to food or alcohol, or come from a dysfunctional family where holidays turn up the dial to eleven -  but the next four weeks are going to be like Grad School. 

I'm remembering a story told by Anne Lamott about her first sober Thanksgiving. She was very anxious about getting together with her family, which brought new definition to the understanding of "dysfunctional".

As I remember the story, the night before Thanksgiving, a sober gay man with AIDS took her aside after the AA meeting and said, "Listen, Annie. Do you know what the other name for Thanksgiving is?" 

"No," she said, a bit confused. 

"Thursday," he said. "It's Thursday. So, just don't drink tomorrow. Just for tomorrow. Just for Thursday. Just for one day." 

And then, he sprinkled her with purple glitter and said, "I've just anointed you with fairy dust."

She said that exchange with that man changed her life. Just Thursday? What a concept! He said all she had to do was show up and, no matter what, don't drink. 

That's it. Left foot, right foot, left foot, breathe.

And then she said something I'll never forget. She described that sober gay man who sprinkled her with glitter and got her through her first sober Thanksgiving - sober. 

She said, "He was God with skin for me that day."

She said, "So I did what he said, because the only hope we ever have to stay sober and get through a holiday like Thanksgiving is to give up our own agenda." 

She showed up to her mother's house which was filled with all her relatives and her mother took one look at the purple glitter in her hair and said, in that tone mothers use when they are not amused, "Oh for Pete's sake, Annie!"

So Anne shook her head and sprinkled purple glitter all over her mother and they both laughed and laughed.

When her aunties asked if she'd like some wine she said, "No thank you," and that was it. No goading or prodding or that dynamic that is dominant in dysfunctional families - shaming. 

Question asked and answered. Done. 

Then the Really Big Test came straight from the center of the cosmos: Her grandmother spilled some red wine on the sleeve of her white blouse and the fumes of alcohol went straight up her nostrils and she did not freak out. 

More importantly, she didn't drink. Indeed, she said the stain on her blouse was like "The Red Badge of Courage."

All because God with skin on - a sober gay man with AIDS - showed up when she needed it most and gave her the one tool she needed in order to remember that the other name for Thanksgiving is Thursday.  

God with skin on. Sounds an awful lot like the incarnation, eh? 

In my experience, when you have an encounter like that, the overwhelming feeling is one of gratitude. Which makes that a perfect story to combine the incarnation and Thanksgiving. 

I'll leave you with these thoughts on gratitude and give thanks that I seem to have gotten through this meditation before the tryptophan kicked in. No small feat. And, I am grateful.

This is me, sprinkling you with purple glitter. 

"I thank you God for most this amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything with is natural, which is infinite, which is yes."  ~ e.e. cummings.

"When we learn to read the story of Jesus and see it as the story of the love of God, doing for us what we could not do for ourselves - that insight produces, again and again, a sense of astonished gratitude which is very near the heart of authentic Christian experience." ~ N.T. Wright.

"To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything" 

~ Thomas Merton

"Eucharisteo - thanksgiving - always precedes the miracle." Ann Voskamp

"Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good. ~ Maya Angelou