Thanksgiving and the Church

So yesterday was Thanksgiving, as most people know by now. And even though I am Lebanese, my family does celebrate Thanksgiving, well my family in America does. Family in the rest of world does not. I digress.

This year, my family was not all together as usual . Typically we all get together and have a potluck type meal. The host family usually makes the Turkey and everyone else makes the extras. This includes the wide range of Thanksgiving staples: ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, deviled eggs, gravy, etc. Now I don't necessarily enjoy all the typical stuff, but I appreciate it.

This year, though, since about half the family wasn't here with us, there were foods that were missing. And we didn't realize it until we had sat down to eat. We almost forgot the rolls. No one brought gravy or green beans. Actually there were no vegetables at all. There was a lot of foods missing. That isnt to say that I wasn't grateful for all the food provided. And I actually at everything there, cause it was all really good and I didn't have to overload myself to try all the food on the table. So it wasn't really all that bad. But for the sake of my metaphor let's pretend it was awful. :)

I realized as I sat at the table with no gravy that each person of the family contributed a certain food to make a complete table. Without everyone there the table was missing certain elements. And I remembered what Paul had wrote about in his letter to the Corinthians about the body of Christ. And how the eye could not say to the hand that it didn't need it. Each part of the body is needed to prove to be profitable to the rest of the body. And without one part the rest of the body suffers.

I know it's a stretch, but the food missing from the table made a Thanksgiving meal that was incomplete because some of the people from the family were not there. In the same way the body of Christ is hurt when someone is missing. Each person brings something to the table, something only they know how to bring. Each person has a gift that has been given to them by God. And we all need to contribute.

Happy Thanksgiving!