Month: November 2022

The Day After, or, The Leftovers’ Lament

‘Twas the day after Thanksgiving and all through the house,

Leftovers were waiting for me and my spouse.

Though they knew we were stuffed, too bloated to eat,

It wouldn’t be long till we grabbed some more meat.

 

So they gathered to meet on the fridge’s top shelf,

There were green beans, and ‘taters, and turkey itself.

They wondered aloud which would be first to go,

And which would remain for a week or so.

 

So they made a list of which foods remained,

“Just to be ready,” the sweet corn explained.

Each food replied when they called the roll:

Potatoes, and corn and a baked casserole.

 

Turkey and stuffing and a red Jell-o dish,

And rolls and jelly and even a fish!

Said the gravy, so tasty, “I guess we’re all here.”

But they noticed the ham was shedding a tear.

 

“What’s wrong?” they all asked, “There’s plenty still left.”

But the ham still cried; it was just too bereft.

“Something’s missing – it’s been all used up,”

It just won’t be there, the next time they sup.”

 

“What could it be, since there’s still so much food?”

“What would make you so sad and cause you to brood?”

Asked the corn of the ham, as it heard it cry.

Said the ham, “I will tell you,” and gave out a sigh.

 

“Thanksgiving is great for thanking the Lord,

For surely he’s worthy to be so adored.

But the thanks given that day sure run out so fast,

There’s none of it left for the coming repast.”

 

“You would think each meal, and other things, too,

Would make people grateful for blessings so true,

But missing the day set aside for that reason,

They just go on, season to season.”

 

“So they gobble their food, and finish their course,

But don’t even think to honor its source.

It causes me pain, I’m sad to say,

That thanks are used up on Thanksgiving Day.”

 

The ham was done; it had said its piece,

And now their talking did stop and cease.

For they knew the ham’s words were only too true,

So now I must ask, “Are they true for you?”

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Psalm 100:4; Philippians 4:6; 1 Timothy 4:4.

Who Do You Think You Are?

One of the few shows Karen and I watch on TV is called, “Who Do You Think You Are?” In each episode, a celebrity searches for his or her family history with the help of historians and genealogists. They usually learn amazing and surprising things about their ancestors, including one who was tried as a witch in 1600s Salem, another who was a refugee from the Nazi holocaust, and still another who was sent as a “Daughter of the King” (Fille du Roi) to French Canada in the 1600s to wed a French settler. The show is fascinating, and often very moving for the celebrities when they discover their history.

I find the stories fascinating for a couple of reasons. First, because of the history involved. I have always enjoyed reading about history, and here are people who lived that history and helped shape it. Second, I have always been fascinated by my own family history, ever since doing a school project back in junior high. This has especially been true the last two years, when I inherited my parents’ family journals, records and old photos. Karen and I have been researching and building our family trees, filling the gaps with new information and stories we never heard while growing up.

So, if you asked me, “Who do you think you are?” I could go back several hundred years to a Scotch-Irish immigrant in 1630 or a German widow who sailed to America in the 1860s, to survivors of the Great Chicago Fire, to pioneers living in a sod house on the Kansas prairie, to a Civil War soldier captured by the Confederates at the Second Battle of Winchester, and to a Methodist circuit riding preacher in the Dakotas.

I have enjoyed learning these things about my family, but really, they are not who I am. If you asked me who I think I am, my answer would be very different. Not that I reject my family history, nor am I ashamed of it. Like every family mine has had both heroes and scalawags (hopefully, I will be counted among the former and not the latter!) Also, I know that what has gone before has shaped who I am today – both genetically and regarding my beliefs and values; for these I am indebted to my parents who raised me and taught me about life. And yet, regardless of what has gone before, I do not find my identity in such things.

Nor do I find my identity in current cultural fads which try to group everybody into sub categories based on race, ethnicity, language, social status, and gender. Oh sure, I could attach a bunch of labels to myself to show how “woke”* I am, (I am a cisgendered, white, English-speaking Anglo-Saxon male whose pronouns are me, myself, and I), but those don’t really identify who I am. So who or what am I?

I am a Christian. When it comes down to the one identity that really matters, that is it. That one identity changes everything and is more important than anything else that could be said about me, or by me. In that identity, I have faith, hope, love, and life itself. In that identity I have the knowledge of worth, the assurance of forgiveness, and the hope of eternal life to come. In that identity I find meaning, strength, and direction. In that identity, I have a relationship with the God of the universe. What other identity could possibly be greater than that?

I am a Christian, not through birth or inheritance, but through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Romans 10:9 says, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” And we have the well-known promise of John 3:16, which says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” My family certainly played an important part in teaching me the Bible, taking me to church, baptizing me, and modeling the Christian life, but it was my own faith which God required of me.

As Christians, there are other identities which follow and help identify and explain who we are. Consider the following:

  1. We are children of God. My confirmation verse was John 1:12, which says, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” This means several wonderful things. It means we can call God, “Father” or “Abba” (Daddy). There’s a personal relation-ship, in which we can call directly on him. Second, as his children we share his only-begotten Son’s inheritance (Acts 20:32, Ephesians 1:11a – “In him we have obtained an inheritance,” and 1 Peter 1:3-5). As his children, we are freed from our natural bondage to sin, to become sons who remain in God’s house forever (John 8:35).
  2. We are saints. By faith, our sins are removed from us. The filthy rags of our own attempts at goodness are stripped away and replaced by Christ’s own glorious robes of righteousness. Isaiah 64:6 says, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” In Philippians 3:9, Paul explains the basis for his hope: “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ —the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.” In turn, Paul addressed his fellow believers as “saints” in his letters to them (Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:2, Colossians 1:2, etc.).
  3. We are sinners. Ouch! You would think this part of our identity would just go away with our adoption as God’s children. Unfortunately, though, this condition, though temporary, does continue to plague us in this life. We continue to sin, though we don’t want to. We fall to the same temptations too often, and do things we know are forbidden by God – whether outwardly or in our hearts and minds – such as lust, pride, jealousy, and greed. We also sin by failing to do what God commands us to do. Jesus told us the greatest of the commandments was to love God with our whole heart and mind and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves; who of us can say we have truly done that? That’s why, even as Christians, we confess in our weekly worship, ” We have sinned against you in thought word and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart, we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.” Thanks be to God that our sins are forgiven, even when they are too numerous to mention in a single prayer!
  4. We are new creations.  As Christians, we are not just “modified” by our faith, but rather we are made new. Paul wrote, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).  Whereas, in our first birth we were subject to sin and death, in Christ we are reborn children of God and inheritors of eternal life. Christ breaks our original bondage (Romans 8:21) to sin and sets us free (John 8:36) to live as we were unable to do before. The old self dies; the new self will live on. If you are like me, you probably wish you could get a few “do-overs” in your life, to correct mistakes, avoid hurts, and make things right; in Christ we get more than that – we get a new life.
  5. Finally, we are Christ’s disciples, called by him to follow him wherever he may lead us. While it is faith alone which saves us, the new life in Christ calls for us to:
    • follow (John 12:26 “If anyone serves me, he must follow me.”)
    • serve others (Matthew 5:16 “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”)
    • obey his commandments (Matthew 28:20 “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”)
    • make other disciples throughout the world (Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”) so that people of every nation, tribe, and language will receive their new identities in Christ.
    • and be willing to give up everything, even our lives, for Christ’s sake (Matthew 10:38 “And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.)

When a Christian lives out his or her new identity, it honors God and blesses the Christian who does the things which God desires. As Luther said, “Good works do not make a man good, but a good man does good works.” We do not earn our place in God’s kingdom; God gives us our new identities by his grace through faith. But we get to serve him with our lives, How great is that!

So who do you think I am? The more important question is, “Who does God think I am?” He calls me his beloved child, and that is good enough for me!

Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Romans 7:21-25; Romans 21:1-8; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21.

*See my blog from October 6, 2020, “Are You Woke,” for more comment.