At no point in human history have so many people been so well fed. Western civilization and what are called “first world” countries have, for the most part, sufficient food and sometimes even excess.
Yet social scientists tell us two out of three people on this earth live with hunger pangs every day. Humankind has for all its history been hungry. Food literally was seen to come from God. The seed went into the ground and then God did His miracle and wheat or corn or potato came out.
That’s why Jesus instructed his disciples to trust God to provide the necessities of life and to be more concerned with how “God’s Plan for the Human Race” was turning out. (“Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be given to you.”). So when the first Christians prayed God to “give us this day our daily bread” they meant just that.
Nowadays however, at least in America, daily bread is everywhere. Some of us leave more on our plate at meal’s end than many in other parts of the world have eaten all day. But for all our technologi-cal advances, experts who had hoped to see world hunger stamped out by 2050 are no longer so optimistic.
So what’s the point? Here’s two. First, God seems to have so constructed things that to end world hunger people and nations are going to have to learn how to share. (By the way, this is one of our responsibilities here at Holy Trinity – – -to ensure we carry out the Lord’s instruction to feed the hungry.)
Secondly, it seems that the more food is in abundance, the less grateful we are. Is it any less a blessing to get our kids a Happy Meal at McDonald’s drive-thru than to harvest a meager crop by the sweat of your brow? In the end- – -it all comes from God.
I do hope you take time before you eat to remember that your life, and the food set before you to nourish that life, are all a gift from God. Take time to say “thank you”. It may sound like a small thing, (it is) but it puts into practice something very important- – – -the realization that we come from God and we owe God everything we have.
Mealtime is a teachable moment for children. Pause for a moment before eating. Give thanks for the food you are about to eat. Ask that it strengthen each of us to do what we can to help others. Lastly, you might ask God to help people around the world who are hungry tonight.
With this kind of gratitude then we might just be moved to do something for those who have so very little.
Blessings to you and the family.
Fr. Tim
Thanksgiving
Lord, we thank you
for the goodness of our people
and for the spirit of justice
that fills this nation.
We thank you for the beauty and fullness of the
land and the challenge of the cities.
We thank you for our work and our rest,
for one another, and for our homes.
We thank you, Lord:
accept our thanksgiving on this day.
We pray and give thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
