SCRIPTURE: Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field. Exodus 23:16 NIV
THOUGHT: I love a beautiful table, and American Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays with its rich color palette and focus on gratitude.
Our centerpiece this year is anchored by a narrow tin trough with corn, acorns, pinecones and sunflowers. It reminds me of the bounty of the earth as well as the sheet metal shop my Grandpa kept. I loved the smell of that workshop with its wood stove and the tools he used to make both beautiful and useful things: a paddle wheel for the ditch, watering cans, and the occasional toy truck for us kids. At the table, we will use the white ironstone I was offered when a former church decided to get new dinnerware. We use it every day and it isn’t fancy, but it’s had saints eating off of it more than 100 years, and that means something.
A beautiful table is one someone took time and joy in planning, designed not only for the taste buds but for the spirit of the friends and family who will gather there. The hope is that gratitude will be the favorite dish as we celebrate the “ingathering” once again.
It doesn’t need to be expensive to be filled with beauty and meaning, and I expect that’s what the original Sukkot celebrations were like (aka Festival of Ingathering), when the Jewish people went up to Jerusalem and lived for a week in a small tent. It was a time of great joy, of celebrating harvest as well as remembering God’s provision in the wilderness. Simple, but infused with meaning, even as I hope our table will be.
SONG: Come Ye Thankful People, Come https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKunxihPDxM
PRAYER: Oh God, thank you for the bounty you supply; friends, family, and a festival at the table where we celebrate ingathering.
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Blogger Amy Clemens is the author of Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. In it she explores childhood sexual abuse and how it impacted her faith (or lack thereof) for four decades. You’ll find not only her story, but better yet, the Big Story of God.
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