Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving here. As we've already had two Thanksgiving dinners in the past week (one on Saturday with ten of our colleagues in our apartment, one on Tuesday with the entire faculty and staff of our school in a restaurant on the American army base), Leslie and I did not have Thanksgiving Dinner today. We have the day off. We slept in; Leslie worked on her graduate school applications; I washed dishes; Leslie made us fried eggplant and asparagus for dinner. Leslie watched an episode of Modern Family, which she and the Emmy Awards love but I find intolerably embarrassing.

Tuesday afternoon, North Korea launched an artillery barrage on the island of Yeongpyeong. We initially wondered whether this would cause the closing of the American base and prevent us from having our Thanksgiving dinner, but it did not. South Korea, and the American military command here, have grown accustomed to having a spiteful and unpredictable neighbor to the north, and this attack was not enough to cause the closing of the base, or to force any noticeable changes in the day-to-day life of this city. For my part, I have engaged a few People On The Internet Who Are Wrong on this topic (people who seem to believe that North Korea has the right to order South Korea not to hold military exercises, and to shell South Korean-held territory when its orders are not obeyed) but life for us has not changed very much as a result of this new North Korean atrocity.

Meghan, our colleague who did the bulk of the planning for our Saturday Thanksgiving Dinner, designated me as the grace-sayer, and I took the assignment seriously, perhaps too seriously. The grace that I wrote included a petition expressing gratitude for the peace and safety in which we live, and praying for South Korea's government. To anyone reading who is the praying kind, we are in need of your prayers for peace on the Korean Peninsula now more than ever.

Here's what I said right before our Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday:

Almighty and Most Merciful God,

Your goodness and faithfulness and loving-kindness are everlasting and all-encompassing.

The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.

You open wide your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living creature.

We thank you for the feast before us,

for the soil and the rain and the sun that made it grow,

for the laborers who worked to grow it and make it available for our table,

and for the skilled hands of those gathered here who prepared it for us to eat.

Bless the earth and the labors of all who work to grow food from it,

that everyone all over the world may be fed.

We thank you for the people gathered around the table here,

for the times we have shared together and the time we are sharing now.

Bless this meal, that our bodies may be nourished, and this gathering, that our friendships may also be nourished.

And in your mercy grant, we pray, that all people everywhere may know the joys of friendship and camaraderie and love.

We thank you for our good health, and we lift up before you those who are sick or injured, both known and unknown to us. Comfort and sustain all who suffer illness or pain, and all those who care for them.

We thank you for our families and friends who are far away from us. Bless and keep them, and grant that we may be reunited with them one day soon.

We thank you that in these uncertain times we have work to put our hands to.

We lift up before you those whom we know who are unemployed, or underemployed, or facing unemployment;

and we ask your blessing on them and on all people who do not have a means of living, or who live in uncertainty.

We thank you for our school, our colleagues, and our students.

Grant Euysung and Jeannie and Steve the wisdom and discernment they need in leading our faculty and guiding our school.

Prosper us and our colleagues in our labors, and prosper our students in their studies.

We thank you that in an uncertain world we live in peace and safety, and we thank you for the governments and institutions that protect us.

Bless, prosper, and guide the President and the National Assembly of South Korea,

the President and the Congress of the United States,

the Prime Minister and the Parliament of Canada,

and all those throughout the world whom you have raised as leaders.

Make them just and wise, and grant that they may seek the common good rather than their own glory.

Dear God, make us truly thankful for the extravagant plenty in which we live, and mindful of the many blessings we have received. Keep us mindful, too, of those whom we are called to serve.

Our bodily needs are provided for;

keep us mindful of those who are hungry, or thirsty, or cold,

and of our duties toward those less fortunate than ourselves.

We rejoice and give thanks here in the company of friends;

keep us mindful of those who are lonely,

and of how we can be neighbors to those around us.

Grant that we may live long, happy, and holy lives,

grateful for each day we are given and its attendant blessings;

and bring us all at last to join with you and the saints and angels and all who have gone before us in the Thanksgiving feast that will have no end.

Merciful God, grant all these things and whatever else you see that we need, for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen