Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever. – Psalm 107:1

 Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

For me, over the years, Thanksgiving has taken on many shapes, from deep Montana snows to Florida heatwaves and everything in between.

In England, Thanksgiving was not on the radar. So my first celebration was 1975 in Montana, at my friend John Hess’s family home in a small community west of Bozeman – I think it was called Manhattan. I remember generous hospitality, horseback riding in the snow then sitting down to an amazing feast.

In 1976 my best friend in college – Kirk – invited me to a family gathering somewhere near Orlando. Next up was feasting with Rebekah’s Perkins cousins in rural Georgia and the legendary “let’s take the foreigner to see the hogs” incident.

Bringing it home:

It wasn’t long after we moved to Pensacola that Rebekah and I started hosting. I remember long tables out on the deck with our friends Kevin and Vicki, Margie, Sandee and Bruce and other young families from our Sunday school class. Also – more than once – driving to the naval air station to pick up some stranded sailor only to discover a handful of his buddies sitting on the curb, hoping to find somewhere to go and of course bringing them home too.

In Brandon Rebekah and I played the role of Family Central, lining up church tables not just on the porch but out on the lawn too, feeding sometimes 30 and enjoying the absolute best noisy, joyful, teary-eyed, sumptuous feasts that lasted – especially once the stories started – for hours.

Those days I would stand in the kitchen during the break between dinner and dessert, surrounded by literal mountains of fine china and crystal and silver and more, and wonder how on earth anything would ever get clean. But then I would pick up just one fork and drop it in hot water and all of a sudden the process was under way, and a host of family members would swarm like a cloud of locusts and within no time we would be ready to mess up a new set of dishes for pie.

So I would put on the huge 50-cup percolator and make coffee, and within another half hour there would be more contented groans of over-fullness and people would settle back into their loud conversations and boisterous games or go for walks around the neighborhood and – in the middle of all the noise – there would be such beautiful peace.

2024 in Tarboro:

Today we are here in Tarboro, celebrating with two of our wonderful church families. And while I will not miss the massive amounts of preparation and cleanup I will miss, I do miss, the long table, the joyful feasting and the detailed repetition of familiar family stories. And – as people fall into more reflective listening – the sharing, one by one, of grateful blessings that frame the meal with thankful hearts.

The process always took the best part of another hour, and used up several boxes of tissues, and involved uproarious laughter as well as tears, and so often left me speechless when it came to my turn.

Speaking of my turn: as host I would raise my hand before the meal, and ask a blessing as the mob surrounded the kitchen, all available surfaces laden with such bounty and awash with love. Invariably I would open my mouth to begin, but then halfway through the second sentence of welcome – or maybe the third – and before I had even started to pray I would well up and become overwhelmed with joyful tears and I could not go on, could not get the words out, could scarcely utter a syllable and Rebekah would have to finish for me.

But that was all right. And I am crying now I cannot help myself. We are so blessed.

So here we are, no family around us in 2024. Soon we are traveling to Poland of course but I guess I am saying – as I leak considerably around the eyes – that I miss the crazy overwhelm and the simple joy of literally being surrounded by everything the Creator intended when God thought up this wonderful idea of community.

We are so grateful for all the family, both those who have passed on (Nell, Bob, Geoff, David, Grace, Rachel) and those who are helping still to grow the reach of love. We give thanks, even in the pain that love sometimes brings, always in the hope that love promises.

Happy Thanksgiving, family and friends. But, more to the point, may your celebration be blessed with a sense of the holy, a glimpse into the deep and wonderful truth that is The Greatest Story Ever Told.

In love, and because love never fails – DEREK