a glimpse towards Sunday 11.22.13

We would get up early on Thanksgiving and immediately turn on the Macy’s Parade. Most of the time my dad would be up early doing hard-core turkey stuff. As a kid, the turkey prep seemed an odd ritual. Because of our huge family (9 siblings) our home was typically the gathering place. Consequently, our turkeys were huge. 23lbs+ was quite standard.

My dad would massage butter over the entire bird, always wrestling with it right there on the kitchen counter. It was like a Man vs Poultry UFC match which dad always won. The process struck me as quirky then, but now is a fond Thanksgiving remembrance. And now with my own family, I use olive oil and a pan. Sometimes I win.

Of course there are other memories. Football and Thanksgiving go hand in hand, both playing and watching it. Mom’s relish trays we never saw any other time of the year. Pickled beets, spiced/sliced apples, those little sweet gherkin pickles, and cheeses were the mainstays. Kind of odd. Like a lot of people, we ate too much, and then we napped.

As quirky, fond, or weird as all of this may seem now, or may seem to you, this was Thanksgiving. Year after year. I always looked forward to it, but it was pretty much the same. Present day Thanksgivings at our own Bentle household, while lacking the pickled beets and butter-massaged turkey, are similarly quasi-automatic and programmed.

This week we’ll be looking Mark 14:12-21 as Jesus and the disciples prepared for and begin what ended up becoming the Last Supper. I wonder what the disciples thought as they got ready for a meal they’d had dozens of times. I wonder how “automatic” or “programmed” their preparation was. I wonder if they expected anything big.

God has shown me some connections between this coming Thursday and Jesus’ last Passover. He’s shown me some dots representing me, you and the disciples that are pretty cool. And with those dots connected, then by God’s grace, this Thanksgiving could be way, way more significant than what we’re expecting. Look forward to being together.

Peace,

Doug

Weekly Giving | 11/17/2013

$24,977.24

Weekly Need $29,000