My fortune cookie read “It’s important to me that money not be important to me.” Hmmm, okay, I’ll think about that. It is interesting though that those little fortune cookie pieces of wisdom that none of us can resist opening (even if we don’t eat the cookie) were not originally from China. They were, in fact, developed here in this country as a novelty to boost sales. They are in fact, about as Chinese as Chop Suey.

It’s interesting to me how many “traditions” are nothing like the reality that they are supposed to represent. The “freedom of religion” that we value so highly, was orginally just the freedom to practice MY religion, but did not necessarily extend to your freedom to practice YOUR religion. A Roman Catholic in Massachusetts was not free to practice his religion, nor was a Protestant in Maryland free to practice his. That is what made the Quakers of Pennsylvania so unique, because everyone was free to practice their religion.

The same is true of Thanksgiving that we shall be celebrating together in a few weeks. There is a lot of tradition around that time of celebration; some of it true, some of it not so true. But the thing about tradition is, that whether it is true or not, it is what it means to us now that is the most important. Nobody cares where fortune cookies really came from, or whether or not the freedom of religion was a part of our original concept as colonies; what is important now is, that fortune cookies are fun and we have a bed rock belief that everyone, regardless of their religion should have the right to worship as they please.

So, as we celebrate Thanksgiving, don’t think too much about the distant past and what it may or not have meant to our country or even to our family; think of it in terms of what it means to you now. Think of it in terms of what God is doing in THIS time and in THIS place and, what God is doing with YOU. This is what will put the thankfulness in your Thanksgiving.

I’ll see you in church. - Roy