Dear St. John's Community,
As an immigrant to the US, I came to Thanksgiving later than many of you. But it quickly became one of my favorite holidays. Food, family and giving thanks to God for our many blessings (together with a stubborn resistance to commercialization) seemed the perfect holiday.
As time has gone by, my understanding of the holiday has changed – not least in relation to the foundational myth of settlers and Native Americans sitting down together in harmony. As we know, it wasn't quite like that even then – and became less and less so. And yet, that harmony should still be a goal, and would truly be something worth giving thanks for.
On Saturday a group of about 20 of us took the morning, guided by the amazing Hazel Monae, the Bishop's Missioner for Equity & Justice, to talk about truth and reconciliation. A central part of our conversation was about a documentary called Dawnland, which follows the work of the truth and reconciliation commission established by the State of Maine and the Wabanaki First Nation.
The purpose of the commission was to uncover what had happened to the many, many children taken from their Wabanaki (and other First Nation) families and placed in white families in contravention of a 1978 federal law. It is a searing, sobering story, especially at Thanksgiving, because what became clear is that the truth of the Wabanaki peoples was buried underneath a different story constructed by others. And that is the truth that must emerge before reconciliation can take place.
But, as we also discussed on Saturday, if we are prepared to look inside ourselves to discover what is really true about us, and if we are prepared to let others rediscover their own story, the truth about themselves, then reconciliation becomes possible.
So, this Thanksgiving let us certainly give thanks to God for seedtime and harvest, but let us also seek to honor God and one another by working together to reestablish harmony. Let us strive to turn our national myth into reality. Truth can be painful, and achieving reconciliation can be really hard – but if we can help harmony grow, then imagine how much thanks we could really give.
Blessings,
Will
