I am sitting in the library in Spokane, Washington working on my sermon for Sunday. We will spend Thanksgiving with our son for the first time in eight years. Not since he left for college have we had Thanksgiving with him, and our whole family. He now has a house in Spokane, where he went to school and his wife has her family here in town as well.
In order for us to do this we left Tuesday, drove 16 1/2 hours, and will drive back Saturday, hopefully in no more than Tuesday's drive, so I can preach on Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent.
As I work here I notice that there are a variety of people frequenting the library the day before Thanksgiving. Some I saw earlier today who seem to be coming and going with a certain amount of regularity and others who are wandering with little purpose, other than just keeping warm. True there are some checking out books or tapes or DVDs, but not everyone here as a home to go to.
A man dressed in a blue work shirt, red suspenders, and a baseball cap on his head, keeping the wisps of gray hair somewhat in control, is straightening up the chairs at each table. Periodically he wipes some crumbs or paper lint off the table into his hand which then finds its way into his pocket.
Another man, with a hooded red sweat shirt, I saw earlier today, is visiting again, though this time he also has on a black coat as well. He is pulling a Time magazine from the rack, but five minutes later he replaces the magazine, slings his backpack over his shoulder, and heads back out the door, once again.
A casually dressed woman with sunglasses on her head has abandoned her computer to show another gentleman how to find whatever he is searching for, without apparent success. She is back to her own now but is checking in periodically to see how he is doing.
I just happened to see a friend, someone we knew in San Jose about twenty years ago, as I sought out the restroom. She was on the phone talking shop to a co-worker about who could teach the new class being offered. We chatted about our Thanksgiving plans, hers being off to Portland tomorrow so she was checking out some books on tape.
Where will these others be tomorrow? There will be eleven people at my son's, the first Thanksgiving in his new home, and we will celebrate again the joining of two families.
Since the library is closed tomorrow no one will be here, but I hope and pray that those visiting today will find a place where they can go. A place that can offer warmth for the stomach as well as warmth for their bodies.
I am so grateful that we always have a place to go, if not with our family in Washington we have family in California. Also I have no concerns that there will enough food on Thanksgiving day where ever I am, I just hope that if someone in need crosses my path I can offer them a word of encouragement and hope, maybe even more than that.
That is what the first Sunday of Advent will be about, a reminder that as we wait for the next coming of our Lord we will hope and not falter from our living life with thankful heart and sharing that hope with others.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Pastor Randy
