Take a minute to think about the meaning behind Thanksgiving. It was a time when the Pilgrims and the Indians shared a meal together for the first time. Two completely different groups of people shared a meal together. What an amazing tradition, a time every year that we get to come together with family and friends to share a meal and express all the things we are thankful for.
This Thanksgiving looks a little bit untraditional for me. I never imagined I would be spending Thanksgiving in Ethiopia, cooking chili and mashed potatoes over a wood stove. Usually my Thanksgiving is spent running the Turkey Trot with my family and then spending the rest of the day sleeping and eating. I love Thanksgiving because it a time of year where my crazy, slightly messed up, amazing family gathers together. Although, I do not get to spend Thanksgiving this year with my family and friends in Ohio, I got to experience an amazing time with our Ethiopian family, which made it PERFECT!
As I was sitting there watching all of us come together in fellowship to eat and sing I could not help but to think of the body of Christ. I think this verse summarizes our experience well:
“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we are all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”
– 1Corinthians 12:12-13
Although from different countries, upbringings and lifestyles, we are all part of the body of Christ. That’s the beauty of the body of Christ. No matter where you are from, you are still part of the body and we are all family because of it. Jesus brings people together. This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for the very untraditional meal we got to share with our family here in Ethiopia. O and I am thankful for the 7 kilos of beans that went into making the meal delicious! What are you thankful for?
HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM ETHIOPIA!!!
Megan
