Three curious but very interesting essays on “thanksgiving” and its affect or relationship to theology & praxis. First is this from Religion Dispatches an Indian perspective, with what I think is a very positive ending:

“Without a major shift in the way humans thinks about the earth, humans are not only causing the extinction of the biodiversity of the natural world, but also our own descendents. Facing the future must be more than driving a hybrid and recycling aluminum.

We must recognize that tribalism is the most successful human social institution in the world. Tribes have survived the longest war in human history, the war against aboriginal people—and millions of people are turning to those traditions for spiritual sustenance in the modern world.

Preservation of native languages, the key to understanding our philosophy, should be paramount to all universities and museums. While academics are assisting living traditions to preserve our languages and cultures, they need to release the dead and their last offerings they now hold captive. If the Pilgrims could do it in order to learn native agricultural practices, so too can modern society.”

Next, we have an essay from Catholicanarchy.org which effectively reflects on the surreal perverseness of “thanksgiving”.

“. . .[I]t should concern conscientious Christians that the way we “celebrate” “our” “blessings” on this day is to slaughter millions of turkeys in a gluttonous, perverse “sacrament.” But how fitting, isn’t it, that we would ritualize a celebration of american life and culture—a “culture of death” through and through from its founding until today—by treating millions of God’s creatures as if they were mere objects.”

While at the same time acknowledging that to abstain altogether from the feast is more or less just as bad as celebrating it in the first place (grin).

For these two (above) offerings I must “give thanks” to Huw over at Sarx for bringing them to light.

Finally and this also comes from Religion Dispatches, The Sacramental American Day is directly related to the above offerings, describing the idea of the American Civil Religion of which “Thanksgiving” is a major . . . . “holiday”.

So what does this have to do with things OC/IC? Well . . . first these essays raise some interesting questions about the theology of feast days. The real ones. The other day I wondered out loud about the quality and character of the prayers we use (sometimes without thinking) in our liturgies. Now – extending that a bit – I’m wondering are there any feasts, or commemorations in our existing liturgical cycles that are equally “un-christian”?

My community for example is currently 1/2 way through a project to reform the cycle of commemorations one of the things we are looking out for is individuals or events commemorated for a reason “other” than exemplifying the teachings of the Gospel z.b. zealous loyalty to the Bishop of Rome, or being caught up in a political controversey. Its not easy – I’ll grant you that – but it is worth considering what we are commemorating, when we read the dyptichs so to speak.

Johnny Flynn’s comment (quoted above) at the end of his essay No Turkey for Me, about the value of tribalism is also interesting in our indie context. Why? Simple, too often our folks are “tribal” for all the wrong reasons! Indeed I would go so far as to argue that indie folks tend to be vehemently “anti-tribal” in the name of inclusivity, but viscerally “tribal” in the name of preserving priviledge, and a false sense of independence.

Coming from an ethnic background I have a great sense of pride in, and appreciation for the “pros” of tribalism, while at the same time understanding that there are a few real “cons” – I’ve always wondered though if our indie movement has lost a great deal of its “umph”, cohesion, and continuity, precisely because it has reacted negatively against the intstitutionalism of other traditions (mistakenly associating it with “tribalism”)? Maybe we would benefit from a re-evaluation of the differences between institutionalism, and tribalism? It might breath a bit of fresh air over an otherwise stagnant pond.