This Sunday is my favorite day of the year to be a resident of this special island. First, since it is a Sunday, we’ll have our worship service at the church at 10:00 am, and all are cordially invited to attend. Then, at 1:00 pm, we hold our Community Thanksgiving feast. People from all corners of the island will gather together at D’Fuskies to share in this special event, bringing their favorite side dish and getting to break bread with others who are just crazy enough to want to live on a bridgeless island.
This is the 36th year that our community has held this event, and it has grown and evolved considerably from the earliest days of the pot-luck feast. The variety of people and food now present has expanded, even to the point of some folks making this week the time for their annual vacation on Daufuskie just to be a part of the event. Yet some of the keys to getting the most out of this event have remained unchanged.
First, come with an attitude of gratitude, since it is a thanksgiving feast. To simply be able to enjoy a delicious meal in the company of friends while on Daufuskie Island is worth a tremendous outpouring of gratitude. To come to the event with any other mindset is to miss the entire point of it. So many people are living out their lives only dreaming that some day they could come to a place like Daufuskie, and we are the fortunate ones who get to wake up here every day. We are blessed, and it is right for us to express it often.
Second, have fun making a side dish or dessert. Please don’t just go to the store and buy something that you unwrap and serve. I know that some of you feel like you might be doing us a service by sparing us from a potential food-poisoning incident, but if that is the case, get a frozen pie and bake it, then bring it along. However, if you have your grandmother’s recipe for something that you really enjoy, give it a try and let us draw closer to each other by sharing in your memories as we taste something that is significant to you.
Third, drawing from this last point, remember that this special event is all about fellowship. We come together from our different neighborhoods to celebrate as members of the same community, so the time that we spend together making new connections and strengthening existing relationships is important. This isn’t the time to grab a plate and head home; rather, it is a time to set aside a few hours for the purpose of breaking bread together. As you are waiting in line to get your food, strike up conversations with those around you. Sit around folks that you don’t know very well, and enjoy your meal with them. After you have eaten, keep the conversations flowing and bask in the fellowship of the event. Don’t be in a hurry to go, but instead allow the time that our special community deserves.
Follow these three points, and you will contribute to a community tradition that ranks at the very top of the list of annual events. However, if you can’t bring a dish with you, just come anyway and join in the fellowship. After all, while the food is delicious, the thing that matters most here are the lasting relationships that we form and strengthen. Those relationships are the things that we will be most grateful for.
Peace and blessings – Pastor Aaron