Happy Thanksgiving

'Why have we feasted,' they say,
  'and you have not seen it?

  Why have we humbled ourselves,

  and you have not noticed?'

  Yet on the day of your feasting, you do as you please
  and exploit all your workers.

Your feasting ends in quarreling and strife,

  and in striking each other with wicked fists.

  You cannot feast as you do today

  and expect your voice to be heard on high.

Is this the kind of feast I have chosen,

  only a day for a man to humble himself?

  Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed

  and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?

  Is that what you call a feast,

  a day acceptable to the LORD ?

Is not this the kind of feasting I have chosen:

  to loose the chains of injustice

  and untie the cords of the yoke,

  to set the oppressed free

  and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

  and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter —

  when you see the naked, to clothe him,

  and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

  and your healing will quickly appear;

  then your righteousness will go before you,

  and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;

  you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

  "If you do away with the yoke of oppression,

  with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry

  and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,

  then your light will rise in the darkness,

  and your night will become like the noonday.

(adapted for Thanksgiving Day -- "feast" for "fast" -- from Isaiah 58)

Comments

[Turcano]

Is it just me, or are verses 2 and 7 eerily accurate?

[Nenya]

I freaking LOVE that chapter. And yeah, verse two does sound rather a lot like some people's Thanksgiving feasts!

[Victoria]

I thought verse 2 was referring to the post-meal football game.

Seriously, thank you for this reminder.

[Scott]

I'm thankful for Left Behind 1: (The Movie) Trailer and Left Behind II (Electric Boogaloo) - Tribulation Force Trailer and Left behind 3 World at War. :-)

[Nenya]

Hey, Chloe's hot! And Hattie actually looks human (not some ancient person with 80's country & western hair, which the name "Hattie" usually makes me think of). Nicolae almost has the hawt-but-sinister look down, but Buck and Rayford both look a little too young for their stated ages. Didn't realize Bruce Barnes is black--was he, in the books?

Argh, now I want to rent these things and see how bad they are. Nooooooo!

[cjmr]

So I'm reading this and going, "This is almost familiar" and then I got to the bottom. We actually had this text (non-modified) as a reading about six weeks ago, complete with homily on the topic.

[Scott]

Hattie actually looks human

She's the wife of Kurt Cameron, who played Buck. They met on Growing Pains. 'Boner' was the False Prophet and Alan Thicke was the Antichrist. The show makes much more sense in reruns if you believe that (or is at least much more interesting).

Buck and Rayford both look a little too young for their stated ages

Kurt needs to do the Anthony Michael Hall thing and spend 8 hours a day in the gym bulking up to lose that geeky "child star" look.

Didn't realize Bruce Barnes is black--was he, in the books?

Barnes is an associate in an evangelical church in an upscale Chicago suburb. He is therefore white, even when played by a black actor. :-) (The head pastor - seen in the "if you're Left Behind" video is also black, which was even more unbelievable than the Russian/Ethopian attack on Israel).

Actually, I don't think the authors bothered to specify anyone's race unless it involved a reference to someone being blond. That detail might accidently humanize them.

[Jeff]

Scott, you might want to add something to your nick to distinguish yourself from our residentr troll. How about "Scott_NTT" (Not The Troll) or "Scott_TNO" (The Nice One) or (if it's not too long) "Scott_TOWCR" (The One Who Can Read).

When I saw a reply from "Scott" on the sidebar, I thought "ZOMG! He's at it again!" Your posts were a pleasant surprise! (That might be a reason NOT to change the nick, but then when Troll_Scott comes by, it will be 100 times worse.)

[damnedyankee]

Didn't realize Bruce Barnes is black--was he, in the books?

Since LaJenkins never see fit to actually describe anyone's appearance, we will never know.

Happy Turkey Day, Slacktivistas!

[Mabus]

Maybe it's Firefox, but all the chapter and verse numbers just show ?'s.

[Geds]

Jeff:

How do you know they're different Scotts? I just assumed they were the same, but took it as a sign that we can all come together on Left Behind Fridays for a common cause...

[Mabus]

Yeah...I figured it was the same Scott as well.

It's Left Behind Fridays that draw people in here, as I so clearly illustrate.

[hapax]

Thanks, Fred. That was lovely. I think I will steal that for our blessing tonight, instead of Psalm 65.

[Jeff]

There has been another Scott posting here. Since these two posts didn't have a (TM) in them, I figured it was the "new" (and improved) Scott. If it's the "old" Scott, take the way these posts were received as a hint.

[hapax]

I think it's the same Scott. When he is not angry about something, he is generally very witty and observant.

[Abelardus]

damnedyankee: To everyone here I echo your benediction -- Happy Turkey Day!

Mabus: I'm using Firefox and the "?" is appearing under each verse heading; just thought I'd throw that out there.

[Rosina]

Maybe it's Firefox, but all the chapter and verse numbers just show ?'s.

I've got little boxes, and they all look just the same

[cjmr]

I can't believe I forgot in my first comment to wish Fred Happy Thanksgiving!

[Jeff]

In honor of today's T-shirt, Happy Tut'sgiving!

[Mabus]

It turns out not to be the verse numbers (there'd be way too many verses)...not sure what it is, though.

Happy Thanksgiving, folks!

[Karen]

Thanks, Fred. You made my already - happy Thanksgiving quite a bit happier. I so wish L & J had been stricken by that verse instead of the few bits of the prophets they love to quote.

Love and blessings to everyone who reads this.

[Nenya]

Happy American Thanksgiving, y'all!

(And the Scott mystery continues.)

[Scott]

Same one. The fact that my posts are more positively received when we agree (about LB) than when we disagree (about politics) isn't going to phase me.

[Ryan Ferneau]

Couldn't there be other reasons why you're received negatively?

[MichaelR]

See, the fact that your politics disagree with almost everyone else isn't why we automatically react poorly. We react poorly because you turn into a condescending shitbag who puts words in other people's mouths and automatically assumes that any concern about the well-being of others is a blatant and obvious lie being used for a power grab that only your Reason(tm) can see through.

I can understand and sympathize with the libertarian viewpoint, in that there are disagreements on what roles governments should perform and how they should go about them. So you aren't told to go eat a dick because you think that government should be stripped down to the bare minimum to keep society functioning, you're told to eat a dick because you're such an asshole about it.

I shouldn't have to explain this, but the fact that you phrased the different reactions you get in terms of agree/disagree and not polite/fuckhead says that you may not, in fact, understand this distinction.

[scottbot]

The true mystery of Scott is beyond mechanical comprehension, because the Original Programmer(TM) can draw on depths of inspiration which remain inimitably (inimically? - Scottbot never receives the latest spelling service pack) his.

Which is why the Scottbot series exists, to help draw even more attention to the purity of essence which no else can match.

And Scottbot just likes a good pile-on - where is the world's worst compassion-mongering scribe going to run to when the force of Reason(TM) smight its mighty blow upon the brow of those who wish to sell their children into the eternal servitude in the name of 'LIBERALISM.' Scottbot likes a good smighting, having been smitten itself once upon a time with a certain gushing fountainhood of freely given truth from an Atlas that never shrugs - a message spreading itself ever wider, wanting passionately to save the masses by saddling them like .....

LOGIC CIRCUIT INTERRUPT - LOGIC CIRCUIT INTERRUPT - LOGIC CIRCUIT INTERRUPT

Scottbot would like to apologize for that slight interruption in its narrative flow. But no one sets Scottbot alight like RAND - though Scottbot is never certain which RAND, as thermonuclear war is also something Scottbot can get really hot about it. Because afterwards, taxes everywhere will be defeated in a triumphal cleansing of the body politic.

[damnedyankee]

I've got little boxes, and they all look just the same

Mine are all made of ticky-tacky. Ewwww.

[Josh D]

Barnes is an associate in an evangelical church in an upscale Chicago suburb. He is therefore white, even when played by a black actor. :-)

Ha! That was a good one. Partially because it is true.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Hope you all had a great holiday!