Both traditions use prayer, gathering of family, and special foods to celebrate the miraculous providence of God to sustain a struggling community in a context of colonial oppression. Reflecting on how they differ may also help us overcome the ugly connotations of Thanksgiving.

Here is an eclectic collection of graces. Reverent and irreverent. All sustaining in moment, truth, and in praise. So please, enjoy. Eat well and eat in peace today and every day.

This week, the time devoted to giving thanks for all that we have became a little shorter, and the time devoted to accumulating more stuff grew longer, with the shopping orgy known as Black Friday (a name that seems more apt every year) getting started on Thanksgiving itself. At Macy's, the traditional parade balloons were followed by armed police watching as impatient shoppers, corralled within barricades, waited to get into the company's flagship store. Black Friday brought a slew of bargains coast to coast -- along with shootings, stabbings, various assaults and the trending hashtag #WalmartFights. How did a holiday meant to celebrate what's best in us come to be hijacked by a consumerist frenzy that increasingly showcases our worst impulses? Perhaps next year, between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we can officially shoehorn in Reflection Sunday.