The valley where I live is in November’s glory now, all orange and gold with the dotted exception of evergreens. A remarkable sight every year, I especially enjoy the burnished mountainside gleaming like a polished copper kettle in the sun.

It is a crisp, crystalline afternoon, the best kind in Maine.  A little cold is necessary to make this sharp clarity happen. I watch the clouds that cause great shadows to move across the earth, across the dried marsh reeds that wave in the brisk breeze like wheat.  The earth is fair, at times blond, at this time of year. I breathe, taking in the clean air… taking in the whole world.

Inside the house the bread dough has risen. My small daughter accompanies as I place the risen dough in the oven. In my home we bake our own bread, a great gift taught me by my husband.

Yet this routine activity feels different today: we are baking bread with Thanksgiving in mind, and somehow it feels different. There is a peaceful air in my house this afternoon. My child reaches for me… and we cuddle for a time. She gets many kisses and smiles with her whole body.

Thanksgiving is the annual celebration of what we try to practice all year long: gratitude for every aspect of our lives.

It's a secular holiday, to which everyone is invited to the table.

American households, no matter their background, tradition or religious beliefs, set a table and prepare a meal for beloved company in a manner usually reserved for the Eucharist or the Sabbath. On this day we

take ordinary staples – poultry, potatoes, bread – and transform them with our very best into an extraordinary feast.

I have heard that ‘Bethlehem’ means ‘House of Bread.’  This creates a vivid image for me, in relation to the Lord's Prayer, the Last Supper, and the Bread of Life.

In John Dominic Crossan’s book The Essential Jesus (Harper San Francisco, 1989), the author revisits the original sayings of Jesus in this manner. For example:

The kingdom of God is like this

A woman took some leaven

hid it in her dough

and baked a batch of bread

But how is the Kingdom of God like that?

Leaven, or yeast, is the ingredient that makes dough ‘rise.’ It works wonders as it interacts with other ingredients like water, flour and sugar. In this passage, Crossan’s use of the word ‘hid’ is powerful.

What are you hiding, like a secret treasure, that is a source of your joy?

What spiritual sustenance do you raise up and share with those around you?

Every day of our life is presented like a new loaf of bread: infused with the leaven of love, kneaded by a smiling baker, offered to us fresh and warm for the taking.

Jesus knew bread.