I believe this was in print before we learned the theology of puff pastry:
A year ago, I prepared a last minute Thanksgiving feast for my husband, kids and myself. In the end, it was a lot of food for just four people and sure enough, we had a lot of leftovers. While I was grateful for God’s bounty, I wasn’t exactly jumping up and down at the thought of eating the same thing for the next four days. But letting even a morsel go to waste wasn’t an option, so I improvised that year and lovingly turned those mundane extras into something better.
There is beauty and joy in such things. Turning an inferior “has-been” into a shining star is somehow so fulfilling and therapeutic. As with the restoration of a rusty classic car or the renovation of a once-stately building, our human nature relishes the return of a forgotten and unremarkable outcast.
And so does our Lord. For without his redemption, our souls would be corrupt and unworthy – even worse than four-day-old turkey. But with Christ’s saving grace and redemption our souls can be made new and perfect and desirable again. So while Thanksgiving is a great time to pause and express our gratitude for what we have, I find that by creatively reworking the leftovers on the days that follow Thanksgiving, we participate in a great metaphor for redemption. And that is what we should all be most thankful for!
For a critique of stories like this from a truly conservative Roman Catholic (not a logical Roman Catholic), check this out (sorry it’s a video and not much of one but the point it makes about Christian lameness is well worth hearing) and see if it brings back memories of the print version of By Faith.
Old Life 
Watched the video. Why can’t the superior paradigm make Catholics less trivial and banal than us Protestants?
and it’s “ban-all”, not “bay-nal” (rhymes with “anal”).
The Priests in Lansing need to consult this site to get with the times:
http://heavyforthevintage.com/
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Celebrating Rob Bell:
http://heavyforthevintage.com/2014/03/19/art-asking/
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ByFaith — practically the same mag. Some of us hate-filled old school PCA troglodytes tried to de-fund it altogether with no success.
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Didn’t watch the movie. But I’m trying to figure out what to see in the theater on Saturday, nothing looks good (sad emoticon).
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Doubleplus unthanks for reminding me of the existence of my denom’s online magazine, where we find such winners as: http://byfaithonline.com/why-your-church-should-work-with-social-services/
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Chortles Weakly,
If you’re going to the GA in TX this year, let’s meet up. We can form an Old Life bloc and cause general havoc.
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Alas, Richard, I no longer serve. Just throw stones at shade-grown, bird-friendly, fair trade, culturally-transforming, missionally-minded, hipster-infused, LEED-certified New Calvinistic/Gospel-Industrial Complex houses.
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Didn’t know G.A. was in TX, this year. After some thought, I figure this is bad. I’ve had enough of the transplanted SEC frat boys, now they’re coming in mass(pun intended)….What if they want to stay? Can we do like mayor White in Houston after Katrina, and put a drop dea….errr….deadline on all 13th ward refugees to return home? Please. I’m willing to be mean to them, if it helps and just ‘cuz.
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Sean, TKNY won’t be there — will be speaking at the EPC GA in Knoxville, same week. Come on up and we’ll picket with our “KEEP HIM” signs.
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They streamed online the entire GA, as I recall,last year. So you can be there, in interweb spirit, as we all can. It looked like a raucous good time..
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C-Dubs, seeing as it’s at the same time and for a good cause, go ahead and save me a sign.
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Cdubs, just bite the bullet and join the
dark sideOPC.No Keller here. It’s heaven, let me just say..
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“I wasn’t exactly jumping up and down at the thought of eating the same thing for the next four days.”
She should be glad she didn’t have to live off manna in the desert.
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Just throw the damn leftover turkey in the trash. It sucked the first time it was served.
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Erik, if you liked turkey, you’d like Damsels in Distress. It’s the tryptophan.
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Unam is like the Parallel Universe of OL.
Spooky ^ 2
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What we need is a harmonic convergence mingled with a Yippie resurgence.
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I’m sticking with “Frances Ha”.
I also watched “Lola Versus”. It’s an earlier, dirtier version of “Frances Ha” and “Girls” (o.k., “Girls” is just as dirty).
Greta is as good as the screenplay she has to work with.
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Erik, I’m sticking with The Railway Man to go watch on Saturday with the Missus in downtown Santa Cruz theater for my b-day #32. Nothing looks good right now..
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Matt, how would that transform my Thanksgiving leftovers?
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DG: It’d make those leftovers tastier for more people. You know, Jerry Rubin, steal this turkey.
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