Monthly Archives: November 2013

The Christian Turkey

Remove the Giblets, Wash, Stuff, and Baste, Baste, Baste!

 (Or How to Become a Savory Christian)

Never one to question whether I can do something or not, I’ve always taken the bull by the horns and plunged in. Mostly it works out in my favor, but once upon a time a frozen turkey, with a top secret “surprise” tucked inside, defeated me completely. To this day I’ve never attempted to cook another turkey. Kroger does a fine job. Honey Baked Ham, too.

It strikes me the Thanksgiving turkey tradition is a great deal like the process of becoming a Christian. Let’s start with the basic turkey. The fowl, not the person.

Turkeys are plucked clean and washed, after which they’re packaged, up and shipped off to the local supermarket, ready to be seasoned and cooked.

We bring the turkey home, remove the wrappings, and reveal the bird in all its glory. Or do we see everything? If we look deeper, what might we find? Aha! A hidden treasure. Stuck up inside the dark cavity where many never look are the – giblets! Yuck. What are giblets anyway?

You have two choices at this point: Throw the packet away (or feed them to the dog) or transform them into something delicious. We’ll save that thought for later.

Next, you wash and rinse the turkey – inside and out to get rid of all the remaining yukky stuff that clings to every surface. Then you gently pat it dry. Now it’s ready for the real promise. Remember that wonderful smell of roasting turkey done just right?

You generously sprinkle the turkey with salt and pepper, add the stuffing, and baste with butter– lots of butter. Place the bird in the over for a time determined by its weight and—voila! A Thanksgiving bird that makes your mouth water.

Don’t people arrive in this world much the same way? Bare, needing a bath, swaddled, and ready to be seasoned for a lifetime? Don’t we come ready-made with our own hidden secrets? Sins that would surprise our family and friends? Some of those sins can be  pretty yucky.

But when Christ, who chose from before the beginning of time, picks us up from the supermarket of life and takes us home, he cleans us inside and out, pats us dry, and sprinkles us with His own seasonings—love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. He replaces the yucky stuff with His Word and bastes us continuously in His mercy and grace while we cook in life’s oven.

The Christian turkey won’t finish cooking in this life, but we can be ever so aromatic, a savory draw for others who could become like us. A pleasing aroma for Jesus.

Oh yeah, about those giblets…chop fine, add a LOT of seasoning, and cook until tender and quite tasty. So too can our sins can be transformed into something finer – a reflection of God.