What happened to Thanksgiving?
The forgotten holiday….
Halloween seemed to last all week. We had a costume parade at school, Greek Trick or Treat at the university, a trunk or treat at a local church and then we had neighborhood trick or treating — which apparently starts at 4 in the afternoon before I get off work. At 11:50 p.m. on October 31st, I had flipped for the final time through the channels and was about to turn off the talking head of the evening on my screen. As my thumb passed over to the power button, I glanced up and there he was. It was like magic. Santa was at PetSmart stocking up on dog treats for his 4 legged “nice list”. I’m pretty sure I heard sleigh bells. Finally reality set in and I realized, uh, hello? It’s 10 minutes til November! This Sunday, the pastor at the church we visited said, “ Halloween is over, so you know what that means… ‘Merry Christmas!’” Everyone laughed, but we all know it’s true… Wal Mart is playing Christmas music, — for the record, I’d listen to it year round — and of course now, when it rains it pours,consumers are being pounded by red nosed discounts, shining savings, and frosty deals in hopes to drive sales and hopefully stress people out so they’ll buy compulsively.
All of this has caused me to ask, what about Thanksgiving? Think about it. The only nationally observed holiday (aka, we get time off from work or school) in the fall season that doesn’t include gifts and selfishness. Rather, the holiday that is historically based on being thankful for God’s blessings is somehow buried by the next holiday where, sadly, the focus for our culture is gift receiving and Santa. This leads to the next question, why is it important we take pause to have a feast of Thanksgiving? What’s the big deal? It’s just food right?
No. Thanksgiving isn’t just about a turkey and dressing and pumpkin pie (apparently the original feast didn’t have any sweets… I weep for the pilgrims!).The spiritual implications of Thanksgiving are way more important than the heartwarming grocery store commercials or the turkey activities we come up with for our kids (ps: creating a turkey from Oreos, frosting, a Whopper, and candy corn… best activity ever… but I digress). It wasn’t uncommon for the Puritans or Separatists to fast in times of need, and feast in times of abundance, and it wasn’t always a one time a year thing. This practice is traceable back past England to Greece, Egypt, and even the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot. Many cultures and histories before America observed this practice. What a novel idea! Regularly celebrating and giving thanks to God in times of overwhelming blessing or crying out to God and fasting in times of intense need should happen all the time for those who proclaim Christ as Lord. “Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.” Romans 14:5-7
I can’t help but reflect on my culture. We are saturated with every solution to every problem. Whatever need I may have, I can actually fill. The options to fill the “needs” are endless and instantly satisfying at least for the moment. Why do we need to stop and say thanks? Are we thanking ourselves? No need, on to the next holiday and maybe we can have a bunch of people over to eat an enormous bird to celebrate that Santa is almost here! At least this is what it feels like these days.
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“Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind” Psalm 107:14-16
The modern Thanksgiving has evolved to be thankless, ending in brawls outside Best Buy or stampedes through Wal Mart’s automatic doors. It isn’t promoted to be about reflection or true thankfulness, it is promoted to be about the kick off to shopping season. How fitting is this scripture when thinking about “Black Friday” — “At midnight I rise to give you thanks for your righteous laws.” Psalm 119:62 — Not “at midnight I rise to get the best deal on an HDTv.” Honestly, we have lost the point.
During the first winter the pilgrims spent at Plymouth, they lived on the ship, encountering disease and losing half of the passengers that actually survived the journey. Once Spring hit, Squanto came alongside the villagers and taught them how to survive, how to farm, how to live in the conditions that were there. The following year they experienced their first successful harvest and, as they were overwhelmed with such a blessing born from such a need, they planned a 3 day feast including the Native Americans that had showed them such amazing kindness. This is why the tradition has lived on, without the blessings received, America’s story might be different. The focus of this feast was to enjoy the physical blessing of food and also the intangible blessing of relationships and support that were found after they landed there.
Let’s take a moment and reflect on the year. Are there moments we can be thankful for? I mean connections or events that would have altered where we are today if they hadn’t happened? Regardless of the good or bad, we should be thankful. Look at the pilgrims. If they hadn’t landed during such a harsh winter,would they have met Squanto and learned all they needed to learn to survive impacting them down the road? To be cliche, everything happens for a reason, so we must be aware and thankful. “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (ALL is the key word in this verse)
The big thing to remember is that things don’t have to be catastrophic or over the top amazing to be worthy of thankfulness.
Honestly, we are often ungrateful for the simple things or unaware of their existence. We take it all for granted and are so numb to the impact these simple moments have on our lives that we look back and don’t see the blessings as clearly. In order to bring the clarity to what has really blessed us we must look through lenses with Christlike perspective. “Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for HE is good; His love endures forever.” Psalm 106:1-3
Don’t lose the ability to be thankful. Impart the practice to your children and loved ones. Make the holiday more than just a shopping opportunity. Make it a life practice to gather together and in unison give thanks and praise to the One joins us as we gather together. “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20
Don’t lose Thanksgiving.
