Thanksgiving: The most spiritually appropriate holiday

Photo by Annie Spratt

I'm skipping a day in my short series on Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John today since it's Thanksgiving. I didn't think on Monday when I started writing the series of posts about how I would run into this holiday, which is worth commenting on.

Thanksgiving is perhaps the most spiritually appropriate holiday for two reasons: Gratitude and a shared meal, two countercultural ideas in our day. So I want to say something about it.

Gratitude, the lost attitude

Although Thanksgiving is/has become quite a secular holiday, it aligns with the heart of Jesus to be grateful in all circumstances. Gratitude can be in short supply these days. I notice this in my own family, in the way people I meet speak, and, sadly, in myself.

Americans are a very spoiled and entitled people, even those who are not economically well off. We have access to so much so quickly that we take so much for granted. So we grumble when things don't go our way. 

To see this, you have only to drive in a medium-to-large-ish city, like the one I live in, around 4 pm on a weekday. We travel in climate-controlled, steel boxes that protect us from inclement weather and move us quickly from point A to point B. And yet, we honk, cut off, make aggressive hand gestures, and fume to ourselves about the lights and the other drivers. We could instead be thankful that what now takes us 15 minutes used to take hours in the heat, rain, or snow, behind the smelly back end of an animal.

That's just one example. I could give hundreds more. To be grateful then is so against the grain of so much of society. Thanksgiving highlights a sentiment that should be a daily practice. It's also a significant theme in the Bible, especially in the New Testament. We not only see Jesus thanking his Father, but the disciples in the rest of the New Testament also emphasize gratitude, especially Paul, who wrote many of the letters we call epistles.

This gratitude in the New Testament includes many exhortations to be thankful even in the face of suffering. So, when I get held up in traffic, I can be grateful, for example. I might find that it improves my mood and affects the drivers around me. There is a ripple effect. Take this line from Paul, for example: 

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

The lost art of sharing a meal together

The theme of gratitude isn't the only thing that's radically appropriate on Thanksgiving. Something else that is powerful is sitting down together for a shared meal that we put a lot of love, care, and hard work into. For some people, this is a rare occasion. Thanksgiving may be the only day of the year when some do this, including children.

Sadly, patiently sitting down together with a family or group of people we care for to share a meal is a lost art. So many of us are rushing in traffic from here to there that we eat meals on the go, even with our families. Take-out food, fast food, and processed food we eat in the car, at the counter, or in front of a screen are increasingly common, including for families with children.

This is too bad. Eating a meal together is an opportunity to put down the screens and other distractions, connect with others, look them in the eye, and take an interest in one another. We learn many things by doing this, not just information, but also about being in relationships. Hopefully, Thanksgiving can spur some of us to say, "Gee, this is nice. We should do this more often."

So today—and maybe you're reading this on a day that isn't Thanksgiving (that's great)—let's take seriously the revolutionary, countercultural, emotionally and spiritually appropriate, and Biblical ideas of being thankful in all circumstances and sharing a meal with some other people.

If you appreciate this post and think someone else might find it helpful, please share it. You can also subscribe to this blog by clicking the button either above or below this post. And I hope you will read tomorrow's post to learn more about John, which I promise I will write tomorrow.