Thanksgiving Revisited

I hope everyone is having a great week and is looking forward to next week -- and particularly to Thanksgiving.

For those of you who attend Heartland Church, I hope that you have been moved by the latest series on generosity.  I know that it is common for pastors (and others) to talk about generosity this time of year -- but I really hope that this last series of messages moves us as a church beyond seasonal generosity and toward a lifestyle of generosity.  I really think that the Bible makes it crystal clear that generosity with our time, talents, gifts and resources is a hallmark of followers of Christ.

Four years ago, I wrote a blog about Thanksgiving -- which I have reposted below.  In general, the blog is about the sad fact that Thanksgiving has increasingly become such a secular holiday, having little to do with giving thanks to God for all He has done for us.

While I still have the same feelings about Thanksgiving as I did when I wrote that blog (and Christmas for that matter), I am less focused these days on grieving about America's pull away from God, and more focused on the question of "why."  And, to me, the answer is really very simple.

The church universal will never have a lasting impact on the culture around us simply by protesting or grieving the secularization of America.  No amount of complaining about the removal of the Ten Commandments from government buildings will ultimately make a difference.  Perhaps such lobbying will slow the process -- keep "in God we trust" on our coins and currency for another year -- but it will not change the hearts and minds of the American public.

If we really want to see our nation turn back toward God we have to offer the people something far more powerful than arguments about the Christian orientation of the our Founding Fathers.  We need to offer them love.  True Christian love, birthed and nurtured by the Holy Spirit, is compelling.  True Christian love is "sincere" -- which means that its foundation is firmly rooted in the heart.  Romans 12:9.  And, true Christian love is, by definition,  generous. 


¹¹ For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. ¹² Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. ¹³ Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵ Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
                                                                                                                                                      1 John 3:11-18


And so, while I wish things were different when it comes to Thanksgiving, if we really want people to turn their attention to God on Thanksgiving Day we need to give them a reason to do just that.  On the other 364 days a year, we need to be the body of believers that God calls us to be.  We need to be the kinds of churches that God calls us to be.  We need to show the world a crazy, incomprehensible, unconditional, out-of-this-worldly kind of love.  We need to show them the love of Christ.

From November 2009:

On November 26, 2009, millions of Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving. For most, the day will be rich in a tradition that includes friends, family, food and football.

Of course, the Thanksgiving meal will be the centerpiece of the day. It will likely feature a turkey with all the trimmings. If your Thanksgiving experiences are like mine, the meal will also no doubt include a side dish or two that no one actually likes -- or at least no one likes enough to eat any other day of the year. In my house, we will put cranberry sauce on the table. We always do. I'm not sure I have ever seen anyone actually eat that stuff. But, its tradition.

I like to think that most people also have a tradition of saying a prayer before the Thanksgiving meal. It seems like most people I know do -- even those folks who don't pray over their meals the other 362 days a year. (If your questioning my math, think Christmas and Easter). I mean, what's the point of Thanksgiving if we don't take at least a moment during the day to thank God for all He has done for us?

I do have to wonder, though, whether God figures into Thanksgiving at all for most Americans anymore. The folks at Wikipedia don't seem to think so. Not that Wikipedia is necessarily a reliable or definitive source, but here are the first few lines of the discussion of Thanksgiving in this on-line encyclopedia:

"Thanksgiving day is a harvest festival. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. ... While perhaps religious in origin, Thanksgiving is now primarily identified as a secular holiday."

I have a lot of questions about these three sentences. For example, what do they mean by "perhaps religious in origin"? Is there any doubt about that? And, when they say "express gratitude in general," express gratitude in general to who? The most troubling question I have, though, is whether there is truth to the idea that most Americans view Thanksgiving as a primarily secular holiday. Put another way, has God been kicked out of Thanksgiving too?

If most Americans truly feel that Thanksgiving has nothing to do with God, that is obviously a terribly sad thing. It has not always been that way.

George Washington issued a proclamation in 1789 setting November 26 as a day of "public thanksgiving and prayer." To save you on the math, this November 26th will mark the 220th anniversary of that first national day of Thanksgiving.

In that Thanksgiving day proclamation, the President of the United States, at the urging of both houses of Congress, asked the American people to set aside November 26 as a day to thank God Almighty for the many things He had done for the people of the United States, including for the very existence of the country itself. President Washington appropriately described God as "the Beneficent Author of all good that was, that is, and that will be." The proclamation went on to ask the people to pray for the forgiveness of our national and other transgressions, and that the government "be a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just and constitutional laws ...."

Personally, I love Thanksgiving. I love the family getting together. I love the turkey and I love the football. I don't think there is anything wrong with all that. I have even accepted the idea that Thanksgiving is the time when we all begin to think about and look forward to Christmas.

At the same time, I am not sure I can get behind the idea of a national holiday that is simply dedicated to over-eating and football -- even if it means a couple of extra days off work. If God has really been kicked out of Thanksgiving, as Christians I think we need to make a point this November 26 to invite Him back in!