The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
October 11, 2009
Vol. 12 No. 39

Everything But...

It really isn’t surprising that there are no particular readings in the Lectionary for Thanksgiving Sunday. A couple of stories about Job and Jesus take the stage for today. Someone must have remarked that having only one day for Thanksgiving is not really in keeping with the basic idea of thanksgiving. Is there any day that we should not express our thankfulness for God’s creation and for the lives we have been able to live?

Sometimes it is as simple as this. Walking through Victoria Park clutching my hot dog with all the works, two men approached me. A chance comment jumped out at me as I passed, “Well, I am glad I am still alive.” It wasn’t Thanksgiving, but by his slightly worse for wear appearance, he meant it in a way few thanksgiving prayers can muster.

But let’s face it, as human beings we can be only so thankful. We have our limits. Most of us would find it really hard to get through more than one Thanksgiving Day in a year because we invest the day with family reunions and relationships that can be joyful, yet require so much more energy and emotion than merely giving thanks for our blessings. .

The kind of thankfulness we yearn for is a form of breathing - it is impossible to look at and appreciate the world without being thankful. We have been given God’s grace for things we have neither earned nor deserved. Our culture emphasizes how you are able to accomplish the world by your hard work and effort, knowledge and ingenuity, yet we did not create this world, and there are extremely few facts or skills we have not learned from previous mentors, teachers and authors. Recognizing the humble opportunities given to us by God’s grace, giving thanks is our most genuine response.