Prepare with Thanksgiving

We prepare for Christmas with Thanksgiving.  That is as true for the spiritual and emotional beginning of the Season as it is for the calendar.  And how better to prepare than to remember why Christmas happened at all.

“For God so loved the world, that He sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” 

The story of Thanksgiving is a powerful story.  The Pilgrims being saved from starving to death by the sharing of the peoples who already lived on these shores.  The parallel can be made obvious.  As the Pilgrims gave thanks to God for their very lives by the sharing of food, so we must give thanks to God for our very lives returned to us from death by the gift of His Son.

It will take discipline to hold onto that message.  The glitz and glamor of Christmas creeps further and further up the calendar each year.  I’ve fallen victim to it myself.

And we have a particular danger to our souls around Thanksgiving, my fellow Presbyterians.  We may easily fall into the danger of the FOOD…  Turkey for four days running….  All the traditions of the meal…   Getting together with family, whether you want or not…

Saying thank you is easy.  Giving thanks is hard.  The glitz and glamor disguise the frailty of our lives and belongings.  The man who was truly starving knows thanks for the food he receives.  The woman homeless and stranded truly knows thanks for the roof over her head.  The children who truly believed they were alone in the world give thanks for the gift of family.

At the beginning of the year, Larry came to our door.  He and his family lost their home to Hurricane Sandy.  They are believers, and they were living in a motel.  He needed one night’s motel payment to see them from the end of their cash to the first paycheck.  I can’t remember meeting a nicer guy.  I went to the motel to pay the bill for that night.  I was a little uneasy at the environment.  We don’t give cash as a rule here at church, we will pay bills or provide vouchers for services for people in need, when we can.

He came back today, while I was pondering thanksgiving.  I’d like to say it was while I was thanking God for what I have received in my life.  Not so much.  But his family is about to move back into their home, about to take delivery on furniture, about to get their lives back.  He needed help filling the tank of his car.  And I could do that.

You want to give thanks this season, help somebody out.  I came back to my study and I gave thanks to the Lord for my family and for my home and for my church.  The Lord has truly been so good to me and to us. 

Preparing for Christmas?  Start with giving thanks.  Give thanks for all the blessings you have received.  If you need a reminder, help those less fortunate than yourself.  But begin with giving thanks to God for the gift of His only Son, because He so loved the world.