It’s that time of year again– where sermons turn to being grateful, to relfection of what God has done and what we have accomplished, and looking ahead to the coming festivities with family and friends during the most celebrated time of our year. One such image that I’ve seen passed around was one that says, “Thanksgiving isn’t just a day… . It’s a way we can live our lives every day!”
The sentiment behind this phrase is both true and a great way to think about it, but I wanted to take a moment where we sit and truly appreciate this one single day. You see, phrases easily become causes in our social media world and suddenly we have movements against some of those moments and days we’ve held as dear tradition. There are many phrases that are very true when taken by themselves that when blown out of proportion turn into misled marches and propaganda. This particular moment comes in hopes that we can share the coming weekend appreciating the days and moments we have in celebration, while also appreciating the need for these values to be lived out in daily life.
While Thanksgiving isn’t in itself a “religious” holdiay persay, as Christians we are led to reflect on what God has spoken about celebrating the various ways that we might, and we look to His guidance for what is right and wrong. So I’m asking us, those of you who are Christians, to reflect on the history of our faith and jump back to Jewish celebrations. When looking at both the biblical and historical account of Jewish holidays, we see that either Jews were (and are) party animals or that God sure gave them a lot to celebrate. Considering that most of their celebrations come from scripture outlining the continued celebration of these holy days, I would say that it is God who likes a party.
Why is this important as I talk about Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving is a holiday for Americans that is really unlike most of our other holidays. As an American Christian, I can think of three days a year that have the potential to teach something great and profound, and those are Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is why I bring up the Jewish style of celebrating. Holy days, in the Jewish culture, aren’t solely about a party, but are moments designated for teaching and remembering. Each specific holiday is rich is both past history, present application and present and future blessing. Many of the richest lessons in Jewish culture come when the family is gathered around a feast. Even the Sabbath dinner, which occurs on a weekly basis, is taken as a moment where the family delivers blessing to one an other and reflects on biblical teaching.
Thanksgiving is a moment, a single day a year where the American people have remembered the power in teaching, in celebrating, in gathering a family together in thanks. How sad it is that many have lost the motivation to celebrate. How sad that the church has ceased to proclaim in celebration the prophecies fulfilled through the feasts and through Christ’s coming. Yet I am extremely thankful for moments like Thanksgiving where I am reminded that throughout the year I have much to be thankful for. I am thankful that Thanksgiving is a moment where my daughter can see her extended family and remember and give thanks for the rich inheritance we have as a united family. I am thankful that we can gather and hear testimony and continue to learn (and sometime re-learn) what it means to be grateful, in turn learning as well what it means to be generous.
This Thanksgiving may very well be the last I have with my extended family that looks like it has in the past, but after years and years of Thanksgivings with my family, I see that we have learned a lot during this time that I hope to bring in as I try to figure out what future Thanksgivings will look like. Here are just a few lessons and traditions I have learned and hope to bring through in my future Thanksgiving traditions:
1– My family always left its doors open and invited people to Thanksgiving who did not have anywhere else to go. This not only teaches us to give thanks for the family we have, but also to extend our family to include those who may not by blood or by law be related to us. It is likely that my future Thanksgivings may include more of this kind of family, and I hope that Audrey can still remember to give thanks for the family we have while recognizing the family beyond family that we have and how blessed we are to have them as well.
2– Interactive games. Each year, Thanksgiving was a little different, but it almost always included games. Sometimes we could be found indoors playing Apples to Apples, others in a hot tub with snow all around, others were spent outdoors playing bocci ball and yet others were spent playing a “guess who” game where we were all schooled by the family’s newcomer. While many parties and celebrations have little structure or plan, I appreciated the opportunity to have fun, often to remember and reflect, but mostly to spend QUALITY time with family. Thanksgiving day for me means little to no TV (unless you are united by a passion for sports, which has also been the case in our family, and I see uniting qualities in that), and lots of time interacting.
3– Reflection and celebration. This came easy to my family not only because of our family enjoying each other, but also because we had some family birthdays around the same time as Thanksgiving. As time went by, we not only celebrated these birthdays, but prepared for milestones in our family life by making memory books and giving cards, reflecting on moments big and small we had with the various individuals.
All in all, I hope that this Thanksgiving you might appreciate the moments we have, teach and learn in each second. And may you be challenged to appreciate what you have and share it with others. If you are one who may not have family, then make one– be family to others, or join me and mine. Mi casa es su casa ;)