a thanksgiving epistle
Each year I send out what has now been dubbed, “Slomka’s Thanksgiving epistle” by family and friends…here was this year’s edition… BTW it’s still the season to say, “happy Thanksgiving,” until Sunday when you can joyfully proclaim, “happy Advent!”
Dear family and friends -- domestic and international,
Give thanks in all circumstances...
(just a little phrase from the apostle Paul's first letter to believers living in Thessalonica, Greece -- Chapter 5, verse 18)
We rarely share our personal reflections around loss, regret, fear, or anxiety-- especially around Thanksgiving! Yet this Thanksgiving, my gratitude flourishes amidst these realities, which, I suppose, may initially threaten to smother the holiday mood we work so hard to nourish and protect. For me, it magnifies the gratitude I feel.
At the time I'm writing this draft (17 November),
there are at least 34 global conflicts -- 2 of which impact my world personally,
I have attended 2 memorial gatherings in the last 2 weeks; just learned on Sunday, 19 November another dear friend just died,
I have received news that my 2 fathers and life-long mentors in my life have received fatal diagnoses,
I have spoken with many leaders who are contending for their own, or family members, mental health,
I find myself reflecting on my own apprehension concerning my mortality, capacity, and yearnings... will I have the health, vitality, and clarity to accomplish what I believe God has given me vision for? I am deeply aware that most leaders -- including Jesus-- died with yearnings unfulfilled and Kingdom vision incomplete!
and this is only a small sample of what I could list...
So this year, if you permit me, I would like to share some thoughts regarding the activity of "thanksgiving" so you can understand why Thanksgiving remains my favorite annual holiday.
First, let’s consider for a moment what thanksgiving is not…
Thanksgiving is not synonymous with "relief." -- This can be the reassurance or relaxation we feel when we pass a test, hear the news we have been anxious to receive, or complete something that has preoccupied the commitment of our mind, time, and/or resources.
Thanksgiving is not an exercise in comparative awareness. I suppose this is a variation of "relief." This would be the expression that usually arises when we try to minimize our disappointment and loss by the thoughtful recognition of someone else's greater misfortune. Phrases like: "At least my children are healthy" or "At least I don't have bombs falling on my house" express our relief, but they also invalidate the loss, concerns, or feelings we are presently navigating.
Thanksgiving cannot be the prisoner of circumstance, ultimately making thanksgiving transactional. Thanksgiving which can only be expressed when opportunity, health, and fortune are going "our way,” is bound to render our thanksgiving shallow and ultimately deprive us of the opportunity to express and experience thanksgiving when we might need it the most.
Thanksgiving cannot be self-centered. By its very nature, Thanksgiving is externally focused— it sees the source of our blessing outside of ourselves. Thanksgiving, which is self-centered, is nothing more than the vain and prideful self-congratulation of a deluded soul. Far from being an act of thanksgiving, it becomes a prideful self-assertion of accomplishment, superiority, and/or rewards and privileges one feels entitled to. I am thinking, here of Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector— “Thank you, God, that I am not like others!“
Thanksgiving is not individualistic. While the occasion for our thanksgiving may be personal, it is not intended to remain private. Thanksgiving is meant to be shared. This does not require full transparency of sensitive details, but a simple narrative of shared praise will strengthen our community.
So, what is the activity of thanksgiving?
First, the activity of thanksgiving is prayerful reflection. I cannot envision an expression of thanksgiving that does not begin with God. He fashioned me in love, redeemed me by His grace, and He sustains me by his presence. In my darkness, He abides with me, and in my joys, He delights my soul. How can thanksgiving be anything but a conversation of gratitude with our Heavenly Father?
Second, the activity of thanksgiving is the spiritual remembrance of God‘s faithfulness. The activity of thanksgiving is a reflective inventory of God‘s presence amidst the gains we have enjoyed and the losses we have suffered. It is not merely the recitation of a list. It is the story of His divinity abiding with my broken humanity -- transforming a merely mundane and frail life into a life so filled with meaning that I can exclaim, “Even my losses have become gains.“
Third, the activity of thanksgiving is communal. We contribute to and share in the portfolio of gratitude expressed within the communities we are members of. Another's thanksgiving becomes my opportunity to give thanks regardless of my circumstances. How many times has one person's shared thanksgiving brought hope to the hopeless or stirred me to give thanks? Most significantly, community thanksgiving expresses God's presence in our midst-- can there be a greater cause for giving thanks?
Fourth, the activity of thanksgiving is missional. The activity of thanksgiving is ultimately a testimony that brings women, men, youth, and children closer to God. Thanksgiving punctures smothering darkness with the Light, futility with promise, and despair with hope. No wonder Scripture extolls "the feet of the one who brings Good News!" Our personal and community thanksgiving narratives are incarnate expressions of the Good News of God's presence. He is neither silent, aloof, or absent. Thanksgiving testifies that He is present in our darkness, and this present darkness cannot quench His faithful light.
Finally (I promise!), the activity of thanksgiving is pastoral. There are seasons in our lives when our soul is constricted by despair or grief, and we become isolated in our darkness. Something powerful occurs when the community around us extends its welcoming embrace and draws us into a wider context that allows for thanksgiving and grief to exist side by side. Thanksgiving, sensitively expressed, with the sorrowful, reminds us that "weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning."
When we think about the first Thanksgiving, we focus on the meal and forget the context. Remember this: on November 10, 1620, 102 passengers stepped ashore, but only 50 would survive their first winter to assemble 12 months later for the meal we, from history's distance, celebrate as Thanksgiving. They gathered as a community, on a land saturated with their tears, to give thanks and share a common meal.
This is why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday... it invites any and all to a feast where the community gathered can offer thanksgiving while recognizing the personal losses of those gathered. On this day, prayerful reflection, remembrance, community, mission, and the pastoral presence of God are welcome. On this day, the community gathered can have a voice that individuals scattered cannot. We are "better together," and that alone is sufficient reason to lift our voices with gratitude on this Thanksgiving day as we share this meal together.
... with gratitude for you and much love for you,
Happy Thanksgiving!
