I was a big fan of "The West Wing" TV show. I think so because I was a political science minor, but the show itself was so well written. It was captivating, sometimes preachy, but always captivating. In one episode featuring the presidential proclamation of the Thanksgiving holiday,the President was asked by his press secretary how he could cope everyday. His response was that he gets to go out and declare holiday calling upon the nation to give thanks for all the blessings of liberty etc. etc.... He then says "This is a great job." It was a powerful way to end the show.
In America we will pause to give thanks, commemorating the occasion with football and food and a time to be together with families all while some are preparing for the real feeding frenzy that will take place in only a few hours, that is known as Black Friday. On the whole it is good to do this. It is a tradition that goes back to the days of Lincoln and of course founded on the feats that was celebrated at Plymouth in now Massachusetts. It is an opportunity to give thanks and to be thankful for what we do have rather than worrying about what we don't have.
A day of thanks is important, but it is nothing in comparison to what we will celebrate on Sunday. Over these last few weeks we will be celebrating the sacrament of Holy Communion, or what we in the church call the Great Thanksgiving. We do this at least once a month, but in this time of year we do it a bit more. The reason is simple because we have as followers of Jesus so much to be thankful for. Every time we gather with the bread and the cup we give thanks with family and friends and strangers alike for the blessings that God pours out on us every day and we are empowered to go out into the world and declare that each day can be a day of thanksgiving.
That is why we gather and share and why do so more often this time of year, because we are reminded of the coming one whom we follow, and in whom we have much to be thankful for. Some of us protestants may not be used to this so we wonder why it's necessary. Some even have said that celebrating too often makes it less special. But that is not what we believe. We believe that there is nothing we can do to devalue this great gift that God has given us. No matter how often we celebrate and give thanks and no matter if we start to take it for granted or not, the visible sign of God's grace that is among us and within us is always something to be thankful for. Best of all when we do celebrate, I get to declare that no matter what we have done, whom we have wronged or how we have failed ourselves, that God's grace is abundant and that we all are forgiven. This is a great job indeed. Let us have a Great Thanksgiving, and return that thanks for all that God has given us.
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