Living Thanks
Living Thanks: Showing our faith through thankfulness.
Thanksgiving is coming up in the U.S. and already the holiday has a very “2020” feeling about it. I usually make a big invitation for anyone who doesn’t have a place to go (even Facebook friends that I’ve never actually met) to join my family at any point in the day. So far I’ve had at least two people per year take me up on it. Some have done so repeatedly so it is now their “tradition” to visit us on Thanksgiving.
I can’t do that this year. And it hurts.
I imagine this is what the “first Thanksgiving” felt like. They were just thankful to have survived. Which would give me some comfort if we weren’t still in the middle of the storm.
Nevertheless, we will still have turkey, dressing, cheap canned cranberry sauce, some vegetables that won’t get eaten as much as we think they will, and way too many pies. We will eat all day and argue with each other about how to do things because we have too many leaders and not enough followers in our family. We will put on the virtual Macy’s parade and complain about it and remember that we would’ve complained about the real parade too. Some of us will watch football. Others will nap. I will start to remind all of them the need for their help in decorating for Christmas the next day. We will walk the dog and see some neighbors out and wish them a Happy Thanksgiving.
We will do all the normal things.
But it won’t be normal.
And for that we can give thanks ...that this is not normal. And it isn’t the new normal either. While I don’t think we will go back to old normal, I do think that this way of being is a transition to something else. And if my theology is right (and of course I’ll say it is), what’s next will be innovative and beautiful. Because that is who God created us to be.
If I don’t get to tell you in any other way, have a happy Thanksgiving in whatever ways you can.
Until Everyone Hears,
P.S. - I put together a very short ebook for families to use on Thanksgiving to connect their faith to the day and make a bit more meaning during a Pandemic Thanksgiving. You can download it here: Living thanks. And feel free to share.
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#christianity
#Thanksgiving