Thanksgiving thoughts

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude. Gilbert K. Chesterton 

When I was a boy, the first ecumenical service I ever attended was a community Thanksgiving service in our village, one filled with churches and bars. On November 20 afternoon at St Ambrose, at 4PM, a number of churches will join in a Community Thanksgiving Service.  I am grateful that people even think to have such a service. I am grateful to those who make this happen and even more for those who choose to attend. It helps us to become Psalm 100 people. I am grateful that we let differences between different religious traditions slide away on a Sabbath afternoon. It is a gift to see churches open doors to others. The Reformed Tradition has grace and gratitude as core values in its theology and ethics. It derives from life itself being a gift. It realizes that grace itself is a gift.

Gratitude is one of the least articulate of the emotions, especially when it is deep. 
Felix Frankfurter

Gratitude does not come easily.  When times are hard, resentment flows much more easily. We cannot force gratitude. At present, a culture of complaint has run amok. On the other hand, thankfulness is response to a gift. For those who work so hard, it may be difficult to receive a sense of gratitude when it comes. Gratitude pushes us to see how intertwined our lives are. Receiving a gift induces a desire to reciprocate. It then spreads a sense of gratitude.

Thanksgiving celebrations are more tenuous than usual this year. This Thanksgiving, people cannot face the fights around partisan bickering and are cancelling the grand tradition. Some are already plotting to upset people. At my mother’s funeral supper, one of our unstable relatives launched into a conspiracy-laden talk, so it is not limited to this holiday. It becomes difficult to nourish gratitude when surrounded by ungracious winners and losers around a table. One day we will have empty places around that table. I hate to make a table a politics-free zone, but if that is what it takes so be it. Maybe we can listen to understand a position more than trying to debate it.

In the face of this fear, Schnuck’s still has a poster in Upper Alton: nourishing gratitude. We nourish gratitude by practicing it. When we notice gratitude, or when we practice it, even when we don’t feel it, our hearts expand. One of my spiritual goals is to be able to see the ordinary as extraordinary, as astonishing, as seeing them with new fresh eyes. It is learning Thanksgiving is about celebrating what we have, not grieving what we have lost, or agonizing about what we do not have. Being thankful requires letting go of the things we can’t control.

While Facebook continues to be a forum for vulgarity, incivility, and whining, at times, it provides awareness of different ideas. I’ve noticed a posting on practicing 30 days of gratitude. Such a practice has the possibility of changing perspective. One way I have taken up this cause is to look at the history of my lifetime and be grateful for some of the advances made during it. For instance, immunizations have saved countless lives. Seat belts and air bags have lessened the constant carnage on our highways. Fewer than 1 in 5 adults in this country smoke. I am grateful at the drastic decline in violence in our country since the 80s.

When we move toward making an offering in our worship service, we use the great phrase, with glad and generous hearts. As an aspiration, Thanksgiving may open clenched hearts and fists. Thanksgiving opens a door to finding the best in ourselves.