It is the Friday of the weekend Canadians traditionally stop to give thanks for the blessings we’ve received over the year. It is a time of enjoying the harvest, the changing display of fall leaves’ colours, and spending time with family and friends.
One of the things I look forward to every Thanksgiving Sunday is singing “We Gather Together.” It’s a hymn from my childhood that was always sung at Thanksgiving Services, where the church was often decorated by branches of the red, yellow, and orange of our fall leaves and produce, preserves and baked goods at the front of the church – sometimes for the pastor’s family and sometimes to be distributed in the community. It’s a practice that seems to have disappeared from today’s Thanksgiving services.
Looking around the world, it’s easy to count our blessings this year: in the Maritimes we’ve missed the impact of the hurricanes that those in the Caribbean and southern United States endured. We have a political system not in turmoil and a country that isn’t as gun-centric as our neighbours to the south, with all the consequences that particular ‘freedom’ brings. But we Canadians shouldn’t rest on our laurels, sit back, and say, “Soul, though hast done well for thyself.” We’ve still got a long way to go to provide a minimal safe standard of living, food and water security, and promote equality for everyone in our own nation let alone the people we should be helping in the rest of the world.
As believers, we should be the social conscience of our society, standing up for what is right. We should be a peculiar people that lives the perfect love of the Book; open and welcoming all as we hold to clear Biblical standards without becoming pharisaical or doctrinally sighted and so heavenly minded that we’re no earthly good. And we need to remember our standards can’t be imposed on folks who aren’t believers. Live your beliefs. Live them in gratitude for what we’ve received, even though we don’t necessarily deserve it.
This weekend, don’t forget to be grateful. You know, we should be grateful for all we’ve been given every day of the year, not just one Sunday out of 52 and one day of our 365. This year, why not give it a try?