Becoming Thankful

I was in Boston just before Thanksgiving attending the Society of Biblical Literature conference with my companion. Worship on Thanksgiving Sunday gave me a few things to think about becoming thankful.


I was in Boston on 23 November, and went to worship at the Old South Church. This is one of the oldest congregations in Boston. Thanksgiving Sunday is the day they journey to their original site, the Old South Meeting House, which is today a historical landmark in the city. Inside the walls of the Old South Meeting House there was worship, plans for what Americans call the Boston Tea Party were discussed, and the foundation for the American revolution was laid. It is to this place that this congregation returns each year to remember and begin their Thanksgiving celebration. And they recall the whole story and not simply the version found in history books or the chamber of commerce brochure. What our ancestors did to those who dwelt on this land before us is not an example of our best moment.(1) Maybe knowing the ugly details to stories most want to forget is the first task of becoming or being a good historian, and becoming thankful.

Dr. Peter Gomes offered the morning sermon from a text in Habakkuk. This is the first sermon I have ever heard on a text from this little book. His words stayed with me. His words informed my notes to ministers I know last week, and are nagging at me here on Thanksgiving morning. “This text provides a counter intuitive way of getting at the meaning of this American holiday, Thanksgiving.” Dr. Gomes challenged us to celebrate the holiday not through a lens of gratitude for the good in our lives, but rather by giving thanks for those things we have lived through, survived, or maybe felt bad rather than good. This would be a strange prayer at the meal:

“Today we gather in your name O God thankful for safe travel. There is food on the table prepared by hands that have worked hard, struggled to pay bills, and feel betrayed by our nations leaders to regulate those that take from we who do the work. We give thanks that we have lived to this day to be together: Grammy has survived cancer twice and a heart attack; siblings, cousins and in-laws made it through layoffs, unemployment benefits, and uncertain times to find jobs; we remember and are thankful for family members that are no longer suffering in this world, but we still miss them: George and Maudie, Andrew, Bama and Sara, Louise, Kenneth, Barnie, the Boyds, and Robert. Despite the hard times we are here, you are God, and we are blessed. Thanks be to God. Amen.”

It would be strange, but maybe that is what becoming thankful is about. Maybe that is the maturity of wisdom and faith. It is a different sentiment than saying, “You can’t know the good if you have not experienced the bad.”(2) It is a depth of faith that may becoming the longer I live. It is a way of living understood in the words of Eli to Samuel, “it is the Lord. Let the Lord do what seems right to the Lord.” It is understood in the words of Job, and in the Habakkuk text. Yes, times are hard, uncertain, there is anger, anxiety, pain, and fear. But, we have lived through hard times that we caused or just happened for no particular reason. Someday, I may become thankful and understand why.


Notes
1. A visit to the Native American Museum in Washington D.C. is in order to learn about those whose land we stole, killed through weapons and disease, enslaved, and drove to places we give a pleasant name, reservation.
2. And I would say this also applies to the Christian understanding of Christmas and Easter. I don’t believe there should be communion on Christmas eve. It is like we yank the baby from the womb and throw him on the cross. I’ve heard it said that you can’t have Christmas without celebrating the Easter rituals as well. What does it say about the practice of faith if Christmas doesn’t mean anything without the Easter story?

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