Thankseverydaygiving

Downloaded and read last night the first Thanksgiving proclamation ever issued in this country--by the Continental Congress in 1777. (For anyone who's interersted, every Thanksgiving proclamation of Americnan history has been put on the internet courtesy of pilgrimhall.org.)

If there were ever any doubt as to the mindset of the framers of the Constitution, of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, read this document. This particular Thanksgiving Day was not only a day set aside for an expression "with one voice" of the people's praise to God who had preserved them and blessed them but also a day in which they were encouraged to repent of their sins and to ask God's blessing on every aspect of the life of the embattled fledgling nation. The proclamation points out that such forgiveness is found only through Jesus Christ and that the highest good we could ask is that God's kingdom come among us, yielding "righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." (Trinitarians, not Deists! Imagine that!)

So here we are at Thanksgiving Day of 2007. It was pointed out last evening that perhaps this year we ought not to give thanks so much for the "blessings" we often (glibly) note, those events and items and relationships that please us. Rather, we might try looking at the most painful, the most difficult and the most perplexing events and relationships of this past year to see where God brought good out of seeming evil, where God did something in us or through us in a situation that to the outside world looked positively "unblessed."

Because our culture has moved through a period in the past 50 years in which selfishness, rebellion and disregard for God or man has been consistently glorified as the highest good (think James Dean, the "rugged individualist," the beatnik, the Marlboro man, for those who doubt the insidious evil of the 50s!) ---we have two generations of people who have lived for themselves and with that selfishness comes first ingratitude and then entitlement.

Our culture has heard a different message only through Christian organizations. Sadly, because of the nature of organizations themselves, much of the truth was obscured by the actions of those speaking the truth. The message was therefore discounted and dismissed (and rightly so, for following Christ is about deeds, not words). Ostensible Christ-followers who have built large organizations which have preyed on needy people have perhaps done more damage than satan himself could ever have hoped for!

But then, there are the others, the fools for Christ, those who choose to ignore the "success ratios" which popular culture applies to following Christ. (For when Christ's people give any credence to how the world measures "success" they then do the work satan himself need not bother to do.) There are people this morning, already in soup kitchens, at football fields, preparing meals to be eaten by those for whom a family thanksgiving dinner was likely never a memory. They gave out turkeys and quiet blessings to military families who wait at home for their husbands and daddies to return to them and wonder whether they'll have enough money for Christmas gifts. They're up and about preparing for guests whom some of us would never dare have in their homes (security risks! look where they've been! look what they've done!).

Where would Jesus be on Thanksgiving Day? What do you think He would be doing with His time? Where will you be? What will you be doing with your time?

Deeds, not words. Gratitude, not greed. This is the revolution, if you will receive it.