Post-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving

November 23, 2018 Roland Kuhl 0 Comments

For those of us living in the United States, we celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday – many with family and friends, enjoying activities that we do when we gather as family, overloading on carbs and turkey, and perhaps even spending some time around the table sharing what we are thankful for before we dig into the meal.

I have always found that the opportunity to share what we are thankful for is somewhat of an awkward moment for me, that may begin with one or two sharing something profound, but others sharing perfunctory statements about living in the US, being with family and friends, and so on. I realize that though I am thankful for much, I do not always live thankfully, living in an attitude of continual thanks – so my own Thanksgiving thankfulness statements are not as complete as they might be.

So, what does it mean to be thankful? How can I live, we live, in such a way that we are not caught unaware when we are asked what we thankful for?

The term eucharist in the New Testament, which refers to communion – the sharing of bread and cup, comes from the Greek word for thanksgiving. When we celebrate communion, we are giving thanks for Jesus, for his sacrifice on the cross, giving of his body and shedding of his blood. Some participate in eucharist/communion weekly, others less often. But how can eucharist/thanksgiving become a regular rhythm, a daily rhythm in our lives?

In the New Testament, in reading over the shoulders of a letter Paul addressed to the church in Thessalonica, we hear him stating, “be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). I don’t think what Paul is expressing here is a picking and choosing whether we ought to be joyful or to pray, or to give thanks – these are interconnected practices of what it means to live out our new creation humanity as we seek to live out our lives on purpose.

In the midst of our seeking to live in light of Jesus, being open to the working of the Spirit in us, living in awareness of God, our lives can be characterized by embracing joy, communing with God, and giving thanks to God and others in the midst of all our life circumstances. We experience the fullness of our humanity as we live not in isolation but in connection with Christ Jesus and the community of Christ Jesus. No matter what we encounter, especially when we encounter struggles in our lives, these struggles do not have to shape who we are or how we might live out our lives. With Jesus, he shows us, in our giving attention to him, how to respond in ways that express a joyousness, an awareness of God’s presence with us communing with God, and have eyes and ears to see and hear that God is indeed with us in very situation (Immanuel, God with us) – enabling us to give thanks to God, not necessarily for every situation, but for sure in every situation. In living isolated from God and others, it is indeed hard to live with joy, to commune with God, and to express thanksgiving in the midst of all we experience in life.

In this living open to God, I have discovered that living joyously, praying continually and giving thanks, is not so much an effort that I need to exert, but rather it is a receiving of a gift that enables me to live my life in a different cadence, different rhythm that is full of the life God gives.

And so, when we live life being aware of God’s presence in the moments of our days, we won’t be caught off guard when we sit at table with others and someone throws out, “so what are you thankful for?” In living joyfully, prayerfully and thankfully everyday, we’ll have much thanksgiving to express because our whole life becomes an expression of eucharist/communion with God – thanksgiving!