Dear Trekker,
In a few days, the President again will ceremoniously “pardon” Tom Turkey… we’ll stuff ourselves with turkey and dressing and all the trimmings… some of us will watch NFL football… we will keep up the tradition of thanking God for our blessings, gifts, etc… and another Thanksgiving, too, will pass. But what is Thanksgiving, particularly viewed through our Heavenly Father’s eyes?
Seeking to see Thanksgiving from God’s perspective has really occupied a lot of my thinking recently. Scriptures leap out to me. Remember the story of the ten lepers? (Luke 17:11-19) Lepers, outcasts afar off, met Jesus on the way to Jerusalem. “Have pity on us” they begged. Jesus said, “Go to your priests”, and as they obeyed, they were healed along the way. One, seeing he was cured, turned back, glorifying God and repeatedly thanked Jesus. He was a Samaritan! Jesus said, “Ten were cleansed, weren’t they? Where are the other nine? Why has only this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Is there anything more unkind then the “sin of ingratitude”. The President pardons a turkey; we’ve been pardoned for eternity! How blessed to be born in America, where forefathers believed in and worshipped a forgiving, loving God.
Then I have thought we tend to be so thankful for things we rarely give thanks to the Giver… the One who delights in giving good gifts, yea, even His Spirit, to His children. (Others of us are so caught up in entitlement these days, giving thanks is not even on the radar.) Frankly, I’ve always been a bit put off by an extreme grasp for “spiritual gifts”. Gifts are of grace alone; I question the seeking of spiritual gifts and believe some Pauline words have been taken out of the context written.
If you are a long-time trekker, you know we’ve based all of our writing of these letters over the years on the subject of relationships. All of life must be viewed in terms of the relationship with God and each other He intended and provided through His life and death and resurrection and giving of His Spirit… is a one sentence dictum which is the lodestar of my faith. Hence, Thanksgiving for me must be cast into this paradigm of life. And I have to ask myself, “How does God want me to view His blessings?” Or, “how does He view Thanksgiving?” He knows it is quite easy for us to fall in love with our blessings and gifts, and forget all about the nature of the Giver and Blessor, much as we may admire a painting and never think of the heart from which it sprang.
As Americans, we like to think of ourselves as great doers and achievers. Not really… we entered life as receivers only. God chose to create us through our parents, who didn’t want “us”, they (perhaps) just wanted a child. We have been known by God only, since the beginning of time. God made us like Himself for Himself, and has done everything possible to insure “we happen”. So for me this Thanksgiving (or any Thanksgiving), nothing can compare with my most basic relationship with God, one of gratitude to and for Him. Is this not the essence of life and worship? “Lord, give me a grateful heart!” is my prayer.
When we turn to the Scriptures with this conviction, some of the “Thanksgiving” feasts take on new meaning. Eating together was a sign of familiarity, acceptance, reconciliation, forgiveness and peace, running through both the Old and New Testaments. (e.g. Read again the story of Jacob and his crafty father-in-law Laban, Genesis 29-31.) Reconciliation was virtually always sealed with a feast (Gen 31: 54-55). Then in the New Testament there is the Thanksgiving feast thrown in gratitude for the return of the Prodigal Son. The father is thrilled because his son has come back to the family. A son, who in fact was wishing
his father was dead (asking for his inheritance early implied this), had come home in repentance.
Trekker, understanding the story of the Prodigal in this manner throws new, glorious light upon God’s love for us. Despite taking all God has given us and using such gifts for our personal pleasure and doing our own thing, God is overjoyed when “we return home”! I like Tony Campolo’s description… “The Kingdom of God is a party”. Nothing makes God happier than when we come home. He throws a feast, a party!
It is quite common for us to think of our “salvation” somewhat clinically, even antiseptically. We sinned, we broke the rules; He paid the penalty for us and if we believe He actually did, we will escape hell when we die! Oh, what tragedy to think of “the gift” only in this manner. The parable of the prodigal is nothing less than the forever joy God feels when we return to Him, for our salvation is not only good for the “after life”, it is for the here and now. God delights in intimacy with us. When we commune with Him, we are having a Thanksgiving feast with God who forever is welcoming us home.
Trekker, why not accept that God is welcoming you this year to His feast. You and I are the prodigal. He is extending gifts not of this world, but gifts of peace, trust, forgiveness and gratitude. He is the host. He has cooked the meal even as He did breakfast on the shore of Lake Galilee. Peter is our example during that feast of reconciliation and love. We too have deserted Jesus in our lives, have we not? May we also, with grateful hearts attuned to the Giver alone, experience as Peter did, deep healing. Surely, surely, this is the true meaning of Thanksgiving for us all.
Thankful to Him alone, your friend,
Jim Meredith
