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An Alternative Thanksgiving Reflection

Posted Nov 27, 08:14 PM | 3 comments | by Editor | Link

By Mike Todd, re-posted from Waving or Drowning?:

To my American friends, Happy Thanksgiving!

As you give thanks today for what you have, I would respectfully ask you to consider carefully the words you use. The things we say reveal a lot about our goals, our values, and our theology. What we say often reveals what we really believe about God. I would humbly submit that thanking God for our current circumstances can sometimes be a way of whitewashing over the fact that we have been very successful in our pursuit of the wrong things. In the cases where this is true, it is our fault, not God’s. Thanking God for the results does not change this. So be thankful for those things you have that moth and rust cannot destroy, and for those things that thieves cannot break in and steal. (See Matthew 6:19-24) These are your true blessings. As for the other stuff, I would humbly suggest that those material things (I will not use the word ‘blessings’ here) have been given to us to give away.

Yes, we should be thankful for what we have. But more than anything else, Thanksgiving should be a time for serious reflection and consideration of the gross inequity in the world, and our part in making those things right.

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?”

The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

“That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (Luke 12:35-49)

Photo by Mike Todd

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Mike Todd and his wife Sue live in community in Delta, British Columbia, where they’re trying to figure out what it means to be an apprentice of Jesus.

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