Ray is PCC’s Senior Pastor 

Friends,

In case you haven’t noticed, for more than two weeks, Santa Claus has been getting his picture taken with runny-nosed kids at local malls. Stores have been selling tinsel since Halloween. Downtown shopping districts are decked with boughs of holly. The Grinch was on TV last week! Oh, and get this. A local radio station started playing nonstop Christmas tunes on November 1, giving us way too much “winter wonderland” and “chestnuts roasting” type music. We’ll all overdose on Christmas before December ever arrives.

What happened to Thanksgiving? Don’t be ridiculous. Of course, we’ll celebrate it. It does involve a day off work and another opportunity to make gluttons out of ourselves, but nobody is really talking much about Thanksgiving. Why?

I’m sure there are plenty of reasons – mostly to do with economics and consumerism. But, could it be more of an innate cultural attitude issue? Is it possible that as Americans, expressing appreciation for all we have is passé? Maybe saying “thanks” is difficult for us when we consistently feel like we don’t have enough and are entitled to more. Even the way we celebrate the holiday is more about me traveling somewhere, me getting turkey, me watching football, me having fun, me taking a nap. Perhaps the reason me gets the focus is because as Americans we are no longer sure who is to be the recipient of our “thanks giving.”

Listen, Christmas is great, but Thanksgiving should be a holiday God’s people take full advantage of and refuse to skip. It officially reminds us to acknowledge that all we have [family, friends, freedom, wealth, life, etc.] is the result of God’s grace and goodness. He should get our attention, not a turkey. Scripture provides the directive:

Let us come before him with thanksgiving, for the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. [Psalm 95]

OK, so the Psalmist isn’t writing about our holiday festivities. He is, however, writing about a comprehensive attitude and approach to life. And it seems to me, the key element of “thanksgiving” is in the giving.

Every November, I think of an experience Jesus had with some rather ungrateful guys. The story always makes me take a look in the mirror.

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him–and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?” [Luke 17]

I hope this event in Jesus’ life doesn’t represent some universally true statistic. Imagine if 90% of people touched by the grace of God fail to express their gratitude? How sad for them – how sad for God.

Let’s face it. Many people say “Happy Thanksgiving” with the same emotion you’d hear in the sentence, “You just sneezed on me.” And hey, I’m sure we’re all excited about Christmas. But in terms of holidays, before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s go to God and give him the thanks he deserves. Do something, give something, act in a way that clearly demonstrates your gratitude. Make this a genuine “thanks giving.”

Ray