A Thanksgiving Season
Thanksgiving is a holiday that is often over before we’ve finished digesting. So quick are we to race up from our tables to bust down doors or haul out the holly that our thanks dissipates into a blur of the past. Here it is the First Sunday in Advent, a season few outside of the church bother to mark. For many, and certainly for all the shop windows and radio stations and television commercials, it’s already Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year.
What if, as an act of faith, we slowed down for a moment. What if we spent a bit of time remembering the blessings of thanks we offered on Thursday and stayed, for just a moment, in this mystical liminal space that Advent affords. In the light of one candle, may we remember our Thanksgivings, and may that holiday color the one of Advent today and the one of Christmas still to come.
If this seems hard, I get it. As a help, perhaps keep this prayer I shared earlier this week to hand. Yes, it’s for Thanksgiving. And yes, it may at first seem as stale now as Thursday’s diner rolls. But keep it close and see what happens. Perhaps our Advent can be a season of Thanksgiving, a time of moving from one holiday of gratitude to one of great joy.
A Thanksgiving Blessing
God of All Ages, we gather this day to give you thanks.
For the love of family and friends,
for the food we eat and the meal we share,
for the hope of a world where all have enough,
bless us, God of Bounty.
For the faith that binds us together,
for the peace we long to see,
for the joy we find in serving one another,
we give you thanks and we ask for your blessing.
All things come from you, to you all things shall go,
and this is your promise:
that in the span of your arms and in the gaze of your eye,
all things are held; all things are seen.
Fill our hearts with gratitude.
Let this meal of plenty nourish us.
May we give thanks this and every day.
For we pray in the name of the One who has given everything,
who promises life and life abundant for all who seek him.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
