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And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
-1 Corinthians 11:24
It's been said that there are two ways to have enough... acquire more... or want less. For most of us in the U.S. and Johns Creek, especially, it's easy to take an inventory of our resources and blessings and to see we have enough, therefore, freeing us from making mental and physical lists of what we want and need to gain, and focus on what we can be generous enough to share.
Thanksgiving is a much older tradition than our American November tradition (October for our Canadian friends). Long before that, our Jewish ancestors of the faith gathered for the Passover meal. This meal, Christ's last, was and is a meal of thanksgiving and why it remains The Great Thanksgiving meal for us. Like the pilgrims, Jesus' family, and later his disciples, gathered to give thanks that God delivered them from bondage and oppression to a new promised land. They gave thanks that they'd been spared, set free to worship God fully, and they had enough to eat and share a feast together. I imagine this led to similar conversations and traditions that many of us have today... sharing that which we are most thankful, taking a spiritual inventory of all our blessings, thanking God, and reorienting annually to a spirit of thankfulness and generosity.
I think it's wonderful that such a season arrives just prior to a season we prepare to receive. We prepare to receive guests and gifts and the son of God, God's gift of grace. But first, we take inventory, we give thanks, we reorient our hearts to generosity and thankfulness, becoming people of bounty and generosity. I encourage you to make November your season of gratitude and reflection. See how that changes your season of Advent. Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.
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