A Reflection for Thanksgiving

 

 

"Come, Ye Thankful People, Come"

"We Gather Together"

"Now Thank We All Our God"

 

I have been humming these tunes in these days leading up to Thanksgiving. They remind me of why this particular holiday is the favorite of so many. There is no pressure yet to buy the correct present; what is important is our presence with one another.

 

It is a day of gratitude for family and friends, for food and football, for the closing of the fall and the beginning of winter, already in full effect for our loved ones in the Midwest and Northeast parts of the country.

 

There is so much that calls for gratitude - yet as we are grateful to God for all that we have, our sense of compassion and empathy calls us to remember those men, women, you and children who struggle daily because they lack security. Too many do not have safe, decent, affordable housing, they are food insecure, and they live with the threat of violence, perhaps in their homes at the hands of family members and intimate partners. I pray that in my gratitude for all that I have, I never lose the capacity to find common ground and partnership with those daughters and sons of God whose gratitude is for family and friends, food and football and all that touches their hearts.

 

"Come, Ye Thankful People, Come" - and remember those with whom you share life and hope.

 

"We Gather Together" to ask the Lord's blessing and to, in turn offer ourselves as blessings to others. And we gather together to consider the often high cost to others in forced labor, low-wages, and oppression, of our Thanksgiving.

 

"Now Thank We All Our God", for love and grace enough to celebrate and share.

 

Thanks be to God.

 

Dr. LaTaunya M. Bynum

Regional Minister