If a patient suffers a heart episode, a
doctor likes to be able to go back and compare
previous baseline data. That's why an EKG and
treadmill test is periodically recommended. The
"normal" function of a person's heart, the
baseline, comes in handy later.
This is the week of Thanksgiving when it comes to
the collective attention of many people (quite
wrongly I might add) that, much like going for a
heart stress test, it is probably wise to record a
baseline by which Dr. God measures the level of
one's appreciation.
For one guy the "normal" baseline is simply to enjoy
the benefit of living even though he can't take
credit for producing any of it. At bottom is simply
the satisfaction to be alive and go about drinking
in what the world supplies. He's glad for the
quantity of stuff Thanksgiving observes.
For another person the "normal" includes all that
plus some measure of genuine appreciation. More
than simply being glad to have a body, health, and
activities in this diverse and handsome world he
actually attaches importance to what he consumes.
More than just glad to have it, he appreciates it.
Yet another believes it "normal" at the very least
to express appreciation TO somebody. Saying thank
you into a void doesn't make sense. "Thank
you" needs an antecedent. It
requires a "you." And since
there is no corporation, government, or contractor
who creates humanity or supply the universe,
appreciation is aimed broadly at "god" whoever he,
she, or it is.
Is a "normal" Thanksgiving then really abnormal
because there is no normal? It's different for
everybody, everything from just enjoying the
pleasures of the day to general appreciation to
actually telling a god thank you?
Most people see Thanksgiving as an annual event to
be celebrated. They welcome this national point of
reference with its assortment of traditions. But if
the motions of giving thanks are attachments like
the EKG leads stuck to your chest or a blood
pressure cuff used for a cardiac stress test to
measure how glad, appreciative, or personally
thankful your heart is, the tradition is
meaningless.
Thanksgiving is never about how thankful you are.
It is entirely about the generous, patient, and
gracious love of God the Father toward us through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanksgiving isn't a holiday
any more than good health is one annual visit to the
doctor.
Thanksgiving is the full array of divine blessedness
so abundant, continuous, and centered in Jesus
Christ that it not only justifies but creates an
unending state of gratitude.
The "normal" thanksgiving is daily repenting of
ingratitude, despising of self, and holding in faith
the Name Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as the Giver
of all good things.
The response of thanks owes everything to the Gift
given. Thanksgiving owes everything to Christ.
The person who is glad to consume what God has given
in this world but sees none of it caused or coming
from Jesus misses the best of all. Without Christ,
all the bounty amounts to nothing. One may
appreciate how satisfying blessings from God are,
but without the central blessing, the "You,"
all one has is his own contented feelings which are
unsustainable.
In his opening words to the Christians at Philippi,
St. Paul expressed his thanks to God regarding the
church there. The entire opening paragraph is an
outpouring of gratitude, affection, and confidence.
But he attributes the koinonia (the
fellowship and communion of the Christians), the
beginning of their faith and the conclusions of
their life in Christ to the Gospel.
Paul doesn't tabulate how the believers are doing on
life's treadmill. He simply wants them to be
thankful to God. It is his prayer that God give
them the discernment to approve what is excellent.
Isn't that what "normal" thanksgiving is to be;
discerning and approving what is excellent?
Such capacity is impossible for us without Christ.
Without him Thanksgiving is merely about pilgrims,
cornucopias, turkeys and pumpkin pie. It's
reference point is Abe Lincoln's 1863 proclamation
to observe annually on the last Thursday of November
a national day of thanks.
For Christians, however, the foundation of
thanksgiving was established before there was any
fruitful earth, rolling seasons, or golden sheaves
of harvest. Before there was an earth, before there
was any autumn ingathering or harvest feasting, God
loved you. Out of His eternal grace and goodness
came the gifts marked "for you." And these are the
best of all ...
I atone for you for all that
you have done, declares the Lord God." Ezekiel
16:63
"My grace is sufficient for you."
2 Corinthians 12:9
"Take eat, this is my body for you."
1 Corinthians 24
The antecedent of "you" in these words is every one
of us. God gave the atonement, his grace, and the
very body and blood of His Son for you and me.
"For you" comes before "Thank you."
