Robeson County: Don’t skip this Thanksgiving dish

It happened again this year. I saw a Christmas commercial before Halloween day.

I think the first occurrence of this for me was maybe two years ago, but I am sure if I had actually tried to look for Christmas ads, I could have found them much sooner. I can absolutely understand the desire to celebrate the Christmas season and all of the fun activities that come with it, but I hate when we rush over other things that are also important formative moments for us.

That is one reason why I love the Church Liturgical Calendar for its seasons and days that help us relive the totality of Jesus’ life. It provides a rhythm, remembrance, and rituals in which we can build our collective lives and worship practices around the earthly living of Jesus.

While admittedly not a religious day, Thanksgiving is one such season I wish we did not rush over so quickly. It is one of the few instances where a Western cultural holiday fits naturally with the tenets of the Christian faith.

I enjoy it for the food, obviously, but I also appreciate its occurrence just before the rush of the Christmas season.

If observed appropriately, it forces us to stop and appreciate what we have as citizens of this country, the blessings God has bestowed upon us, and all of the potential opportunities we are given.

A few weeks ago, the day after Halloween to be exact, a Christmas-fanatic family member of mine (the kind who starts posting the number of weeks until Christmas around the Fourth of July), reshared a post that really gave me pause. It read, “Don’t listen to the grinches. Thanksgiving is a day, Christmas is a season and it starts today.”

Now I try not to be the overly critical pastor, but this post really grinded my gears, because it is only partially true.

Sure, Christmas is a season, but the tenets of Thanksgiving are far from just a day.

For people of faith, thanksgiving is a lifestyle mandate. If we want to be literal with biblical texts, there are no scriptures that direct us in how to observe the Christmas season as we come to know and celebrate it today, but there are countless verses that direct us to display a thankful mindset.

For many who gather in their worship spaces this upcoming Thanksgiving season, one of the possible passages of scripture they may hear would be Matthew 6:25-33. These are some familiar words of Jesus that find him cautioning his audiences about our proclivity for worrying about what comes next.

For his first-century Palestinian audience, it was the natural worries over things like food and clothing. Those are many of our same worries today are they not? But we have certainly added a lot more to the mix.

Even still, we find Jesus encouraging us to be more intentional about being present in the moment. It seems looking ahead to things we have no control over in the first place is wishful thinking, adding that none of us can add a single hour to our lives by worrying about things in the future (v. 27).

It seems that far too many of us get caught up in looking ahead, looking for what’s next, or trying to go after the next big thing, that we never stop and actually enjoy where we are right now. We fail to appreciate what we have and where we have come from.

If all we ever do is think about what is next, are we ever really enjoying anything? Thankfully, I am convinced that there is a way to counteract this notion of looking ahead and missing out on what we have now. The antidote is developing an intentional attitude for gratitude.

This pursuit of expressing gratitude in any and all circumstances can lead to the development of what I like to call, Holy Contentment.

To me, Holy Contentment is a purposeful mindset that sees someone fully enjoying their particular place in life because they are grateful for what they have come through, not focused on what hasn’t been or may never be.

Pursuing an intentional mindset of thanksgiving can aid us in fostering this deep, holy sense of contentment in one’s life.

Paul writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!…but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Phil 4:4-6). Did you catch that “in every situation part?”

Psalm 118:24 reminded the Israelites to be thankful with this familiar mantra: “This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Of course, this was not uttered only once in a person’s life, but it was to be an everyday acknowledgment.

The writer of Hebrews told the second generation of Christ followers who were persecuted for their faith to “continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that openly profess His name” (Heb. 13:15).

These are but a few of the numerous ways the Bible instructs us to pursue thanksgiving not for a day, but daily. So as we enter into the joyous celebrations of the fall holidays, Advent, Christmas, and New Year, I’d encourage us all to enjoy each to the fullest.

Hopefully in the ways that bring familiarity and family together. While you may exert some discipline and decide to pass on loading down your plate with that beloved family casserole, one dish you certainly don’t want to pass on is a big ol’ heaping pile of thanksgiving today, and every day.

May we all be filled by the command of God to rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances. For this is God’s will for each of us in Christ Jesus. (1 Thess 5:16-18).

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Rev. Joshua K. Owens serves as the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church in historic downtown Lumberton, NC. He can be reached by email at joshowens@fbclumbertonnc.org