What the Freak Happened to Thanksgiving?!

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
   come into his presence with singing.
Know that the Lord is God.
   It is he that made us, and we are his;
   we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
   and his courts with praise.
   Give thanks to him, bless his name.
For the Lord is good;
   his steadfast love endures for ever,
   and his faithfulness to all generations.

(Psalm 100)

Okay. Every once in a while your Old Religious Guy has to let off steam and act like the grumpy codger I'm slowly becoming. Please excuse my rant, but would someone please tell me just what in the Name of the Most High God has happened to the American Holiday of Thanksgiving??!!

I mean, when I was a kid I'd see decoration of Pilgrims and Native Americans (we called them “Indians” back then, but that's really neither accurate nor respectful) and turkeys. We'd remember just why it was we were gathering and praying on the fourth Thursday of November each year. Now, when I go into a retail establishment I'm greeted by gaudy Halloween crap in September followed immediately by gaudy Christmas crap in October. It's not enough that the culture seems to have lost awareness of the beautiful season of Advent—we've even lost the secular national holiday of Thanksgiving.

 

Remember folks: That first Thanksgiving in 1621 must have been an emotional, bitter-sweet affair. Half of those well-meaning religious folks had died during the previous year. The remainder were just thankful to be alive. Abe Lincoln declared a national Day of Thanksgiving in 1863 during the blood-letting of the American Civil War. Lincoln figured if ever there was a time for God to smite the American people, it would be during this time of wholesale slaughter. He feared both famine and foreign invasion would result from the chaos. Neither occurred. Later, a date was set for the holiday by Franklin Roosevelt during the height of the Great Depression.

Our ancestors, it seems, had a knack for acts of defiant faith—for turning the darkness of tragedy into the light of obedient worship. And God has continued to sustain us. How disrespectful it seems to me that we have substituted a holy day of gratitude with a new, heathen festival worshiping the Baal of covetousness and greed—the so-called “Black Friday.”

Can I just say that I despise the hoopla around this National Day of Shopping Orgy to the depth of my soul? It maddens me to think that retailers like Walmart and Old Navy are calling their employees away from family reunions to prepare for this Feast of Excess.

Let me make an analogy. A distinguished colleague of mine, Pastor Jesse Brown, has tried in vain to fight Philadelphia's attempt to license and promote casino gambling within the city limits. Pastor Jesse's rationale is simple: if casinos are built in poor neighborhoods, poor people will gamble. This will cause greater financial hardship for those who are already suffering.

Using the same logic, I believe that if America promotes a national day of spending frenzy—especially one fueled by so-called “bargains” and the notion that it is both a communal activity and a great adventure—then poor people will feel compelled to participate. This will lead to greater debt burdens on those who are already unfairly encumbered.

Here's my thought: We can't very well order the retailers to close shop for two full days. They'd just create a “Black Saturday” or a “Black Sunday” anyway. But I think we should try to reattach meaning to Thanksgiving. I see a great deal of hope in the way the observance of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday holiday has been transformed into the King Day of Service. Rather than just hanging out and getting a day off of work or school, young people have started celebrating Dr. King's legacy by doing something positive for their communities.

Why don't we try to attach a similar activity to Thanksgiving? Instead of just using the day to eat ourselves into a stupor, let's use the entire week to actively express gratitude. Let's start the tradition of thanking teachers, parents, community leaders, first responders, military or whomever for their service. Let's suggest that every American perform one tangible act—be it cooking a meal, doing a favor, making a donation, or just writing a note of thanks—for an individual, group, or institution for which they feel gratitude. Let's make this a doing holiday and uplift Thanksgiving in the spirit in which the observance was first created.

Martin Luther wrote:

“I believe that God has created me together with all that exists. God has given me and still preserves my body and soul: eyes, ears, and all limbs and senses; reason and all mental faculties. In addition God daily and abundantly provides shoes and clothing, food and drink, house and farm, spouse and children, fields, livestock, and all property—along with all the necessities and nourishment for this body and life. God protects me from all danger and shields and preserves me from all evil. And all this is done out of pure, fatherly, and divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness of mine at all. For all of this I owe it to God to thank and praise, serve and obey him. This is most certainly true.

And I am most grateful to YOU, my friend, for taking the time to read this. May you have a blessed Day of Thanksgiving.