Thanksgiving in good times and bad

Stewardship really is all about giving thanks.  We give thanks all the time.  On Sunday we celebrate the Great Thanksgiving and every morning when we wake up and remember our baptism we give thanks.  So why celebrate a holiday in November dedicated to giving thanks?

I guess it is important that it is a national day of thanksgiving.  We get together with different people in ecumenical and interfaith services to say thanks.  We know that everyone is saying thanks together.

One important thing about having a day set aside is that we do it in good years and in bad.  Paul wrote, "rejoice in the Lord always" and he wrote it from prison.

We have a tendency to celebrate our victories as we should, but to withhold our thanks until we like the outcome.

Thanksgiving forces us to come face to face with what we are truly thankful for and with what we pray will be different.  When they celebrated thanksgiving in the midst of the Civil War, I am sure that prayers for peace were raised from many tables.  We pray for peace this year too even as we give thanks.

As always giving thanks means living into the prayers that we offer.  When we give thanks that we have enough we also work to provide enough for all.  When we pray for peace we renew our resolve to become instruments of peace.

I think I will find some more ways this year to show my thanks.  I know my discretionary fund is empty, maybe some of my own money can be diverted there.  This is the time of year when many people are in need.  Perhaps you too can find more ways to show thanks.  This kind of thanksgiving spreads the feeling.  Then those who are warmed and fed will also be giving thanks.

Lord, help us to remember all that we have to be thankful for and to share our thanks and all that you have given us.  Amen



Copyright © 2006, The Rev. Dana Reardon. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Email her at mspastor@aol.com.



The Rev. Dana Reardon is pastor at St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, Warwick, RI.  A lifelong Lutheran, she came to ordained ministry after 21 years in nursing, mostly in pediatric intensive care.  She graduated from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia in 1998 and served 4 ½ years in Upstate New York before becoming a New Englander.  She is still trying to understand the accent.  While in the Upstate New York Synod she chaired the Stewardship Team.  That began her fascination with what makes stewards -- and more, what makes for generosity. She has three amazing daughters: Pastor Reardon says much of what she knows of life she learned from them.