Grace & Gratitude

For some people, Thanksgiving is merely a place holder, the last obligatory holiday observance before Christmas.  Get it out of the way and it’s smooth sailing.  Do you feel this way?  I used to, because I loved Christmas so much I couldn’t wait to get started, and I knew I couldn’t really rev it up until after Thanksgiving.  In addition, I’ve never been much on civil religion, and Thanksgiving has long been called the principal holy day of American civil religion.  Don’t get me wrong; I’m grateful to be an American, and am appreciative of the bounty with which we have been blessed.  But I’m not sure civil religion – which in my estimation is a pale imitation of full bodied faith – is grateful for anything.  It seems to take many things for granted, and to spend much of its time expounding the virtues of the country rather than the God who watches over it.  It spends far too much time pointing out the worthiness of our country vis-à-vis all others, and claiming God’s sanction for its actions, however far they may stray from a path God might recognize.  As Abraham Lincoln might express it, civil religion seeks to make sure God is on its side, rather than making sure it is on God’s side. 

 

However that may be, I’ve changed my attitude toward Thanksgiving over the years, primarily because I’ve been able to relate it to my Christian faith in a satisfactory way.  And that link has to do with the relationship between grace and gratitude. 

 

They’re related, you know, grace and gratitude.  As words they are derived from the same root, and are equally close theologically as well.  According to Eugene Boring & Fred Craddock, for example, “…there can be no awareness of grace without gratitude,” and, “No gratitude without an awareness of grace.”  If this is true, the gratitude of Thanksgiving and the grace of Christmas are also linked; and if we want to taste the boundless grace that God offers us at Advent and Christmas, perhaps we should pause to express our gratitude. 

 

Gratitude for what? you ask.  Gratitude springs from awareness of having been gifted; of being on the receiving end of something good.  A gratitude inspired by God’s grace, therefore, will recognize that all we have, all we are, are the gifts of grace.  Each and every day is a gift to be cherished and lived fully; and as every child knows, gifts are to be shared with others.  So as we gather with family and friends on Thanksgiving, let’s take the time to thank God, and to share the gracious bounty God has provided.  In short, let’s be civil to everyone. 

November 4, 2008: Memo to Our Next President

It’s now almost 2:00 pm on Election Day, and I feel a sense of limbo.  The frantic pace of campaign ads and news has ceased, Americans in record numbers are voting even as I peck away at my computer keyboard, and now there is nothing to do … but wait.  I have my favorite, of course, and I really want him to win.  But regardless of the outcome of the election, I have hopes and dreams for our country; challenges that will face our next president, whoever he may be.

 

I hope and dream of an America without polarization; that great divide that has separated our people for too long, paralyzing our efforts to offer equality, justice, and opportunity for all.  Please recognize, Mr. soon-to-be President, that ultimately it is not issues that suffer from partisan politics, religious and philosophical ideology, and dogmatic intransigence. Rather, it is people, a large swath of our society, who suffer needlessly while waiting on us to make decisions that will seal their fates.  The New Testament Gospel writer Matthew liked to refer to these unfortunates as the least of these.  We argue endlessly about the nature and extent of their rights, all the while missing the essential message of Jesus of Nazareth; to wit, don’t ask what they deserve, but only what they need.  Will you do this, Mr. soon-to-be President?

 

I hope and dream as well of a truly post-racial culture that not only recognizes but celebrates the strengths of diversity and variety.  Many await the outcome of this election in fear that should the wrong man win, there will be a violent outcry from extremist groups who cling to the notion of racial (sic) superiority.  Others fear that should the wrong man win, minorities will sense their place in our society diminished, with equally violent results.  I fear that we will continue to see our society through ethnically divisive eyes – black, white, brown, or other – creating chasms from the accidents of nature ; identifying with “my people,” and my people only; limiting the reach of reason and compassion to the circle of those who look, think, and act “like me.”  Mr. soon-to-be President, you will not represent an ethnic majority or minority when you swear the oath of office; rather, you will represent “we the people” in all its brilliant diversity. Will you represent all of us, Mr. soon-to-be President?

 

I have hopes and dreams for our country, and tomorrow will not be too soon to breathe life into them.  We will look to you, Mr. soon-to-be President, to lead us toward such dreams.  Will you?