The Challenge of Thanksgiving

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 By Brother Christopher


“Always be joyful, pray always, give thanks to God for all things...” 1 Thessalonians 5:17

            Thanksgiving is a national holiday, one we collectively celebrate to give thanks for all of God’s blessings. But in thinking about the deeper significance of what we celebrate, I wonder if we often don’t keep the holiday on a superficial level: God gives us good things—blessings—and these are the things that we are grateful for. From a Christian perspective, however, the meaning of thanksgiving goes so much deeper, and it carries with it a profound challenge: we are to give thanks to God for all things. All things. How do we do that precisely? honestly? In a like manner, when Jesus tells us in the Gospel “do not worry,” how do we do that? Is it really possible? At face value, it can sound simplistic, pie-in-sky, naive. We know that we live in a dangerous world. All we have to do is think of the recent shootings in Paris and San Bernardino, the bombing of the Russian jet, the terrorism being fomented by ISIS. Or we could consider all the possible medical trials we could face: cancer, heart disease, the complications of diabetes. Then there is the economy and the economic pressures we face. Recently I was speaking with someone who said that his financial advisor had told him the alarming news that at the rate he was going, he would be broke in two years. Consequently he was facing serious decisions that would radically alter his living situation. Or what about the plight of the homeless? Have we ever considered what it would be like to be on the street... or even a refugee? Are they to be blamed for their plight? In the face of these and many other potential dangers, how do we not fall into anxiety and worry? Because Jesus’ instruction to us in the Gospel is in the imperative: Do not worry. It is a command. How can we do that?

            I believe the answer comes in realizing and owning the radical nature of our faith. Christianity is the most profoundly counter-cultural of religions. It stares down life in all its complexity: the good, the bad, the beautiful, and the tragic, and it trusts that each moment of life can bring us into ever deeper knowledge and communion with God, who is ever present in all that we go through. That is what is most fundamental. We simply need to train ourselves to be mindful of this reality. This is the work of our spiritual practice, and it takes place throughout our life. 

            True faith is profoundly counter-cultural. It has no room for cynicism because it is planted in a continual act of trusting God, in trusting that God will be present with us in the vast expanse of life’s experiences, always leading us into deeper and deeper relationship. There is never an experience in life that is totally without meaning, for God is always present, always leading us forward. I think of a passage from Psalm 122: “I lift my eyes to the mountains, from where shall come my help? My help comes only from the presence of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”  The real question is not whether God is present to us, but whether we are present to God?


            The Greek word for thanksgiving is eucharistia, from which we get our eucharist. What we do every time we celebrate the Divine Liturgy is to thank God for all things, to express through its mystery our total trust in God’s provident care, and to allow God to bring us into an ever deepening communion, both with God and with each other. 


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