What Could be Dangerous about Thanksgiving?

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise,’ give thanks to him and praise his name.” (Psalm 100:4—NIV)

Dear friends:

Thanksgiving is a dangerous holiday! That may sound like a strange statement to make about one of the most popular holidays in Canada. After all, what could be dangerous about Thanksgiving? True, many of us might be tempted to eat too much turkey but that hardly qualifies as dangerous (depending, ofcourse, on exactly how much turkey you plan to eat!).

What could be dangerous about turkeys and potato salad, pumpkin pie and pumpkin loaf?

Yet, I'll say it again, Thanksgiving is a dangerous holiday! Now, I'm not saying that I don't like Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving! I think it's wonderful that our national leaders saw fit to set apart a day of the year for a corporate thanksgiving. Yet, still, there is a danger in identifying one day of the year as a special time to give thanks. The danger is that we'll begin to think that we need only to be thankful one day a year. It's the same danger we encounter when we celebrate Mother's Day or Father's Day. I believe that God wants us to honour our parents 365 days a year. Similarly, I believe that God wants us to be people of gratitude 365 days a year.

So, how should we approach Thanksgiving? Rather than looking on this holiday as the one and only day when we're supposed to give thanks, let's look on it as a yearly reminder of a mindset that we're to nurture every day of the year. Just as we might get a booster shot to keep our immune systems sharp, let's look on Thanksgiving as a booster shot for our spiritual lives, reminding us to live our lives as God's thankful people. As we do this, thanksgiving will become a hallmark of our lives and will draw us into a closer walk with the God of all thanksgiving.

With thanksgiving for each of you,

Pastor Richard