大象传媒

Good Morning and Happy Thanksgiving,

Yes, today marks the holiday in the United States known as Thanksgiving. Having grown up with the holiday, it鈥檚 one of the celebrations I miss now that I live in Britain. The wonderful smells of the turkey and pumpkin pie cooking, the special warmth of the house, the presence of loved ones鈥攁ll of these blessings helped to foster festive feelings of gratitude and thankfulness.聽

Giving thanks is an essential element of the worship of God. But expressing gratitude is neither a one-way street, nor a practice that only to be observed in prayer. The practice of giving thanks reorients our attention, even if only momentarily, by reminding us that we do not and cannot sustain ourselves. Giving thanks is thus an antidote to improper pride and selfishness, for it鈥檚 an admission that we depend on so many others, on so much that comes to us as gift. Thus, giving thanks offers us a chance to peek out from the confines of the walls we sometimes erect within. Giving thanks lifts our gaze off of ourselves and helps us recognise our dependence on a larger world and community to which we belong.

Gracious and merciful God, thank you for the gifts of life, provision, family, and friendship. For those all around us whose lives, whose work and whose presence enrich and sustain our own, thank you. For those who clean, who fish, who farm, who build, who care for us, who govern and rule, for so many others, thank you. Thank you for opportunities to express kind words of thanks to those around us. In the name of Jesus, Amen