Where are you planning to be for Thanksgiving this year? Personally held as my favorite holiday, I love the aromas of traditional foods blending with the feast of friends and family gathered to share good company, good food and lots of stories.
I am also not delusional. Thanksgiving was declared a national holiday by President Lincoln during the middle of the Civil War. Many families, with no Christmas gifts to distract their attention, have annually reenacted that dark time in our country's history at their holiday tables and will probably give it another go around this year. Traditional behavior patterns sometimes are part of the family festival landscape and are even more difficult to adjust than the menu.
Nonetheless, here we are. Thanksgiving is two days away. Last year at this time President Bush, with extraordinarily low approval ratings, was talking troop withdrawals while he pardoned a turkey from certain death-for-dinner. This year, that low presidential approval rating was brought home at the polls in a midterm election that handed the House and the Senate back over to Democratic control. As a result, the reality of dialogue between the White House and Congress is at hand, and U.S. involvement in the deteriorating situation in Iraq is already poised to be reconsidered and redirected. My assumption is that last year's pardoned turkey will be joined by a similarly-saved buddy. Each will have their chance to live a peaceful life of solitude down on the farm.
Things have changed a bit here in the United States this past year. We have mutually agreed to keep a few things in place, including the turkey pardoning, but mostly, our voice has said, "No More." If we want to move forward as a country and make a positive impact on the world, we must change our perception of ourselves, our agenda with other countries and accept the reality that we don't have the right to do as we please, whenever we please.
What I am most grateful for this year, as I prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family and friends, is the blessing of hope. This majestic turn of events in our government means people are paying attention, making conscious choices, and for that I can only breathe a prayer of gratitude to God. If we can begin to govern ourselves more sensibly, I hope and I believe that we can offer that same consciousness to supporting the people in the world who need us most. We have great wealth, we have great influence, and we can implement this blessing of hope to protect the people of Darfur, heal the HIV/AIDS victims in Malawi, Kenya and Zimbabwe, and help rebuild Granada, Indonesia and Pakistan, countries who still suffer the effects of hurricane, tsunami and earthquake. Our blessing of hope can be realized as resurrection in the lives of people who are most yearning for new life.
Advent is about to welcome us to prepare for the coming of the Christ among us. But, before we begin that journey to Bethlehem, for a moment we have the chance to pull back from our tables of abundance filled with food, love, joy and laughter, and take hold of what we already have. We are blessed as a country, we are blessed as many communities, we are blessed as individuals. Remembering all that we have sets forth the path of faithful gratitude to God, who blesses us with all good things. Knowing this, we must seek to embody our hope as justice for all of God's people. "Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for God who has promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:23)."