A Thanksgiving Commentary

You read this prayer. Now I invite you to think about it.

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift, we call to remembrance thy loving-kindness and the tender mercies which have been ever of old, and with grateful hearts we would lift up to thee the voice of our thanksgiving,

For all the gifts which thou hast bestowed upon us; for the life thou hast given us, and the world in which we live,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the work we are enabled to do, and the truth we are permitted to learn; for whatever of good there has been in our past lives, and for all the hopes and aspirations which lead us on toward better things,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the order and constancy of nature; for the beauty and bounty of the world; for day and night, summer and winter, seed-time and harvest; for the varied gifts of loveliness and use which every season brings,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For all the comforts and gladness of life; for our homes and all our home-blessings; for our friends and all pure pleasure; for the love, sympathy, and good will of men [sic],

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For all the blessings of civilization, wise government and legislation; for education, and all the privileges we enjoy through literature, science, and art; for the help and counsel of those who are wiser and better than ourselves,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For all true knowledge of thee and the world in which we live, and the life of truth and righteousness and divine communion to which thou hast called us; for prophets and apostles, and all earnest seekers after truth; for all lovers and helpers of mankind, and all godly and gifted men and women,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the gift of thy Son Jesus Christ, and all the helps and hopes which are ours as his disciples; for the presence and inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, for all the ministries of thy truth and grace,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For communion with thee, the Father of our spirits; for the light and peace that are gained through trust and obedience, and the darkness and disquietude which befall us when we disobey thy laws and follow our lower desires and selfish passions,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the desire and power to help others; for every opportunity of serving our generation according to thy will, and manifesting the grace of Christ to men,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For all the discipline of life; for the tasks and trials by which we are trained to patience, self-knowledge and self-conquest, and brought into closer sympathy with our suffering brethren; for troubles which have lifted us nearer to thee and drawn us into deeper fellowship with Jesus Christ,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the sacred and tender ties which bind us to the unseen world; for the faith which dispels the shadows of earth, and fills the saddest and the last moments of life with the light of an immortal hope.

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

God of all grace and love, we have praised thee with our lips; grant that we may praise thee also in consecrated and faithful lives. And may the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer.

AMEN.

These are not the sentiments we are taught by the world. They aren’t even the common sentiments of this secular holiday. 

For all the blessings of civilization, wise government and legislation; for education, and all the privileges we enjoy through literature, science, and art; for the help and counsel of those who are wiser and better than ourselves,

We despise Trump's narcissism and Musk's egotism, but are we culturally really that far removed from them? I know people who aren't at all egotistical or convinced of their own importance. But our culture teaches us we should be, and many of our churches gladly reflect that culture.  Imagine them, instead, emphasizing this teaching.  And if you don't get that lesson in church, where do you get it? The world may tell you “Be nice, be kind, be thoughtful,” but will it teach you the virtue of humility? When was the last time any secular public figure or forum praised “all the privileges we enjoy through literature, science, and art; for the help and counsel of those who are wiser and better than ourselves"? My mind goes to the neo-atheists who insist science is all you need to know: literature and art are meaningless, or at best just entertainment. And yet here is a prayer of the church offering thanks for “all the privileges we enjoy….” We in our lives; enjoy. Who even speaks of “we,” anymore, except to exclude and draw boundaries and set apart our group from others. Sociology teaches us that people think in terms of groups. It’s as endemic to us as our sense of identity. But the very experience of religion teaches us that can be overcome. Except the very practice of religion too often just reinforces group boundaries and identity. Still, if we don’t get the lesson of humility in church, where do we get it?

And where else would you hear this?

For all the discipline of life; for the tasks and trials by which we are trained to patience, self-knowledge and self-conquest, and brought into closer sympathy with our suffering brethren [and sisteren]; for troubles which have lifted us nearer to thee and drawn us into deeper fellowship with Jesus Christ,

Self-knowledge, self-conquest, patience? Who in the world teaches that anymore? Do we expect AI to acquire enough data to have “self-knowledge”? And yet we want it to replace people (well, somebody does) because, what? People are expendable? And too expensive? Or just can’t be owned? Does that bring us into greater sympathy with our suffering brothers and sisters? Isn’t that where our interests should lie? When politicians talk about getting God and the Bible back in schools, is this what they’re talking about?

Yeah, I don’t think so either. If it was, they wouldn’t talk about God and the Bible at all. Just like “discipline of life.” In the world, that means fealty to the machine, to commerce, to the system. Let it be and it will provide; and if it doesn’t, you don’t deserve it. (12 million Americans on food aid, and not a one of them deserves it, the Administration tells us.) “O machine, O machine!” If there is an alternative to this, a radical alternative, a completely different way of seeing ourselves in the world, and what the world should be, where do we learn it? Who is teaching it?

For all true knowledge of thee and the world in which we live, and the life of truth and righteousness and divine communion to which thou hast called us; for prophets and apostles, and all earnest seekers after truth; for all lovers and helpers of mankind, and all godly and gifted men and women,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the gift of thy Son Jesus Christ, and all the helps and hopes which are ours as his disciples; for the presence and inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, for all the ministries of thy truth and grace,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For communion with thee, the Father of our spirits; for the light and peace that are gained through trust and obedience, and the darkness and disquietude which befall us when we disobey thy laws and follow our lower desires and selfish passions,

There is the church, and there is the world, and they teach and support and counsel and uphold very different ways of being in the world. One is very utilitarian; and the other is very focused on others, and servanthood, and stewardship. 

Like the prayer for the harvest.  It’s not a prayer of gratitude for what we possess, it’s a prayer of recognition for the physical world we live in; for the people, for family and friends. And it’s all directed outward; it’s about them and the world, not about us and what else we need. It’s not just humble, it removes us from the center and places that “center” out there. It makes us the servant, the last who is first only because we are last. Who preaches that anymore? Or makes us think of ourselves as a whole, a community, a society, and not first as an individual, a”me” who must be served before I can serve?

I’m not decrying a church or a creed or Christianity in general, I’m just asking a general question. Where else in the world do we learn that the first of all should be last of all and servant of all? If you look at the words of John Kennedy, that’s where he was putting us: in service to the party, and in turn in service to the nation, and in turn in service to the world. I don’t mean his words were Christianity, but they were a far sight wiser than our common public discourse today.

Where do we go to hear such words today? To think such thoughts, to imagine such a world. To paraphrase Walker Percy: “Find it!”

What happened to marriage and family that it should have become a travail and a sadness?...God may be good, family and marriage and children and home may be good, grandma and grandpa may act wise, the Thanksgiving table may be groaning with God's goodness and bounty, all the folks healthy and happy, but something is missing...What is missing? Where did it go? I won't have it! I won't have it! Why this sadness here? Don't stand for it! Get up! Leave! Let the boat people sit down! Go live in a cave until you've found the thief who is robbing you. But at least protest! Stop, thief! What is missing? God? Find him!