Heart Full of Thanksgiving

Recently a friend was talking with me about reconnecting with an activism and partying companion from their youth and how they had both come a long way since then. But, my friend noted, there was a lot of racism they still face. My friend then went to talking about how significant spending Thanksgiving with their family is for them as they get older. This conversation, and so many others I have had recently, brings up for me the many different layers of experience at every moment in our complex realities. The question that always comes up for me in this acknowledgment is, how do I hold on to gratitude while also facing injustice?

As we sit around the feast table offering thanks, how much of what we have is a global good and how much is at the expense of someone else? If I give thanks for the food on the table and others don’t have enough, what implications does that have on my understanding of God? Is God the author of my privilege or of the world’s disparity? Do I somehow think myself deserving or favored, or do I secretly imaging others to be less loved by God? These are hard questions that come up for me every year at Thanksgiving. But the truth is that gratitude or appreciation is necessary for well-being. Whatever the circumstance, there is always so much to be thankful for. Blessings are always chasing after us and overtaking us. Gratitude itself is a gift.

Another friend was telling me recently about how disillusioned their kid is about the state of the world. I remember that feeling from when I was young. Growing up in the 70s, it seemed like all the progress of the 60s was becoming pointless and that the world would never change. But I have lived long enough now to have seen so many things get better. There is so much to be thankful for. The world is a less violent place. Acceptance and pluralism abound where intolerance was once immovable. No, we haven’t arrived. There is much work to do. But our good work makes a difference. Justice is not a destination; it is a process and a way of being. The corrosives of greed and pride are inevitable but the spirit of justice cannot be quenched. it is good to remember with gratitude all the ways justice has overcome. And, we must also give an account of what we continue to allow.

Can we be honest about the comforts we protect and the smooth waters we don’t want to upset? Can we be honest about the excuses we make? Some may say that grace is unmerited favor but they promote the myth of meritocracy in the same breath. Some may claim special favor with God and site their wealth as evidence. Some will put their heads in the sand and abandon responsibility for the state of the world around them. Some will pray for God to change the world but never get involved. And some will say they are for all, but continue to show deference to privilege. We all have to sort out how we will reconcile our lives with our relationship with God and or the collective; how we will quiet our conscience and comfort our heart. How good it is to be attuned to compassion.

Grace is not unmerited because we don’t deserve it; grace is unmerited because we all deserve it. Compassion is not conditional or exclusive. It is us who create the gates and barriers that stratify us. May our thanksgiving be resistance against the fallacies of scarcity and terror that drive us apart. An economy of flourishing is always abundance. Happy Thanksgiving!