November 9, 2005

Not A Lot Like Christmas

I can still buy pumpkins, but they're in the discount aisle, way down beyond the electric deer. Our yearly pause to "Give Thanks" has been replaced by strident calls to "buy more stuff."

When Squanto and the Pilgrims celebrated the first American Thanksgiving, they stopped, took stock of God's blessings, hugged their families and friends, and prayed, "Thank you God. You have given us hope." That celebration (and the after-dinner football game between the Indians and the Settlers) lessened the stresses of Winter, and gave everyone a thanks-filled pause.

There's little time to do that this year. Thanksgiving has been declared irrelevant before it arrives. Yes, there will be football games with scratchy national anthems, church services with choirs and readings, and well-stuffed turkeys. But the holiday PDOs will be taken beneath Christmas wreaths and the turkey will be devoured to the sounds of iPODs playing, "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer."

Thanksgiving has become a speed bump on the toll road to Christmas shopping.

The malls are playing Christmas carols. Fake Santas are lining up to have expensive photos taken with crying children. The windows of Victoria's Secret are festooned with Christmas lace. Pier One looks like the Christmas ferry just arrived.

In one store I heard Bing Crosby crooning, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas." I stopped, and looked around to see if his early November declaration was accurate. There were snowmen, twinkling lights, red and green ribbons, and "10% off" on spindly plastic trees. If Christmas is about selling and buying stuff, then Bing's electronic voice was right on target.

But, what if the holidays are not about stuff? What if they're about relationships?

What if Thanksgiving is about stopping (!) to say "Thank You" for God's blessings? That would give us permission to follow the Pilgrim's advice to stop, count, hug, and pray. Then, in the holiday's hours of peaceful thankfulness, we'd re-discover that Christmas is about giving thanks for the greatest gift of all---God's eagerness to bring His runaway children home.

"Give thanks to the Lord. His loving kindness is everlasting." 2 Chronicles 20:21

Dick Duerksen
Assistant Vice President
Mission development
Florida Hospital