What’s the most encouraging note a teacher wrote on your report card?
Maybe it was, “Great job this quarter!” Or “Fantastic job bringing your math grade up!”
The earliest comment I remember receiving on my report card was this: “Laughs at inappropriate times.” There was nothing added, no smiley face or “lol.” Just “Laughs at inappropriate times.” Which is funny because, if I recall, the teacher didn’t seem to have a sense of humor to begin with, so I’m not sure how she thought she knew the right or wrong time to think something was funny.
If the surrounding culture were to assign a “report card” to Christians, I hope they would write, “Gives thanks at inappropriate times.” Like a cheerful background vocalist clapping offbeat, our heritage as Christians is to thank God in times that feel off.
On one of his voyages, the apostle Paul in Acts 27 gave thanks, broke bread, and encouraged everybody on the ship to eat—a laughable mismatch to the situation. Two weeks earlier, a hurricane-force “Northeaster” had battered the ship so badly they had thrown the cargo overboard, cut loose the lifeboat, gone without food, and by now had given up all hope of surviving. Into this misery, Paul spoke thanksgiving.
In this, Paul was echoing Jesus, who “on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it,” and distributed it to his disciples (1 Corinthians 11:23-24, NIV). Jesus pierced the night of greatest sorrow—betrayed, abandoned, denied, falsely accused, unjustly sentenced, awaiting execution—with “Father, we thank you.”
Disciples of Jesus give thanks at inappropriate times.
“Jesus pierced the night of greatest sorrow—betrayed, abandoned, denied, falsely accused, unjustly sentenced, awaiting execution—with ‘Father, we thank you.'”
Which brings us to Thanksgiving, a national holiday coming up here in the US. Should you really be giving thanks at a time like this?
“Time like this” could mean . . .
- Scary health news for a loved one
- Political hostilities dividing the family
- Loved ones drifting spiritually
- An unexpected layoff
- Economic uncertainty
Or, if we zoom out, we could entertain philosophical reasons for questioning Thanksgiving. Do we really want to memorialize a shared meal between pilgrims and natives which so poorly predicted the struggles and subjugations that would follow? And isn’t it a bit of a sham for us to stuff ourselves with food one day—call it a break for cultivating contentedness—so we can gorge ourselves with stuff the next day? Isn’t “Thanksgiving” just another holiday for accumulating more by yet another name?
But if Thanksgiving has indeed become a day for gluttony not gratitude, then let’s be Christian about it. Let’s do what has become culturally inappropriate to the situation—and pause, lift our eyes, and give thanks. That’s our heritage.
“Let’s do what has become culturally inappropriate to the situation—and pause, lift our eyes, and give thanks. That’s our heritage.”
How important is it to pause and give thanks to God? Here’s what happens when we don’t:
“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Romans 1:21-23, NIV)
And when we do pause and remember to give thanks? In reply, we receive strength. The strength not to collapse under the catastrophes out there. Thank you, Father. The strength not to give into our own I-deserve-better ethical loopholes. Thank you, Father. Even as the Thanksgiving meal makes us struggle to stay awake during the NFL game, actual thanksgiving supercharges our spiritual resolve.
So, what’s appropriate to your typical Thanksgiving get-together? If it’s a grateful heart that speaks encouragement to each other and prays thanks to God, then beautiful. But if the bountiful feast of reasons for gratitude is typically pecked away by “A turkey used to cost half this . . . That political wing is destroying our country . . . Why is it always the Detroit Lions . . .,” then you know what to do. Regenerate a feast by remembering God and his gifts.
“Even as the Thanksgiving meal makes us struggle to stay awake during the NFL game, actual thanksgiving supercharges our spiritual resolve.”
So, is it that true Christians refuse to recognize the misery and oppression around them? Actually, our Bible is very candid about such things. As one proverb puts it,
“All the days of the oppressed are wretched.”
Yet the Christian story always adds a next chapter, and in this case it’s a second half to the proverb:
“All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.” (Proverbs 15:15, NIV)
Want to extend your Thanksgiving meal? Does a “continual feast” sound nice? Then, however inappropriate to your situation, cultivate a cheerful heart by seeing gifts from God everywhere.
