Thanksgiving weekend is just around the corner.
The trees are donning their fiery gowns of red, gold and yellow. Some are heavy with fruit. Bright orange pumpkins dot the farmer’s fields. Everywhere we look, Mother Nature is getting ready to celebrate.
Many of us are looking forward to gathering with our family and friends around a table laden with a turkey roasted to perfection, new potatoes, squash, salads, pie and more. For a few hours on Thanksgiving Day, we will recognize that we truly have “more than enough”.
Yet deep in our hearts we know there is much darkness in this world. Our food banks have more and more families. There are missing and murdered indigenous women. The lasting effects of the trauma of residential schools will be with us for generations. There are more and more people without a safe place to live. When we look outside our own country we see refugee camps overflowing with skilled people and no jobs. They live on rations from World Vision and other non-profit organization. These are people just like you and I, who love their children and want only to live in peace. War, violence, abuse, hunger exists and the list goes on.
As Thanksgiving approaches consider the question, “Why are we blessed with “more than enough” while so many others have so little?” And yet maybe that’s not the question to ask.
Jesus’ story of the rich man and Lazarus tells us that blessings bring with them a responsibility to care for the world. Yet, we can’t. There are too many sick, too many hungry, too many homeless, tooooo many. We cannot solve the world’s problems.
The question we need to ask is, “What then can I, do?” Mother Theresa told us, “As an individual you cannot care for all the needy, but you can care for one. And you had better care for that one.” That’s a tough message. Translated it means, think about the hungry, the isolated, the needy in your community. Picture a real family like your own. Consider what it would be like to have to choose between paying the electricity bill and buying groceries. Think about how you would feel sending your child to school hungry hoping there will be a breakfast program.
Then, instead of grabbing a few cans of unwanted food from your cupboard, plan to ensure a meal goes to a local family either with a cash donation or purchasing groceries. If you asked, the Salvation Army could accept your gift of the makings of a complete Thanksgiving Dinner for one family. Or it might be fun to volunteer to help as they prepare dinner for the homeless in your area.
Then, this year as you gather with your family and friends around your table, you will joyfully give thanks to God that you have been given “more than enough”, because you have accepted the privilege of truly sharing from that abundance.
Today’s Faith by Rev. Janet Stobie