Thanksgiving is an odd holiday. I am conflicted about it’s historicity, or lack there of. But I do embrace it’s spirit. Somehow it has managed to remain a mostly unexploited, noncommercial holiday, unlike even Halloween or Easter. Thanksgiving has it’s hallmark traditions and food items, but no candy that can easily be packaged and sold at the CVS counter. Cranberry bubblegum and pumpkin breath mints are acquired tastes.

But, in addition to Thanksgiving’s resistance of consumeristic trends, I like the idea of taking a moment and saying “thanks.” “Thanksgiving” has always been an integral part of the church’s liturgy, and rightly so. Our lives are lived in constant gratitude for the generous offerings of a a loving God; offerings we experience through our family and friends, our community and neighbors, our fortunes and dreams. When we offer our thanks in a community, whether the church gathered at worship or the family gathered at dinner, we give voice to our thanks and hear the grateful expressions of others. And within that communal expression of gratitude, we come to realize that someone else is grateful for us, that we are a generous offering of God for others.

My family used to gather around the table before a big, wonderful Thanksgiving meal, and pause for a moment to offer thanks in the form of a makeshift prayer. There were a few Thanksgivings where it was hard to be grateful – like the ones we spent in the hospital with my mother as she fought off leukemia. But gratitude is a discipline. Even in the face of loss and grief, we were always able to find something to be grateful for.

Thanksgiving is an odd holiday. We are the only nation that observes it. Yet “thanksgiving” with a small “t” is part of our daily life. Each day brings a new joy, a new hope, a new possibility. Each day offers another chance to express our thanks. This Thanksgiving morning, as the sun rises on yet another new day, I give my voice up to expressions of gratitude in union with all the saints who offer their thanks today.