Celebrate

When you read this on Sunday morning we will be in the season of Advent. Thanksgiving and Black Friday will be behind us. During the days leading up to the Advent season I wondered, “Just what does it take to have a Happy Thanksgiving?” Thanksgiving involves, for most of us, unhealthy portions of food, football, and festivities. At times, it is easy to let the formality get in the way of the family. Is this what it takes for us to have a happy Thanksgiving? The first Thanksgiving was preceded by the death of more than half of the original pilgrims who set out on the Mayflower. The rest would have perished as well if the Native Americans had not had compassion on them and share their stores and shown them how to plant and cultivate.

The first Thanksgiving was not a day to celebrate plenty. It was a time to celebrate grace and mercy, compassion and deliverance, survival and recovery. In reality the pilgrims were probably much more frugal with their use of food than we have been over the last few days.

Immediately following Thanksgiving, we move to what has become known as Black Friday, a celebration of materialism and greed. A store in Los Angeles saw roughly a dozen people pepper sprayed by a woman seeking an advantage in a battle over an X-box. In our own Wal-mart in Ennis, an employee told me about a fist fight that broke out over an item that was in limited supply. This behavior is so foreign to the Christmas spirit, to the giving and sacrificing of the Christ child, to God putting on flesh in order that we might be able to put on spirit and wholeness. We are in danger of losing Christmas.

Our holidays, all of which are rooted in some grand idea of respect, honor, worship, and recognition, have become sale days.

In these four Sundays of Advent leading up to Christmas we need to do what we can to reclaim our holidays. At the same time we need to recognize our own responsibility for making them that way in the first place. Advent is when we think about the coming of the Christ, not just in the manger, but in our own lives and as the reigning King of the universe. It is a time to recognize how much our Savior loves us and what is expected of us as members of His Kingdom. May our actions, our attitudes, and our words throughout this season reflect that which we truly celebrate.

Pastor Craig