As someone who grew up with cats, I confess that I did not piece together that when a dog needs to go outside, so does the dog owner (at least while she is a puppy). Now as a puppy owner, I find myself standing out in the backyard waiting for the dog to do her business far more than I thought would ever be necessary. Between that and twice daily walks to the school pick-up/drop-off location, I have found myself standing out in the rain more than I ever imagined necessary this week. 

All the grey skies, fall leaves and rainy streets give the sense of a dreary fall movie, maybe a movie about a family coming home for Thanksgiving and being stuck together for a comedic and/or miserable weekend. 

Thanksgiving is one of those occasions that we celebrate without thinking too deeply about, lest we get lost in a vortex of existential turmoil. Think about it too much and it might start to hurt your brain. 

Taking an opportunity to give thanks for the blessings that we have received in life is certainly a worthwhile endeavour. But where does the duty to give thanks begin and end? And just what are we thankful for? 

Thankful for our material possessions, or that we aren’t unfortunate enough to be poor?

Thankful for an abundance of family and friends in our lives, or thankful that we are not alone?

Thankful because Jesus or Grandma or our 3rd-grade teacher told us to be, or thankful because of genuine gratefulness?

Thanksgiving, in that sense, is an odd occasion then. It could perhaps come across as mandatory gratefulness. Yet, gratefulness is a learned skill that needs to be practiced to truly embody it. 

It makes sense then that, as Canadians (and Americans a little later), we make sense of this occasion for gratefulness by gathering around a meal. The opportunity to eat together is the great equalizer, putting the strong and mighty next to the weak and lowly, all the same at the table. 

And even though Thanksgiving is not a church holiday, gratitude and thanksgiving are deeply connected to faith. In fact, ‘Thanksgiving’ is one of the names that we call Holy Communion. The Greek word for Holy Communion, Eucharist, means thanksgiving. In the Eucharist, we pray, giving thanks to God for all that God has done for us. Yet we also recognize that our thanks are insufficient. Somehow, God still comes and joins us to the Body of Christ in the Bread and Wine. 

The true Thanksgiving might just be that of God towards us. God’s faithfulness toward and gratefulness for creation. 

Maybe that is the best way to understand Thanksgiving. We can never express our true gratitude and thanks to God for this life of abundance, but God’s love and gratefulness given for our sake make true Thanksgiving possible.