There is a great deal of revisionist history about who first celebrated Thanksgiving in this country, where and for what reasons. I did major in history in college, but I concentrated in world history, mostly ancient history. I do not intend to make a definitive statement about the origins of our Thanksgiving traditions. Instead, I want to ponder the theological implications of Thanksgiving.

I enjoy the benefits of being an American when it is Thanksgiving season. My extended family gathers at Thanksgiving. I love catching up with cousins and nieces and nephews. I also love the great food. I suppose every family believes theirs is filled with great cooks. Mine certainly is.

More important to me than the food is the sentiment of thanksgiving. When my family gathers, one of the things we often do before eating is to go around the table to say what, in our lives, has happened in the past year for which we are thankful. Of course, that is a good exercise to do anytime, but it is especially meaningful when we are all together to share in our thanksgivings.

The Psalms are a great source of reminders of being thankful.

In Psalm 100, we read, “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.”

Psalm 92 begins, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High.”

In Psalm 105, “O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples.” And following that, Psalm 106 reads, “Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.”

There are Psalms of lament, but most of those end in praise. To generously paraphrase: Everybody hates me. No one loves me. You, O God, have abandoned me. But look, the sun is rising. I survived the dark night. It’s a new day. You still love me.

In historical monastic life, the sisters and brothers gathered for prayer five times a day. A Psalm was recited at each of those gatherings. You can quickly do the math. Every month the participants completed the book of Psalms (150 Psalms divided by 30 days equals 5). It is easy to see why those ancient monks and sisters had memorized the Psalms, and why they were filled with gratitude.

My experience of Kirkwood is that it is a place of thanksgiving. Some residents may have experienced a quick move to Kirkwood – due to circumstance or incident – rather than the move being on their timing. Even under those circumstances, the new residents discover a caring community where they can be as involved and active as they choose to be. It does not take long for that new resident to express their sense of thankfulness for being at Kirkwood. I hear those residents say, “I didn’t want to come. I put it off as long as I could. Now I wish I had moved sooner.”

Years ago, Viktor Frankl wrote about the critical importance of our attitude, our reasons for living, in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning. He would say that we can choose to be thankful, or we can choose to not be thankful. What he observed was that those who have a reason for living – do. Those who do not have a reason to go on living – stop. I believe the same is true for being thankful. We may claim that we cannot make a joyful noise, but even so, we can live lives filled with thanksgiving.

Peace.

Cary