Happy Thanksgiving
As we celebrate Thanksgiving this year, I thought that I would transfer some of my reflections to paper. With inexorable regularity, the festive season has returned and with predictable insipid insight we make the same comments we have made since attaining mature (?) adulthood: “My, I can’t believe it’s Thanksgiving already!� “Where did they year go?� “Time surely flies as you get older!� “Soon it’ll be Christmas, then New Year’s and 2008.� “Where did last year ago?� Needless to say, these are simply halfhearted and, even feigned attempts, at being surprised by the swiftness of the juggernaut of time.
Notwithstanding these trifling, disingenuous observations, Thanksgiving still remains an important family, social and national event; it’s integrally interwoven into the fabric of our history and culture, a dimension that is partaken of and enjoyed alike by all, by saint as well a sinner. In this writing, I do not seek to delve into the origins and historicity of Thanksgiving but simply intend to compare this historic event with our lot as Christians. When we do so, an interesting and intriguing set of similarities as well as dissimilarities is soon apparent.
Like The Puritans, We Too Have Fled. Not from the political persecution of another country but from the wrath of God, from His holy burning judgment which continually abides on the sinner. We have fled, not to another country, not from one earthly, man-made institution to another, but to a Person, to Christ, the eternal Son of God, and to His cross, our divinely inscribed arc of safety. Our rushing to Him for salvation was not propelled by external circumstances as with the Puritans, but from an internal work of monergistic regeneration by the Holy Spirit Who gave us new life that we, in faith and repentance, might be justified before God, adopted into His family, live lives of holiness in active dependence on the Holy Spirit., and be glorified together with all the saints, to the glory of God alone.
Like The Puritans, We Too Have Landed On A Rock. It’s not Plymouth Rock, a mere weak, temporary and decaying stone, daily disintegrating through the constant barrage of climactic pressures, and which will one day perish and wear out like a garment, Ps 102:26, but the eternal, immutable, invincible Rock that is Jesus Christ. This Rock is the One on Whom our feet were set when the Lord God rescued us “from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog,� Ps 40:2. He is the Rock of our salvation, Dt 32:15. He is our Rock and Redeemer in Whom we take refuge. He is our shield, the horn of our salvation and our stronghold, Ps 18: 2, our Rock of refuge and a strong fortress that saves us, 31:2. In times of deep distress we cry out to our Rock and we beseech Him to lead us to Himself, the Rock that is higher than we are, 61:2, for in Him we cannot be shaken, 62:6. Indeed, our enemies also have their rock but “.. their rock is not as our Rock; our enemies are by themselves.� Dt 32:31. Jesus is the Rock on Whom we rest and trust for all our needs. Truly our God is the Rock of our salvation, Ps 89:26.
Just As The Puritans Sought and Found A New Life, We Too Have A New Life. However, it is a life whose locus is not in a physical place but is in Christ. He is the locus of our life. We are grounded in Him and we exist in and through His power. We are in union with Him, from eternity past, Eph 1:3 -14, passim; cf. Acts 17:28, to eternity future. All of our life is lived in Him and when we die, we die in Him. Thereafter, we will be raised with Him, be reunited with Him and will live with Him forever and ever, Rom 6:3-4; 1 Ths 4:16-17, in inexplicable covenantal bliss.
We Are Also Seated At A Festive Table. Yes, it is a table that is beautifully decorated with turkey, dressing, vegetables, multiple delicacies, desserts and delights. Yet, more than that, the Christian’s table is laid by the Lord Jesus Christ and is prepared by Him, even in the presence of our enemies, Ps 23:5. Each Sunday when we, God’s covenant people, come together, we partake of this Lord’s Table and in this way we celebrate our union with Him, and derivatively, our communion one another. We are sumptuously fed, effectually sustained and abundantly strengthened by the body and the blood of Christ. Jesus, our Rock, sustains us, 1 Cor 10:4. In Him we have a feast that is far more lavish, satisfying and substantial than the annual festivity for its substance is of an eternal nature. We do not have to indulge ourselves in any frantic shopping expeditions for it is free, Isa 55:1; Rom 6:23; Eph 2:8, and it is authentic, rich and fulfilling, 55:2. It is an all-you-can-eat feast but we need not worry about overeating because we will partake of it in perfect proportions. Further, we do not need an NFL game for postprandial entertainment because the center and crown of our delight is none other than Jesus Himself, the very Lamb of God Who takes away our sin, Jn 1:29.
Our Feast Is Daily. We don’t have to endure the familiar pattern and rhythms of signs and seasons leading up to November in order to partake of this feast. The record is clear: our great and gracious God daily loads us down with benefits, Ps 68:19 KJV; indeed, they are fresh every morning, Lam 3:22-23. [Aren’t you extremely glad that there are no microwave ovens in heaven? Our God’s daily mercies are infinitely fresher than the earliest pristine spring air that gently and sweetly blows in the gilded skies of the quiet dawn]. He richly gives us all things to enjoy, 1 Tin 6:17.
Our Feast Is Weekly. While every day with Jesus is a feast, we also do have a special day, the Lord’s Day, on which we come together to commemorate and celebrate what God has done for us in Christ and to look forward, not only to the next Sunday, but also to the ultimate Lord’s Day when He shall come to gather His elect from the four corners of the earth and bring them unto Himself so that they may partake of that ultimate Thanksgiving feast, the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, Rev 19:7. This is our ultimate, all-consuming goal. Therefore, each day and each week do not take us further away from this grand celebration but, contrarily, they draw us closer to this great Lord’s Day. Our landmark day is before us, not behind us. Our heaven bound day is before us, not behind us. At that time, we will experience the fullness of the meaning of thanksgiving for we will worship our Triune God completely in Spirit and in truth. How will we get to that point? Not by a meager passage on a feeble Mayflower but on the wings of God’s grace and mercy. In the words of that universally known and ever-refreshing hymn, it was God’s grace that brought us safe thus far, and it is His grace alone that will lead us home.
God’s free gift of salvation to sinners is attended with the unmistakable definiteness of Christological sufficiency-- in Christ we have [more than] all things, Rom 8:32. In Christ Jesus the elect have the fullness and the furthest of all possible blessings. Nothing more can be expected for Jesus Christ is our ultimate fulfillment, sufficiency, satisfaction and hope. Jesus Christ, according to the biblical record, is the pleromic representation of all the Father has to offer. After Him there is ne plus ultra; no más nunca (literally, not more beyond; no more never). He is our all in all, cf. 1 Cor 15:28; Eph 1:23. It therefore follows that in Him and in Him alone we have all that is needed, both real and felt, not only for our temporal and temporary designs but also for all eternity. And why should this not be so? For in Him the fullness of God is pleased to dwell, Col 1:19. Further, “.. in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.� Col 2:9-10 (emphasis added). Our salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is therefore attended by an inherently superlative and terminal dimension. There is no greater and better gift we can receive. In this regard, Jesus Christ is decisive, definitive and declarative. The festive blessings of God to His covenant people have their origin and termination in the Person and work of Jesus Christ.
As we celebrate Thanksgiving this year let us do so with a fuller, deeper and wider understanding of the meaning of gratitude. Above all, we need to be very clear about that which we are grateful. While we are thanking our great God for His immediate and temporal providences, let us also look past them by clothing our prayers and attitudes with a solemn absorption with the fullness of eternal joy that is in Jesus Christ. Let not the mood of the temporal eclipse the message and magnitude of the eternal, but rather, let the latter determine and define the former. In so doing, we will have a truly happy Thanksgiving.
Have a happy Thanksgiving. Why not? “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life�, Jn 3:16, and “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.� 1 Cor 15:19. Therefore, I say again, have a happy Thanksgiving.
Rosemarie Peoples
November 24, 2007