Thankfulness on this Holiday
” For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, 7 then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors forever and ever. “
NRSV Jer 7:5-7
This Thanksgiving, as ever Thanksgiving does, gives me an opportunity to pause and give thanks for so many things. My health, my family, a good job, great friends, an awesome church…you get the picture. And truly I am blessed and truly I take extra pause to thank God for those things today. But I have been a little bit stirred lately about the command of God to take care of the orphan and the needy and how God really just lays it out there that if you are rich, but do so by oppressing the poor or are not sharing with those who are in poverty among you that he is going to work against you.
I am not trying to be sappy and say “shame on you” for getting together with family and having an excellent meal and some time with your family. God is in the midst of such things without a doubt. But what aspects of our Thanksgiving holiday can be taken used as a way to bless the poor? Put another way, is there something that you and I do consistently in our celebration that might bring poverty to another person? This takes some thinking, but I think there is. In a lot of what our consumerist culture does there is an aspect of it that is potentially oppressive.
Today I give thanks that God has choosen to bless me and my family. But, in recognizing my blessing there is a mandate spoken again and again by God that can not be ignored to then bless the poor, the needy, the alien and widow in your midst.
Many of us know widows in our church or through our community. Do you know what they are doing for Thanksgiving? What is it that they might need done around the house or taken care of? What about an orphan? That is a little harder to define, but think of it in a way of a co-worker who just lost their last living parent and is now headed into the holidays without them. Can you minister to them? Can you maybe have what has often been called an “orphans dinner” at your home and invite him, as well as others in for a nice meal and a nice time of communion with your friends? Talk about loving your neighbor, and that is the greatest command of all.
I am just putting these thoughts out here because even I, the guy who works in a ministry that works with the impoverished and the poor and needy do not think often of these things. I am guilty of thinking that they are on the other side of the world, and then here I am and I am not exposed to people like that. I am “blessed to be a blessing” and all of that, even as my neighbor down the street does not have enough to eat.
I am thankful and greatful for so much. This year I want to take steps to let that grace “trickle down” from me unto others. I am not sure what that will mean specifically for my family. But, I bet God has a plan for it all!
~Selah!
- Thoughts about Life , Thoughts on God's people
- Comments(1)
I am blessed to be your aunt! You really said this all very well! We shared our home with a Navy lady and her mom.. I met the Navy gal at church and her mom is visiting from CA so they accepted my invitation.. Kyle and Rebekah were with their other grandma (who has recently suffered the death of her 2nd son at the age of 24) so we had just the six of us.. Evie, her finace, Ron, John and I and our two guests… A very pleasant day until we headed to bed and found our waterbed had sprung a leak! (a recently purchase mattress, at that!) Well! Thanks for writing.. I will probably write FAMILY DEVOTIONAL #130 NO MORE SECOND FIDDLE! tomorrow AM… In Jesus’ Love, Aunt Sheila