Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
—Psalm 100:4-5
It’s coming … my favorite time of year. The time when families gather and a great meal is shared.
Mmmmm … Grandma’s chicken and noodles, Aunt Kate’s mashed potatoes with the special ingredients, and Dad’s dump cake.
There is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with all the wonderful floats!
Football may be on in the afternoon, when everyone gathers on the couches and chairs to rest their full stomachs. Board and card games may also be played by some.
There is talk about the game, the good food and memories of Thanksgivings past. Eyes may begin to close …
But then, suddenly, it dawns on us. This is not the time for wasting precious eating time for a nap. It’s time for dessert!
Any of this sound familiar to you? But, wait! How about the most important part of the Thanksgiving day? It’s the family circle of prayer, when we all hold hands, thank God for the food and the time to gather, but most of all for each one standing in the circle, for the hands we are now holding and for those whose hands have been laid to rest. From the elderly to the very young, we thank God for his blessings.
Thanksgiving, you know, is the most important time of the year. It is a time for giving thanks to God. Often, Thanksgiving is skipped over, as Halloween passes right into Christmas. Many times we are in a rush after the Thanksgiving meal to get home and begin decorating for Christmas.
Do you decorate for Thanksgiving? Do you plan for a time to express gratitude for all God has given us? Being thankful is not something we do only on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving just highlights it.
Each time we enter our places of worship, we should enter with thanksgiving and praise. God is good and we have come to worship. We leave the outside world, with all its worries and cares, and enter into a place of peace shared with folks who have also come to worship and praise the God and King, who blesses us every moment of our lives.
Perhaps we come with burdens too heavy to carry. God is there, and he’s happy to lift our burdens. So we worship at his altar.
This year, be reminded to give thanks. Let’s not skip Thanksgiving. It’s truly the best time of the year.
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever” (I Chronicles 16:34).
The Rev. Marianne Nichols is pastor of Charlottesville United Methodist Church. This weekly column is written by local clergy members.
