Eucharistic Living: Learning How to be a Thanks-giver

Eucharistic Living: Learning How to be a Thanks-giver

It seems odd, that of all of our holidays, Thanksgiving is the hardest to sell (this is another sermon for another day).  Sure you’ve noticed grocery store endcaps full of canned pumpkin and jarred mushrooms for several weeks, but many retailers have moved on to the much more lucrative (???!!!) Christmas season even before Thanksgiving or before our meals have been digested.

Why is it that a holiday whose core value should penetrate our everyday, not just a season or a day, is given such short shrift?

Then to make matters more complicated…

Every once in a while a book comes around that you can’t get around.  Surprises to everyone.  Christian book publisher, Zondervan was shocked that a little book by megachurch pastor Rick Warren might sell more than 30 million copies.  In 2002, you couldn’t go anywhere without someone talking about the Purpose-Driven Life.  Similarly in 2007, with a tiny self published book of trinitarian fiction called The Shack.  When something becomes a sensation, we do well to pay attention to what desire it speaks to.  So even as Thanksgiving’s stock is at an all-time low, a little book called One Thousand Gifts comes along and has begun to cultivate thanksgiving for thousands of readers.

This Sunday, we’ll dive into a scripture story where Jesus encounters the spectrum of thanks and unthanks.  We’ll also start thinking on what it means and how its done: living eucharistic lives, built on experiencing and acknowledging the good gifts of God.