Thanksgiving

I started seeing ads for Black Friday this morning. But they were not really for this Friday, these discounts and holiday specials begin today, or some begin on Thursday to save me money on those hot gifts of the season.

When I lived in Kentucky with my wife, a store in a neighboring community would take down their Back to School decorations in September and put up their Christmas decorations. That bothered me a bit. What I felt they were telling me was that the weeks in September, the weeks leading up to Halloween/All Hallows Eve/All Saints day, the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, and the weeks of Advent really didn’t matter, let’s skip all that and go directly to Christmas.

Each year it seems like events and holidays during the fall are not ways to prepare for Christmas but speed bumps before Christmas. Let’s just skip all this other stuff and go directly to Christmas. This might not be so bad, but for most people they pack up Christmas just as its getting started. The Season of Christmas begins on Christmas day lasting 12 days (The Twelve Days of Christmas is more than just a song) and ending on January 5, the following day being the beginning of Epiphany.

These holidays are not just speed bumps but were put in place by those who have gone before us to help us all pause and to all focus on something that should be important. What if we forgot the Black Friday deals and focused on spending time with our families to share about what we have to be thankful for in our lives. Might that change the way we spend the rest of our Thanksgiving holiday? Might it change what we do in the weeks leading up to the Christmas season?

My hope for my family is that as family begins to arrive at our house on Wednesday and Thursday we can enjoy the time we have together. As we sit down together to share a meal, watch a movie, or a football game, that we can remember the numerous things we have to be thankful for. That is my hope for your family as well.

I am very thankful for this community. Because of your efforts 80+ families are being fed through food boxes this thanksgiving season. Because of your donations Backpacks for Kids received additional funds to continue giving hope to kids and families. Because 40+ people from our community gave up their own Christmas’s last year the Clyde First United Methodist Church was able to provide a warm place to wait out the ice on I-20, several meals were eaten with strangers, music was shared, and lives were touched as our community extended hospitality to those passing through.

Thank you Clyde for making a difference in the lives of those in our community and in the lives of those we may never see again.