Thanks Be to God

 If you are a person of the Christian faith, Thanksgiving means not just being thankful but being thankful to God.  Gratitude, and gratitude towards God...these are good things.  And yet, as you count your blessings, I ask you to use the opportunity to check any privilege you may have and commit to going deeper in both your contentedness and in your commitment to doing justice.

What do I mean?  Make a list of what, off the top of your head, you are grateful to God for.  I'm sure whatever you come up with is indeed a blessing from above.  But consider if your list consists of things others are not privileged to have access to.  

It is likely that many of the things you are thankful for are things others may not be so lucky to have on their gratitude lists.  Should they be less grateful to God?  I would hope not.  Meaning I would hope that the things we are all thankful to God are deeper things that do not depend on the capriciousness of me having some while others have none.

I would also hope that this contemplation causes you to consider why those differences exist, and where those differences grieve God what we can do to change that.  Health and wealth are obvious sources of gratitude if we are blessed with either or both.  Yet we know there are great disparities in health and wealth in our communities, country, and world, and that the reasons for these disparities are cause for righteous anger and righteous action.

Give thanks at the table today.  But if who you're giving thanks to is the God of the Bible, know that that God has provided many things for which we can be thankful beyond the surfacey things some of us are privileged to have while others don't, and that that same God cares about His people doing justice where those differences persist.