{"id":1886,"date":"2021-11-16T13:41:49","date_gmt":"2021-11-16T13:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.presbyterianmission.org\/weekly-offerings\/?p=1886"},"modified":"2021-11-16T13:42:19","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T13:42:19","slug":"becoming-truly-thankful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/weekly-offerings\/2021\/11\/16\/becoming-truly-thankful\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming ‘Truly Thankful’"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Chris Roseland<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A common table prayer opens with \u201cO Lord, make us truly thankful for that which we are about to receive \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

It sounds pretty simple, doesn\u2019t it? But isn\u2019t there something a little strange about that prayer? I mean, why would anyone pray that way?<\/p>\n

\"\"

Photo by Libby Penner (Unsplash)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cOh Lord, make us truly thankful …\u201d This little thanksgiving prayer acknowledges that an attitude of gratitude is something that we cannot do for ourselves. We are unable to \u201cmake\u201d ourselves \u201ctruly thankful,\u201d so we pray for God to make us more thankful than we really are. So, how do we do that? How does a person become \u201ctruly thankful\u201d?<\/p>\n

Well, one way to help us become \u201ctruly thankful\u201d is to remember our story \u2014 the story of our lives. We need to recall and speak the story of who we are, where we\u2019ve come from and how we got to be where we are at present.<\/p>\n

Now, on the surface, recalling our story seems like the easiest thing we can do. We just tell what happened, just tell what we did and what decisions we made at the time, and why.<\/p>\n

But just start to do that, however, and you\u2019ll discover that it\u2019s not as easy as you thought. \u201cWhere do I begin to tell the story of my life? What do I tell? What do I not tell? What\u2019s really important?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanksgiving is not only a time that we set aside to give thanks, but it is also a time to remember \u2014 a time to reflect on our life\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

Throughout the history of the world, practically each culture has designated a time of thanksgiving unto the Creator for the harvest that God has provided. In ancient biblical times, the Hebrew people celebrated two harvest festivals: Shavuot, \u201cthe Feast of Weeks\u201d in the spring, and Sukkot, \u201cthe Feast of Booths,\u201d which is in the fall.<\/p>\n

During these feasts, the people were invited to remember their story. A worshiper would enter the sanctuary of the \u201cMost High God\u201d carrying a basket full of the first fruits of the harvest, and he would lay the basket down before the altar. And then, of all of the things that might possibly happen next, the worshiper is given a story to tell.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father was Jacob, the father of us all, Jacob the trickster, Jacob the one, who wrestled with the angel of Lord until the dawn broke and was given a blessing. His name was changed to Israel, and he became the father of us all.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father went down to Egypt, and there we became a great and numerous people. But because our clan got so large, our people were enslaved by the Egyptians out of fear that we would overrun them. As we worked all day under the hot sun, it seemed as though all hope was lost. We had no future. Just slavery.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we cried out to the God of our mothers and fathers, and with a mighty hand and signs and wonders, God raised up Moses for us, and he led out of slavery and guided us to this good land.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, now, I bring the first fruits of this land to worship God, to rejoice in all that God has given me, and to share these gifts with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The worshipers remember their story. The story of struggle and freedom. The story of despair and hope. The story of God and the blessing of a good land. The story of us.<\/p>\n

Thanksgiving is a time for us to remember and retell our life\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

But the problem for most of us is that we live such full and busy lives today that we don\u2019t have much time to remember, do we? Oh, we enjoy little moments of recollection now and then, morsels of memories that connect us to our past and our real identities.<\/p>\n

We remember our story when we visit our hometown, or when we return for a class reunion, or when we clean out the garage, sit down for an hour with a photograph album or photos on our phone. But, by and large, our minds are too full; we are too preoccupied with the present to remember even a fraction of the past. We are too busy to recollect all the wonderful things stored \u2014 the stories \u2014 in our memories. We are so engrossed in the present, so mortgaged to the future that we don\u2019t have time for the past.<\/p>\n

But what happens to a people who forget who they were? What happens to us when we don\u2019t make time to remember? What happens when we don\u2019t tell and retell our stories?<\/p>\n

Well, we become ungrateful. We forget that we didn\u2019t always live here, in this moment \u2014 that we had an existence before the one with which we are struggling now. And so, we must pray, \u201cO Lord, make us truly thankful for that which we are about to receive …\u201d<\/p>\n

This Thanksgiving, in the name of Jesus Christ, let me invite you to share your story with those around you. As you sit there at the table, pause for a moment, and try to remember. Remember your first thanksgiving. Remember the people that you have met and loved along the way in your life. Remember all the places that you have lived, from your childhood home to your present surroundings, and tell your story.<\/p>\n

You see, in remembering, we become grateful, and when we have an attitude of gratitude, we become generous children of God. Indeed, we are truly thankful.<\/p>\n

The Rev. Chris Roseland is the Lead Mission Engagement Advisor for the Presbyterian Mission Agency, serving the Northern region of the United States.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Chris Roseland A common table prayer opens with \u201cO Lord, make us truly thankful for that which we are about to receive \u2026\u201d It sounds pretty simple, doesn\u2019t it? But isn\u2019t there something a little strange about that prayer? I mean, why would anyone pray that way? \u201cOh Lord, make us truly thankful …\u201d… Read more »<\/a>","protected":false},"author":593,"featured_media":1887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2294,3367,1715,3368,3365,3366,3364,1742],"class_list":["post-1886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chris-roseland","tag-feasts","tag-gratitude","tag-jacob","tag-shavuot","tag-sukkot","tag-thankful","tag-thanksgiving"],"yoast_head":"\nBecoming 'Truly Thankful' - Where Your Heart Is...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This Thanksgiving, in the name of Jesus Christ, let me invite you to share your story with those around you.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/weekly-offerings\/2021\/11\/16\/becoming-truly-thankful\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Becoming 'Truly Thankful'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This Thanksgiving, in the name of Jesus Christ, let me invite you to share your story with those around you.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/weekly-offerings\/2021\/11\/16\/becoming-truly-thankful\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Where Your Heart Is...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-16T13:41:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-16T13:42:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/libby-penner-4CnaFQRDI0A-unsplash-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1709\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lauren Rogers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lauren Rogers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/weekly-offerings\/2021\/11\/16\/becoming-truly-thankful\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/weekly-offerings\/2021\/11\/16\/becoming-truly-thankful\/\",\"name\":\"Becoming 'Truly Thankful' - 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