THANKSGIVING AND ADVENT: JUXTAPOSITION

Acts 17:28 (ESV) …for “‘In Him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed His offspring.”

Thanksgiving and Advent coming so close together surprises many of us.  It means Christmas is just around the corner, faster than we thought. There are only a few days between Thanksgiving day and the first Sunday in Advent, so Christmas seems to be upon us sooner than expected.  But it gave me pause to think of what it does to some Christians.  

In our culture, even some Christians have trouble focusing during this time of year. Shopping, parties, decorating, traveling, and the list continues.  But this year, it became clear what so many of us can forget that the focus of Thanksgiving is to be upon God and not first, the blessings we have received from Him.  And Advent soon follows, the focus is on Him, not only in His first arrival on Christmas morning, but on His return and not the wrapped presents or even the meals at the family table.  The focus…..is on God.

In our world of expressive individualism, a narcissistic sickness that focuses on one’s self and away from our Creator plays havoc in our lives and in our culture. Like I heard it described: it is like a compass which always points to one’s self.  It gets us no where.  

Christians are in relationship, but not with the self but with God. When we turn to focus on something other than God we have lost our reference point, thus our meaning and purpose is terminal. We distance ourselves from God and we loose the ability to decipher reality.   

But Thanksgiving and the season of Advent, causes us to remember that the reason for the season is not ourselves but God. God makes sacred the ordinary and the mundane as well as the glorious and spectacular.  Our focus on God, lets us see reality for how it is instead of panacea of wishes. And, I might add, the way to live in it, through it and to even rectify it because He shows us the way in Christ. Thus we give thanks to God, the primary focus of Thanksgiving and we anticipate God, in His return, again focusing on God and not ourselves.  

So it is my hope and prayer that you experienced  a wonderful Thanksgiving and first Sunday of Advent and in so doing, your focus has been not on the hustle and bustle of life but on our Creator, Redeemer, and Savior… Our God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for indeed it is He that ‘we live and move and have our being’.   

Quentin

Sharecropper’s Inheritance

In the In-between Time of Thanksgiving and Christmas, 2024