ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 24, 1996 TAG: 9611220024
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: the back pew
SOURCE: CODY LOWE
Now that we're close enough to almost smell the turkey cooking - with stuffing, if you like, Uncle Sam now says - I guess it's OK to start feeling thankful.
I love Thanksgiving, but as I was getting psyched up for the holiday this year, I realized it does seem odd to set aside only one day a year for it.
The notion of a national Thanksgiving holiday is so deeply ingrained in us, and so much a habit, really, that I'm not so sure it holds onto its original purpose.
Early in our nation's short history, presidents and other secular and religious leaders periodically were likely to call the public to great collective days of giving thanks to God for blessings and bounty, or asking forgiveness from God for our collective sin.
Abraham Lincoln, in particular, called on the nation to do both. Facing the enormity of sin he recognized at work in the Civil War, he called the nation to prayer and fasting and repentance in a bid to temper God's wrath.
And Lincoln proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving in 1863 to give thanks for the bounty and goodness of the American land and people, despite their deep divisions.
We'll avoid the usual arguments about whether the celebration really has roots in Colonial Virginia or New England, but suffice it to acknowledge that the idea of a Thanksgiving feast dates to the earliest days of European settlement in North America.
It was only 55 years ago that Congress set the fourth Thursday in November as the date for what was already a traditional national holiday of Thanksgiving.
I wonder how many families are like my own, however, in relegating the prayerful thanks of the day to blessings over meals that day.
Those are entirely appropriate, of course, and heartfelt.
But somehow a day set aside for thanks, has become a few minutes set aside for thanks - just before digging into the turkey and stuffing and gravy and potatoes and rolls.
I might argue that all the activities of that day are wrapped in a blanket of thanksgiving, thick and warm enough to ward off a year's worth of coolness toward the blessings around us.
I think that is true for most of us.
As I sit listening to my grandmother's stories of her childhood fourscore years ago, I will be - perhaps unconsciously - thankful for the blessing of her life's influence on mine.
As I watch the glow on my daughters' faces as they scramble around the stove and sink, taking on the mantle of "adults" who now prepare the feast in my grandmother's kitchen, I will thank God - perhaps without words - for the unmerited, undeserved gift of their presence in my life.
As I watch the little parade of life that is one family, and many families, this Thanksgiving, I will try to remember to share a word of thanks to my wife, mother, brother, in-laws, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, nephews, even - I expect - a brand-new grand-nephew, grandmother and a host of friends who are family not by blood but by spirit.
But the day will be so busy, so filled with joy, that I fear I may forget my resolve to be more intentional about expressing my thanks - both to God and to that army of human beings.
Maybe that's why we have Thanksgiving on Thursday. So we can have a quiet Friday - even if it is back at the office - during which we will have the time to really reflect on the implications of designating one day, one whole day, just to give thanks.
* * *
Already dozens of you have sent in by post, fax and e-mail your responses to our query about your favorite Scripture verses.
This is a reminder that you still have time to do that - one more week to select a favorite verse from holy writings that has particularly influenced your life.
Please take the time to write down the verse or passage - on the equivalent of one typewritten page or less - and explain why it is significant. The deadline for getting those in to us is Dec. 2. We'll run a story on some of them on Dec. 22.
Send them to Favorite Verse, c/o The Back Pew, The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010; or e-mail them to clow@roanoke.infi.net; or fax them to (540) 981-3318.
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