URC Weekly 11/20/2011: The Power of Thanksgiving



Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

This holiday has to be one of my favorite (I think it really is THE favorite, but I have to stay politically correct and say it’s Christmas or Easter). Every part of this American tradition is great. We gather with our loved ones, eat LOTS of good food, chuckle at the president pardoning a turkey, watch some football, and get a four-day weekend that includes Black Friday! What is not to love?

But the best part about this holiday has to be its purpose, plainly stated by the name of the day itself: thanksgiving. I feel like I can write an entire research paper on the meaning and the importance of thanksgiving. But I don’t want to bore you, so I would just like to talk to you about one aspect of it – the power of thanksgiving.

Yes, there is power in giving thanks. In fact, thanksgiving is very powerful in our daily lives.

For instance, there is a section of intersections between 3rd and Wilshire and Vermont and Western in Koreatown that is made of just stop signs. Whenever there is traffic in LA (which means about 20 hours a day), I take those roads instead of larger streets with signals. Most of the time, I’m impatient, doing the rolling stops rather than complete ones. Sometimes, by the grace of God, I am cool enough to stop fully and even let the other drivers (who are mostly impatient like me) go by first. Whenever I am able to do that, I feel like a noble citizen of a higher social class. Yet if the other driver does not raise her hand to give me thanks, I look down on them and start talking to myself about how there are so many people in the city are just of poor quality.

Or how about a high school friend of mine? He refuses to say ‘thank you,’ for he believes that giving thanks is a sign of weakness. I think I talked about him to James, our resident source of extreme manhood, and even James disapproved of that. Giving thanks is manly, XT approved.

On the flip side, have you ever given a gift that is just ‘whatever,’ only to receive a big, sincere, heart-felt ‘thank you’? I remember seeing this about two years ago when Sam proposed to his wife Charlene. He packaged the whole night as a birthday surprise, got many of her friends there, gave this romantic confession of love, and asked her to marry him. While I completely agree with the many ‘aw~’ that you are doing right now, what really stuck with me was how Charlene was so happy to have received the ring-pop, which was a decoy gift before Same got on his knees to give her the diamond. I saw that she was genuinely thankful that Sam had gotten her this piece of candy for her birthday, and it told me a lot of what their marriage was going to be like – wonderful.

My sisters and brothers, thanksgiving is powerful. Thanksgiving has the power to make us feel like decent human beings, like we are doing something right. Thanksgiving has the power to demonstrate our humility, our ability to be content with little. By thanksgiving, we have the power to affirm the worth of one another. The Bible takes it further by saying, “All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God (2 Cor4:15).” Indeed, thanksgiving has the power to make God’s love overflow.

So on this Thanksgiving, let us give thanks. Let us truly enjoy the day for what it is – a day of thanksgiving.

Actually, let me start first by thanking you. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for everything that you do. Thank you for being part of the same church with me. Thank you for sharing your life with me. Thank you for praying for me. Thank you for struggling to be a better Christian. Thank you for letting me give you advice. Thank you for letting me serve you in your spiritual life. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving.

• Turkey Bowl: 11/26 (Sat) 8am at Whittier Narrows Park, please see your email
• Thanksgiving Dinner: 11/27 (Sun) 5pm at Church, please see your email
• Wedding: James & Elise 12/3 (Sat); CONGRATULATIONS!!!
• Christmas White Elephant: details coming soon
• Winter Retreat: 12/18 (Sun) – 12/20, details coming soon