As we gather in gratitude, we remember the words of Psalm 100: “Enter his gates with thanksgiving.” We give thanks not only for the harvest upon our tables and for our many blessings, but also for the land, water, forests, and creatures that sustain us. Indigenous peoples have long understood the responsibility of caring for the land as a sacred trust, emphasizing respect, reciprocity, and stewardship for the generations. As Genesis reminds us, creation is God’s gift, entrusted to our care. May our thanksgiving be more than a mere thank-you, but lead beyond gratitude to responsibility, helping us live gently upon the earth, share its blessings generously, and honour the Creator in all we do.
The paragraph above is a prelude to Thanksgiving and hinted at our responsibilities, both as members of society and as Christians. In this paragraph, I’m delving a little deeper into what I meant by that hint.
Many of us, indeed, I say most of us, have our basic needs met: food, clothing, shelter, freedom, and security and for these, we are thankful. Having our basic needs met is a blessing, and we should never take those blessings for granted.
But being thankful is only step one. To stop there is to fall short of our responsibilities to one another and to our covenant with God. The fact that some of us are so blessed does not mean we are more favoured or more loved by God than others. Without getting into the many and varied theological interpretations, and arguments, of this, the simple message is: when we have been blessed with more than we need, we have a responsibility to share with those who have less.
1 John 3:17 puts it plainly: “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?”
And in Luke 3:11, we hear an equally straightforward message: “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
We are not to feel guilty or ashamed of our blessings. We are to be thankful for them, and to understand that true thankfulness is something to share. Our blessings are not simply for our own comfort. They carry a responsibility and give us the opportunity to be a blessing to someone else. We are blessed so we can be a blessing.
And for that, we can truly say, Thank God.