This Week from Mitch

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Denise and her mom are out doing some last-minute Thanksgiving dinner shopping. Aromatics for the turkey, more vegetable stock, apples for an apple pie, and all the little things that you think of as you sit around a kitchen table with loved ones and plan a meal. "Oh, you know what would be good?" was a common question last night. I love this part of our family's Thanksgiving tradition. The pre-planning and cooking are just as much fun as eating the feast that we have prepared.

I was once told by an older priest that love is not an emotion but an action. Jesus, this mentor told me, was a fair leader, and a fair leader can tell you what to do, but cannot tell you how to feel about it. Thus, he had concluded love could not be an emotion. You have to practice love. You have to show it.

I have come to feel the same way about Thanksgiving. In a moment we can feel a surge of gratitude in our souls. I have felt it. I am sure you have felt it. When we feel that gratitude we are called on to give thanks. We give thanks by giving, by showing love, by smiling, by sharing, by expressing to others the goodness we feel, and by saying thank you. The more we give thanks the easier and more natural it becomes. I give thanks for all of you.

I wonder what my life would look like and feel like if I, with the same joy that my family and I sat around and planned a meal last night, planned some ways to practice gratitude for the weeks and months to come. I wonder if we all did this what change might happen, what we individually and/or as a church might see differently. I wonder what good might come.

Out of this wondering I am going to endeavor to give it a try. This Thanksgiving I urge you all to feel gratitude and practice giving thanks. Give thanks to God, give thanks to your loved ones, give thanks to your neighbor, or just give thanks. In other words, turn the emotion of gratitude into an action of love.

In Christ,

Mitch