16 December 2009 No Comment

Advent is waiting

Thanksgiving.

I was thinking of something to write through advent. An occasional series. So I hit on 7 posts around the 7 letters of “waiting’ (witty and original, eh?). I immediately put down ‘Thanksgiving’ against ‘T’- I don’t know why: Advent hasn’t got a lot to do with ‘thanksgiving’.

Except. Wouldn’t it be great if I used Advent to practice being thankful?

I’m always cautious as a Western Christian about talking about being thankful ‘Count your blessings; name them one by one’. A lot of what I’ve read from Western Christians sounds like Mr Creosote (and if you have not heard of that, google ‘Monty Python’...) being thankful for his food and (un) subtly hinting to others on crumbs to also be thankful. I’m also mindful that we Christians in the West talk about ‘peace’ and those in developing countries talk about ‘justice’.

Practicing being thankful.

I read this recently in the comments section of ‘Naked Pastor’:-

‘Faith, to me, has gotten a bad wrap by being associated with belief as the word has evolved.  Now it means something like “compliance to journalistic fact”.  But it used to mean something more like “exist with gladness”.  (Be – “exist” and lief” “love/gladness”)’.

I don’t know if this commentor is right, but he/she is poetically right. What would people think about Christians if we came across as the people who lived with thankfulness/existed with gladness?

I think it is worth a go.

 

Part of an occasional series through what remains of Advent….