Attitude of Gratitude, Happy Thanksgiving from The Alamo, Texas
In case you are not familiar with “the Alamo “, it is in San Antonio, Texas. I have been here since Friday and on Sunday afternoon, I took time off from the conference to tour the city.
Apart from the Riverwalk canals that the city is famous for, San Antonio is a fascinating town, full of history of the conquest of the Spaniards and their battle against the French and the American Indians. At the center of those wars was mostly the desire to acquire land and to convert natives Americans to Catholicism. In fact, San Antonio is home to the largest Catholic cathedral in Texas.
Then and now, Religion has always been an integral part of our individual and collective identity. Although the Founding Fathers were intentional about the separation of Church and State, Americans love affair with religion makes the line of this separation blurry and quasi nonexistent at times. Religion, in our country, has been the magnet that either unites or divides us.
In the era of Covid, for example, religion has been both a vaccine and a virus. The faith in God coupled with science has helped many to cope with tragedies, entrenchment and mental tolls brought by Covid. The same faith in God has been a virus that has led many to radically reject the vaccine. To be vaccinated is to negate their trust in God. Many of them have embraced conspiracy theories that the vaccine was manufactured to infuse the mark of the beast in human beings which is a total misinterpretation of the book of Revelations.
The conference I attended this week pinpoints this duality in the state of affairs of religion in our country. Scholars of religions and church-based organizations addressed a variety of issues as related to our political identities. I am of the belief that we need a dose of religion in our lives and this needs to be measured, neither too much nor little. We need the right dose. This will help us not to fall into the radical, fundamental and extremist category where we become so blind that even common sense becomes problematic.
This coming Thursday, as many of us sit around the thanksgiving dinner table with friends, family or alone, conversations about religion and identity politics might be brought up. May I suggest, a soft approach whereby you set aside what you believe or not believe, your religious affiliations whether you are Catholic or Methodist or Presbyterian, your political tribe whether you are Republicans, Democrats, independent and rather focus on the spirit of gratitude. There is always someone or something to be grateful for.
Thanksgivings is that opportunity to express it out loud. In the history of our country if it wasn’t for the natives Americans, the puritans who suffered major lost and were almost eradicated because of hunger they encountered in their arrival from Plymouth would have not made it. The puritans gave thanks to God and to the natives Indians. Please on this Thanksgiving, give thanks with a grateful heart as the Apostle Paul recommends to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18) Show an attitude of gratitude today and always.
Happy Thanksgivings!
In His Name,
Pastor Will
