In the land of my birth November is the month for Thanksgiving. This national holiday is the most important holiday in the year and in almost all places it is a ‘four day weekend’. Thanksgiving always falls on the fourth Thursday of November and it is the one holiday that people might ‘go home for’. Christmas by contrast is a time to visit friends or relatives who live nearby. Christmas, unlike Thanksgiving, is also a religious festival.

Thanksgiving goes back to sometime in the 18th century and commemorates the first harvest the settlers from Europe managed – they finally sought, and took advice, from the indigenous people about which crops would grow in that area and how to make the land productive. In many families Thanksgiving takes on a religious character because thanks is given to God who provides. Many families today will, in their commemorations, also explore the issues of oppression and subjugation to which the indigenous peoples were subjected and in recognition of this seek to renew a commitment to honouring the dignity of all people.

It’s a cliché – but I think bears repeating, that ‘gratitude is the right attitude’. Establishing an attitude means to practice something for long enough for it to become a habit and to be able to reflect of the positive benefits for ourselves. True gratitude is not a hollow gesture and is much more than simply saying ‘please and thank you’. The habit of gratitude is achieved when we look outwards and not inwards. We thank others for what they have done, or tried, because THEY did it, or they tried to do it. We don’t thank others only when we feel that WE have benefited in some way- that’s to look inwards. As people of faith we thank God daily in our prayers. Yes, for what God provides, but primarily simply because God is God. Jesus taught his friends to remind themselves in their prayers that God [God’s name] is holy.

An attitude of gratitude is not necessarily easy. It requires practising when we may not feel as if we have received any direct benefit. It requires practising when someone hasn’t quite got it completely, but they really tried their best. It requires practising in our prayers as we seek to hear God speak to us.

In Britain we may not have a ‘four day weekend’ to focus on Thanksgiving but as people of faith we have the most powerful starting point for our attitude of gratitude – which is to thank God for God’s love shown to us in Jesus Christ.

As we approach Advent and recall the hopeful expectation of our faith ancestors may we be thankful people - not for any specific gift we’ve received – but just because ‘gratitude is the right attitude’.

Dean Dianna