Turkey Day Link Parade

A very happy Thanksgiving to you from all of us at Mbird! It’s that time of year when an attitude of thankfulness take center stage, right next to the obligatory turkey, football, cranberry goo, and potentially awkward family gatherings. When it comes to the Turkey Day celebration, grateful cheer and mandatory duty often go hand-in-hand. Heaven help you if you’re the one hosting this year.

Even still, who couldn’t use a little more gratitude in their life? A little less bitterness over what hasn’t gone your way, a little more appreciation for what you have, and maybe — just maybe — a dash of awe at the wonder of God’s grace. Because even if the turkey is cold, the potatoes bland, and the chairs at the table unexpectedly empty, God’s gifts are always on offer (no matter how ungrateful you are).

We’ll be back to normal programming on Monday after the food coma wears off. In the meantime, here are a few of our favorite festive articles from over the years.

The Attitude of Gratitude:

You Don’t Have to be Grateful, you don’t even have to want to be grateful! “Gratitude is the proper response to God, and yet, no story or verse mentions Jesus reversing a healing because the recipient didn’t show an attitude of gratitude.” -Connor Gwin

Sarah Condon offers a hope for Thanksgiving: “I hope that Thanksgiving is you, your dad, some mashed potatoes, and your needs-to-be-sober relative standing in the kitchen together. And when somebody says something awful, I hope your dad can assign grace instead of malice for you, too.”

The Science of Gratitude Won’t Make You Thankful. “While gratitude is in itself a good thing, turning it into the 11th Commandment does not usually yield lasting results.” -Sam Bush

When Grief Holds Hands With Gratitude: “In human relationships, the transforming presence of love is worth the inevitability of grief.” – Michael Gerson

David Zahl reflects on the psychology of midlife and gratitude: “Gratitude is the closest emotional approximation of happiness, but it might also be the closest emotional approximation of faith. Which may be why I’m having trouble getting into the spirit of Thanksgiving this year. I’ve lost my chief engine of gratitude, which is church, but kept my chief engine of self-pity and envy, which is social media. Mid-life malaise isn’t helping, either.”

Life-Preserving Gratitude and the Limits of Good Manners. “Gratitude is a natural response to salvation. It does not require coercion or encouragement; to the extent that the individual understands what has happened, gratitude will flow organically and abundantly from their heart.” via Law and Gospel A Theology for Sinners (and Saints)

Sermons:

Thank God For Making Me Last, Sarah Condon

What? Me Worry? A Sermon for Thanksgiving, Paul Walker

Thanksgiving Is Reactive, RJ Heijmen

Food, Faith, & Family:

Paul Walker reflects on the broken Thanksgiving human family: “His forgiving grace will outlast any tradition and is stronger than any divorce, disease, death or estrangement.”

What Would You Eat If You Weren’t Afraid?, What would you allow yourself to indulge were it not for the consequences — bodily and ethical and otherwise? (If you need a nudge toward liberty, pumpkin and apple pies are 100% appropriate breakfast foods).

Charlotte Donlon asks for more Robert Farrar Capon goodness and less Thanksgiving turkey: “Capon opened my senses up to food and life and faith and some of the connections that exist between the three.”