IN FAITH
REFLECTIONS ON HOLIDAYS
Psalm 122:1-4 RSV
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
“I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD!” {2} Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! {3} Jerusalem, built as a city which is bound firmly together, {4} to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.”
The holidays are almost upon us. By the time you read this, American Thanksgiving Day will be upon us, and we will have met with family and friends to give thanks for the bounty, which God has provided for us.
To many persons today, the idea that God blesses us and gives to us is not in the forefront of our minds. But, that is an idea, which is hard wired into the Bible. For many of us, a new day dawns and we are off to work, in order to provide for our families or for ourselves. We understand what the book of Genesis means, when it says: “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Genesus 3:19 NIV. Most of us know without a doubt, that what we have has come from hard, unrelenting work, and that if we haven’t done such work, we would not have what we have.
Years ago, Harry Emerson Fosdick, who was senior pastor at Riverside Church in New York City, gave a sermon illustration about how, even though it is indeed, God who blesses us, we still have the work to do.
He spoke of a pastor who visited a parishioner, who farmed for a living. As the farmer took the pastor throughout his farm, the pastor saw bumper crop after bumper crop: corn, soybeans, wheat, cabbage, and the farmer’s garden, which was absolutely spectacular. After the pastor saw each field, he said, to his farmer parishioner, “My, the Lord has blessed you.” The pastor had been a city kid, and didn’t quite understand what went into farming. Finally, the farmer took his young pastor aside and gently said to him, “Yes, the Lord has blessed me. But, pastor, you should have seen this land, when only the Lord was managing it!”
To be sure, we need to work hard in order to acquire what we need. But, God is the giver of all good things. As the letter of James says,”Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” James 1:17 RSV
What all of this means, is that God has given us the ability and the raw materials. We still have to supply the work, we still need to move forward each day in faith, and we need to remember that God does, indeed, still bless.
So as American Thanksgiving Day approaches and passes, and as we prepare to celebrate Christmas and Chanukah, we need to remember that the unseen hand of God is still at work, to aid us as we strive to provide for our loved ones.
Happy Holy Days!
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