October 9th 2022: The Thanks Is in the Giving

Thanksgiving weekend is upon us in Canada, where we give thanks for all we have. This holiday has emerged in Canada and the United States, although there it is celebrated at the end of November. We give thanks for our well-being in what was once called the new world. The holiday has become complicated with colonisation, as has everything else in Canada. Indigenous understandably feel that we are celebrating their land being stolen. We must always remember this, but we will not dwell there this Sunday.

The closest thing to Thanksgiving in the UK is probably Harvest Day because Thanksgiving is also a harvest festival where we give thanks to Mother Earth for all the food we have to sustain ourselves, but we will not dwell there either.

Instead, we will wonder about what we are doing when we give thanks and even what it means to give. When we look closely it seems difficult to even give a gift.  So often when we give a gift their first thought is, “How can I repay this?” What happens is that we end up not giving a gift but an obligation. This is more than wordplay.  Converting the transactional nature of gift-giving to action rooted in generosity and love might enhance our ability to relate to each other leading to a more loving world.

1st Reading: Frog and Toad the surprise - A children's story by Arnold Lobel, The Surprise is about the pleasure of loving-kindness. There is no goal or endgame required in the practice of loving-kindness. It is not a practice that requires a reward; it is its own reward, and it reflects back on you. The kindness that Frog and Toad show each other is ultimately invisible, but it warms them both. 

2nd Reading: On giving by Robert Graves