Thanksgiving and Worship

Armodoxy for Today

Thanksgiving and Love

In the spirit of the times, just as retailers have extended Black Friday to the entirety of the month of November, we have extending thanksgiving beyond the traditional one-day commemoration to a series of thoughts on the subject. Over the last several days we’ve spoken about the need to be unashamedly thankful, to avoid comparison shopping and optimizing our thankfulness. We even spoke about thanksgiving as a remedy to ego inflation. Today we will look at the receiver of our thankfulness, God.

Thanksgiving is not prayer. Thanksgiving is an acknowledgement of something greater than yourself. As such, it falls into the category of worship. In the Armenian Church, worship takes place seven times a day. From the early morning hours to the moments before restful sleep, there are seven hours of worship. For a people who have known very little peace and prosperity, that have been attacked, raped and murdered, it is extremely unusual to this group of people offer so much thanksgiving. It is unusual, unless viewed under through the lens of Armodoxy. Thanksgiving, and therefore worship, is not about stroking God’s Ego. The Evangelist John tells us God is love. Accordingly, love has no ego-issue. Love is giving and sacrificing. When we worship and give thanks, we are acknowledging the power of love. The words of the apostle (I Corinthians 13) come to life, “Love is patient; love is kind,” and we are forced to come to terms with the power of love, as St. Paul writes, “Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”

Love is God, God is Love. Thanksgiving is, in fact, about acknowledging God, and therefore acknowledging the power of love.

Let us pray, Bless us with Love, O Merciful God; that we may Love as you Love. That we may show patience, tolerance, kindness, caring and love to all. Amen.