Thanksgiving and Actions of Grace

It's almost Thanksgiving Day. 

 This year I'll be with my daughter and her family. I'm sending cards to the rest of my family and I confess I didn't carefully chose cards. I was zipping through a store, grabbed a package of six and plan to add a message....

But the message to me was on the package itself.   It was labeled, "6 thanksgiving cards", translated into French- "cartes de l'action de graces."  Grab and run, wait.... What did that say?

cartes de l'action de graces

The French don't celebrate Thanksgiving. The  Pilgrims didn't land on their shores aiming to form "a City upon a Hill". Years ago they didn't celebrate survival with a feast or include their native benefactors.  But they do have a word for our Thanksgiving Day and I love it... l'Action de grâces, 

 The thanksgiving prayer said before or after a meal is simply "les grâces."

An act of thanksgiving is called "une action de grâce(s)." 

Note that the word "grâce" can be singular or plural. 

When referring to the holiday held in the U.S. on the fourth Thursday in November

 and in Canada on the second Monday in October, only the initial "a" is capitalized.  

Thanksgiving (the holiday) l'Action de grâces, la fête de l'Action de grâces - 

Thanksgiving Day- le jour de l'Action de grâces

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_say_Thanksgiving_in_French

The French words gave me a pause.  In America we say, "Happy Thanksgiving!" and "What are you thankful for?" or "This season I'm going to list what I'm thankful every day."  While we should be thankful, grateful for God's provision, in our culture a traditional symbol of the season is the cornucopia. The curved horn of plenty spills a variety of fruits and vegetables out of it's woven basketry. 

Harvest. Abundance. Affluence.  

"Thank you, God. You've given me so much. 

You are a good God because You've given me so much. 

My life is full and obviously You are responsible."   

Yay, God. 

Gather 'round the table and let's eat. 

So what’s this “l’action de graces”?   You don’t have to be bilingual to translate that phrase. Thankful in French is reconnaissant, “to recognize or acknowledge” and that’s another gem to ponder. But thanksgiving is translated action of grace.  How perfect!  Gathering in forms of community to show our gratitude is an action.  And His grace is always shown in His actions toward us- even when the table is old, the food is scarce or the people are absent or estranged. It’s still an act of grace when the Hand of God isn’t open with abundance but instead offers the intimacy of suffering and sorrow.

   

The goal of our lives cannot be merely the correct emotions of gratitude and thankfulness. Like his our actions also must reflect grace.  If we maintain our calm when attacked, we call it "grace under fire." There are times in my life when I feel attacked, I feel abandoned, I feel disappointment.  I can cover those emotions with my veneer of gratitude and thanksgiving- a spiritual "fake it until you make it." Except I'm missing what I'm supposed to be making.  The goal is not ease, the goal is holiness and actions that reflect the Holy One within us.

And it's those times of human weakness when my actions are not actions of of grace.  I act in self-defense when offended. I retreat into silence rather than acting out the difficult grace of breaking the impasse with my offender.  I act in fear when I wake in the night and my aloneness smothers me like a heavy blanket. In the darkness, I simply have no capacity to extend grace to my own frightened self.   I act in self-pity when life is unfair and my actions are not graceful service. When I refuse the life I'm offered, I'm refusing to embrace Him, refusing to extend grace back.

So what is the blessing of Thanksgiving? 

The One to whom we offer our thanks is always acting in grace.  

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Grace moves toward reconciliation 

without expectation of being right or understood.

All this is from God, 

who through Christ reconciled us to himself 

and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;  

2 Corinthians 5:18

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 Grace is sufficient, 

for His strength fills our weakness.  

My grace is enough; it's all you need. 
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
The Message 2 Corinthians 12:9 

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Grace looks for ways to serve. 

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken,

let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably

with reverence and godly fear. Hebrews 12:28

May this Thanksgiving be full ..... of  abundance 
and
actions of grace, 

especially

in the small places of our lives.