Thanksgiving witness

It's Thanksgiving Day, and in my neighborhood it's appropriately damp and cool. Relatives are coming over for dinner later. Yes, I know that Thanksgiving has been stylized, romanticized, even mythologized -- like other holidays. Still, for me it's a wonderful occasion, a reminder of what's most importI know ant in life, and the call to remember the Giver of all good things. I'm watching the Today Show broadcasting from Afghanistan, interviews with service personnel connected by video with loved ones back home. Heart-warming and humbling.

All the while, merchants are frantically anticipating the "busiest shopping day" tomorrow. At least so far this day does not go by the moniker Black Friday Eve! And it will be a day of football and feasting in many American homes. Friends and relatives will "gather together to ask the Lord's blessing." Or will they?

Many families will not think to do that. But we who follow Christ have the opportunity to give witness to those of our loved ones who do not know him. Not in any over-bearing way, of course. But by inviting all to give thanks to God, and in that expression of thanks, to remember the Gift of all gifts, Jesus Christ. It's a Thanksgiving witness.