He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? – Micah 6:8
Today is Thanksgiving and it is important to take time to sit back and remember the many gifts we have received from God. Tomorrow is Black Friday, which is another American holiday all its own. One may even argue that Thanksgiving is only the start of nearly a week of celebrations. Black Friday is the celebration of consumer opportunities and massive discounts, followed by Small Business Saturday when we celebrate our local “mom & pops” businesses by purchasing from them. Sunday has not been claimed as a specific celebration by the culture at large, but in the church it is a weekly celebration of community and the table. Cyber Monday we celebrate that we can get great deals and awesome stuff without ever leaving the comfort of our homes. Finally, I learned of this only recently, we end our “week of celebrations” with Giving Tuesday.
For Giving Tuesday the whole goal is to give something back. A secular understanding may say give something back to the people around us, our community, our family. As Christians we can say that doing all of those things is really giving something back to God. However you feel about the rampant consumerism of Friday through Monday, it is a nice thought to see it all book-ended this way. We start by being thankful for what we have and we finish by giving something back.
Giving Tuesday is about more than money, too. Check out the website dedicated to this new holiday (https://www.givingtuesday.org/). It has a lot of neat ideas on how to celebrate Giving Tuesday. If it is too late to get something done before Tuesday, don’t fret about it. God won’t mind waiting an extra couple of days. Just be sure to give back, because God and those who love and support us deserve more than just our thanks.
Nathan W. Saccol
Program Director
