Seeing hope this Thanksgiving at a time of darkness
Happy Thanksgiving, friends!
Last week, I was tasked with writing an article for my local paper that would help people take a “deep breath” from initial reactions after the election. And honestly, I think Thanksgiving is the perfect opportunity to brush up our skills that keep us out of the pits of despair. In this column, I tried to offer my perspective on a common theological quip (God is in control) that, when reframed, is able to help us through dark times.
Stephen, our executive director at FSW, has made clear some of our concerns about the incoming administration. It is not the outcome that most who care about immigrants were hoping for. As a tax-exempt nonprofit, we respect the limitations against endorsing candidates for office. But now that the campaigns are over, we are doing our best to prepare ourselves and our organization for the potential negative impacts on the people we serve. It’s a bit daunting.
In case you’re feeling a similar way, I pasted my column below to give you a little hope. If you’re not (I’m jealous, but…), a little theology and gratitude won’t hurt ya!
I hope your Thanksgiving tables are full of all kinds of people and their opinions, and your hearts are full of grace and gratitude. We at Fellowship Southwest are giving heaps and heaps of thanks for you!
Cameron
Seeing hope this Thanksgiving at a time of darkness
By Cameron Vickrey for San Antonio Express-News, November 24, 2024
Who is ready to break bread with extended family who voted for the other guy this week? No?
As we begin thawing our turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner, let’s take our hearts off ice as well. It will warm us to the practice of gratitude which will strengthen us for the coming season of darkness.
The coming season of darkness for you might be the long nights of winter. Or maybe it’s the Christian season of Adventthat prepares us for Christmas.
Or it could be the second Trump administration.
Since the election, I’ve heard people who are discouraged about the results say, “I know it’s going to be OK, because God is in control.”
If you’ll bear with me through some theological weeds, I’d like to counter this quip with why I also believe it’s going to be OK, but it’s precisely because God is not in control.
If God controlled this (or any) election, that would mean the candidate were predetermined. It would dilute the need for our vote, for our activism, for our advocacy.
God’s lack of control in elections does not mean God doesn’t have a stake in the results. God cares about the outcome because God cares for us, especially the people on the margins who are always the most affected by shifting policies.
I worry about the wellbeing of many people, immigrants and LGBTQ people in particular. I’m concerned for the future of public education, the environment, democracy and the example we are setting for our kids.
So, why do I think it’s going to be OK? It boils down to the difference between optimism and hope.
Optimism focuses on positive possibilities. Hope, on the other hand, is more realistic. Hope accepts the darkness, and accompanies us through it. Hope knows there is a future ahead worth fighting for, but getting there requires perseverance.
My faith tradition marks significant seasons of darkness in the church year, and one of them, Advent, starts right after Thanksgiving. We learn over and over, year after year, that God’s presence is experienced most acutely in the darkness. After all, it’s in the darkest days of the year that we celebrate God’s radical act of presence in the form of a human child.
I have hope because God doesn’t bring on the darkness, but meets us there and helps us through it.
God’s presence, especially in dark times, has transformative power if we let it. It’s a power from the ground up rather than control from the top down.
God’s ground-up power works best when we cooperate, which is not as easy as it sounds. It requires our willingness to set aside grudges (so hard for me) and lead with love and gratitude. This is why Thanksgiving is coming to us as at the perfect time.
If the practices and rituals of Thanksgiving have their way with us, we’ll be more ready to reach across the table toward others and bring something good out of a dark time.
Our tendency is to avoid the dark. We associate darkness with only bad things. We turn on lights before we even let our eyes do the work of adjusting to the darkness.
So our first task is to let our eyes adjust. Take a deep breath. Don’t rush to opinions or casting blame on social media. Just sit with it.
Once our eyes have adjusted, we see shapes a little differently. We’ll see that we’re not here alone. And maybe we won’t be blinded by our preconceived notions about each other. We will embrace other opinions with curiosity, rather than bracing against them with defensiveness.
So you see, darkness can be a time for growth. Seeds seem to sprout overnight, and children wake up an inch taller than they were the day before. If it’s true for the Earth and our own bodies, it can be true for our country, too.
I’m not optimistic about our country in the near future. Too many people will be hurt by hateful rhetoric and inhumane policies. But since I believe God didn’t make this happen to us, but empowers us to make a way through it, I am hopeful.
The Thanksgiving table, like our country should be, is a place where everyone’s presence isn’t just tolerated, but needed. If your aunt doesn’t show up with her mashed potatoes, the dinner won’t be the same.
With thawed hearts, give real thanks this week for everyone who sits at your table. If we can start there, we will be ready to extend that practice of gratitude to wider and wider circles. And slowly, the darkness will recede.
