Thanksgiving Day

I’m grateful for all of you who read this blog. Thank you. Here’s a bit more of Thanksgiving Day throughout the blogosphere.

Libby Anne quotes from Mark Twain on Thanksgiving:

No one ever seems to think of the Deity’s side of it; apparently no one concerns himself to inquire how much or how little He has had to be thankful for …

… Doubtless, the most that He can be thankful for is that the carnage and suffering are not as bad as they might have been.

He will have noticed that life insurance in New York has gone tolerably rotten, and that the widow and the orphan have had a sorrowful time of it at the hands of their chosen protectors. Doubtless, the most that He is thankful for it that the rottenness and the robberies have not been absolutely complete.

Brian McLaren quotes from himself, but it’s a good quote — kind of Saganesque — so he earned it:

Every time you eat, drink, or draw a breath, you are demonstrating that you are not a self-contained unit. Your skin might give you a sense of boundaries, but in reality you are interconnected not only with others, but with all creation. You are an organism in an environment, vitally connected and utterly dependent on resources outside yourself – elements and minerals; chemical, biological, geological, and even astrophysical processes; friends, family, mentors, public servants; ecological, social, political, and economic systems. Your story flows from and into a million other stories; it’s hard to know where your story ends and others begin. … Ingratitude makes us foolishly forget the fragility of our skin and proudly deny our interdependency and interconnectedness. … You can see how essential the practice of gratitude must be.

• Jean Ann Esselink shares a poem in praise of what we can all be thankful for this November.

• And Susie Madrak explains why that’s not just a joke.

• Amanda Marcotte says feminists have much to be thankful for this year.

• Stephen Prothero gives thanks for (and with) religious pluralism.

• Phil Plait shows us what he’s grateful for.

• At Her.meneutics, Anna Broadway writes about enjoying the feast.

It’s a nice piece, but what I want to highlight here is the accompanying photo showing a delicious holiday spread — complete with several bottles of wine. Yes, evangelicals can evolve. Just 20 years ago, Christianity Today wouldn’t have dared to run such a photo, but today no one bats an eye. Baby steps.

• Atrios shares a Thanksgiving tradition.

• Gryphen shares another.

• “Grace and gratitude belong together like heaven and earth,” says Barth. “Grace evokes gratitude like the voice of an echo. Gratitude follows grace as thunder follows lightning.”