How the Grinch Stole Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is around the corner. This year many Americans will gather around the dinner table on Thanksgiving Day and thank God for the election results. They will be looking forward to Inauguration Day and future victories in the culture wars. Meanwhile all the Whos in Whoville will be sitting down to a meal of roast fear and dread pudding, worrying and moaning about dangers to come. 

In my home we will choose a third option this Thanksgiving. In our household there will lots of gratitude, but for different reasons. My attitude of thanksgiving is not dependent upon elections or politics. It is not conditional upon the right president or cabinet members. It is not contingent on economic or international circumstances. As the apostle said, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” 

In the spirit of the season I would like to share what I am thankful for in the new circumstances of these United States of America. I will not repeat the traditional litany of family and friends, food and shelter, health and financial security ... even though I am certainly thankful for these blessings. Rather I will focus on some things that seem precious and precarious right now.  

I am grateful for a free, fair, and peaceful election this year. I am thankful that the loser of the presidential contest graciously and promptly conceded, and that the sitting president says he will willingly leave the White House. I am grateful that on January 6 there will not be a repeat of the 2021 storming of the Capitol.  

I am grateful for freedom of worship for people of all faiths without the interference of a state religion ... at least for the time being. I am grateful for the economic vitality and cultural richness that immigrants bring to our country. I am grateful that American soldiers are not fighting overseas in forever wars.  

I am thankful that all people are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. I am grateful that these rights are not dependent on Constitution, Congress or Court. They are divinely given and are not bestowed by human institutions, even though they can be thwarted by them.  

I am grateful for freedom of thought, encouraged by quality educators and informed by spiritual leaders with open minds and hearts. I am grateful for scientists who shine a light of truth in a dark age that is increasingly anti-science. I am grateful for prophetic clergy who are willing to stand up against bigotry of all types. 

I am grateful for courageous people who are willing to risk their lives and liberty to protect not only their own rights but also the rights of the most vulnerable in society. I am grateful for champions of nonviolence who refuse to fight evil with evil. I am grateful for journalistic advocates of free speech, who fight disinformation with truth.  

Most of all I am grateful for God. Not the nationalist deity worshiped in so many churches these days. That is nothing more than an idol made in our image. I am speaking of the Ultimate Reality that is beyond religious limitations, national loyalties, and doctrinal definitions. I am thankful that no Grinch can take away that Spirit of thanksgiving.  

No Grinch can stop Thanksgiving from coming. It COMES! Somehow or other, it comes just the same!  It comes without power! It come without laws! It comes without conventions, elections or force! I hope that this year the Grinches in Grinchville might see that Thanksgiving perhaps ... means a little bit more!" And on that note ... let’s carve the roast beast! 
 

Psalms of the Tao

Back in February I began praying the psalms, meditating upon the psalms, and rewriting the Psalms each morning. It is a time-honored spiritual practice among Christians. At that time I wrote a blog post about it entitled Rewriting the Psalms.  

It began as a Lenten exercise. I ambitiously hoped to do all 150 psalms of the Bible in 150 days, which is roughly five months. Nine months later and on the verge of Advent, I have finished half of them. Even that feels hasty. I am sharing the end result as a book entitled Psalms of the Tao. 

My intention was to replicate what I had done with my Christian version of the Tao Te Ching, entitled The Tao of Christ. That was a Christian interpretation of the Chinese classic. This new work is a Taoist interpretation of the Hebrew psalms, which are beloved by both Jews and Christians as Holy Scripture. It is a nondual rendition of the biblical Book of Psalms.  

Writing this was an evolving process. At first I approached the task as a paraphrase of the psalms, much like Kenneth Taylor’s Living Bible or Eugene Petersons The Message. I tried to stick close to the meaning and intent of the biblical text.  After a while I realized that I needed to go deeper. I needed to address the earthy anguish of the psalmists from the nondual perspective of the transcendent harmony of the Tao. I also wanted to pay tribute to Christian images and language. 

At the time my wife was using a book in her daily devotions entitled Psalms for Praying: An Invitation to Wholeness by Nan Merrill. The author pens original psalms inspired by the biblical psalms.  Her psalms had the same theme as the biblical psalms, but otherwise they bore very little resemblance to them. I began to do that as well. Here is an example. It is my rendition of Psalm 68 entitled “What is the Way?” (“Way” is the English translation for Tao.) 

Like smoke is dispersed by a breeze,  

so is self dissolved by Spirit.  

It melts like ice near a fire.  

The remnants of the individual  

melt in the presence of God.  

Those who know the Way,  

remain as space remains   

when a bucket is emptied.  

  

The Way is the Father of all things, 

the Mother of the heavens and the earth.

The Way is the dwelling place of all creatures,

the family of the homeless,

the wealth of the penniless, 

water to the thirsty 

and bread to the hungry.

The Way is the God of theists

and the godlessness of atheists.

The Way is a mountain to the hiker

and an ocean to sailors,

the song of singers and the art of artists.

The Way is the All in all,

the One from whom we come

and unto whom we return.

Blessed be the Way.

If you are interested in reading more Psalms of the Tao, I am offering the Kindle version of the book free on Amazon for two days: Saturday and Sunday. (The paperback edition is not yet available.) Even if you do not own a Kindle, you can read it on your iPhone, tablet or laptop by downloading Amazon’s free Kindle app for your device. To access the link to the book, click on the image or title of the book in this post.