Thanksgiving was this past weekend, and the usual festivities seemed to occur. In Manchester, American expats joined together along with the curious British folks interested to know just what the cult of this American holiday is all about. So, we embarked upon an epic feast of candied yams, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green beans with almonds, stuffing and loads of turkey accompanied by plenty of wine and gravy to wash it all down.

But then, this issue of thanksgiving came up. We were asked "What are you thankful for?" An awkward silence came over the room. With one question the Norman Rockwell nature of our gathering began to unravel.  After much shifting about and avoidance of eye contact the question eventually came to me. What are you thankful for? I was faced with a choice. I could pretend that our conglomerate uneasiness with this question was just a bit of the turkey's tryptophan setting in, or I could ask another:  Why do so many people find it difficult to say what they are thankful for?

Of course, we all have so much to be thankful for. We live relatively decadent lives. We were all housed, well fed by the looks of it, and seemed to have just the right amount of friends depending on our disposition - i.e. not too many or too few as to make one suicidal.

So what was the problem?

Although we were all able to give a pat if not cliche answer to the question "What are we thankful for?" we were also able to express why this question was so difficult. Firstly, it was said that in a consumer capitalist culture (and you may guess the political dispositions of many in the room that night) gratefulness and thankfulness are always being threatened with the latest widget. You buy the iphone, or God's-phone as I have been informed it is now being called, and two months later the price is halved as you hear another better greater version is planned.

Furthermore, who among us can be thankful for our two bedroom house without considering what it might be like with that kitchen conservatory extension? Or who can be thankful for a house around those of use who live in shoe box flats?

Gratefulness is ridiculous because something greater is always beyond your income level or because it somehow mocks those below your income level.

Another respondent to my question pointed out why he always disliked the question of "What are you thankful for?" because, although he was thankful for many things in his life, some of the most important things couldn't be expressed in a group as large and informal as the gathering we had for thanksgiving dinner. In this sense, to go beyond the cliche answers required a level of trust and friendship which was rare if not impossible in the setting provided.

Still others defended the cliche answers by arguing that the clichés were in fact real. Some people really sincerely are thankful for their friends and house. The problem is that the cliche is not a cliche not just because of lack of sincerity. It's a cliche because of the context it is said within. In this case, both a large informal group of friends and in the consumer culture which always hangs an infinite greater widget out in front of us.

As an afterthought, it occurred to me that maybe the problem with the question "What are we thankful for?" isn't in the giving of thanks, but in the preposition which follows it. We can and should be thankful for things in our lives, but if we are ever to overcome the cliche nature of our answers, it seems to me we must reorient our question from what we are thankful for to whom we are thankful to. In other words, when confronted with the infinite greater of consumer culture it seems to me we must redirect our thanksgiving to a more profound and true infinite. When we recognize and give thanks to God we are in fact calling the infinite of consumerism into question. Practiced consistently, giving thanks may even reletavize the infinite desire consumer culture evokes. 

In the end, none of us could do any better or go much father in celebrating Thanksgiving than the doxology we sang before the meal had been eaten:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise him all creatures here below
Praise him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen.