Preparing to Celebrate

by Katie Harding on November 21, 2022

Last week I saw it again on Facebook. It’s a post my sister repeats every year. “If you do not have any plans for Thanksgiving and are looking for someplace to go, you are welcome here! Thanksgiving is for family and friends! Just message me and let me know you’re coming.”

As Thanksgiving Day approaches and plans are being made for feasts that will occur in homes around our nation, her post reminded of a favorite passage in Nehemiah 8. The end of the tenth verse is very well known, “...the joy of the Lord is your strength!” But it’s the beginning of that verse I find most impactful, “’Go home and prepare a feast, holiday food and drink; and share it with those who don’t have anything: This day is holy to God...’” And then it continues in verse 12, “So the people went off to feast, eating and drinking and including the poor in a great celebration. Now they got it; they understood the reading that had been given to them” (The Message). The people were grateful for God’s Word and humbled by what they heard.

“The people were grateful for God’s Word and humbled by what they heard.”

What crosses my mind every time I read this is: Do we get it? Do we understand God’s Word when we hear it or read it for ourselves? Enough to act? As we prepare for our own celebrations later this week, let us remember those who don’t have much and look for ways to include them in this special day of giving thanks to our Lord. Maybe gift a family with grocery items or a gift card for their meal, invite others to your home for dinner, or consider hosting a Thanksgiving buffet at your church for those who don’t have a place to go or call their own.

May it one day also be written about us, “Now they got it; they understood the reading that had been given to them.”