Dear Friends in Christ—
On this day after Thanksgiving, I think there’s a radical word we Christians can say: “Enough.”
The lectionary for Thanksgiving Day has us read John 6:25-35, which ends with Jesus saying
these radical words: “Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.” It is a promise we hear, in
different words, throughout scripture. We hear it in the stories of Israel in the wilderness,
receiving miraculous bread, manna, from heaven. We hear it in the familiar words of Psalm 23:
“The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.”
We have enough. And not just Thanksgiving leftovers. We have enough of whatever it is we
need to make it through this life, because we have God beside us.
Our culture is about to spend the next four weeks telling us that we do not have enough. We
don’t have enough stuff, or status, or time. If we listen to what the machine of consumerism
tells us, we are wanting.
Today is “Black Friday”—so named because it is the first day of the year many retailers finally
make a profit, moving “into the black” in the accounting ledgers. But the name should strike
our Christian ears as an irony. The Black Friday that matters to us happened during Holy Week,
and it is the very definition of enough. That day offered a gift to sustain the entire world.
If you are anxious going into December, it is no surprise; the world conspires to make us all
anxious. But against that anxiety we have the sufficiency of God. We have all the bread we
need. We have all the love in the world.
I invite you to live this season as people who have enough.
If you are wondering how to do that? Money is a good place to start. If you have not already
done so, consider pledging. If you have pledged, think what other gifts you could make, at
Grace or elsewhere. Find the practice, whatever it might be, that reminds you of God’s
generosity—and your power as one made in the image of God.
Identity is another place. If you hang your heart on being a certain kind of professional, or
partner, or parent—unhook it. Find the practices of time and attention that remind you that
your primary identity is as God’s beloved child. Nothing else comes first.
Enough. We have been given enough, and we will be enough.
Yours in Christ,
Anne+