Rubel Shelly said in last Sunday’s sermon that Thanksgiving is the only holiday (our culture) hasn’t messed up. In other words, most of the other religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter have been commercialized and replaced with secular elements that obscure the richness of the holiday, but Thanksgiving remains the least spoiled with trappings of distraction from the family-oriented and thankful spirit it brings.

In the next few days I’ll be writing Thanksgiving meditations that lead us up to my favorite holiday of the year. Book IV of Psalms, which includes Psalm 90 – 106, is full of thanksgiving Psalms appropriate for this important season we call Thanksgiving. My guiding Psalm for this exercise is Psalm 103:2.

Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits–who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Hey, we’re always complaining about how early “they” are starting Christmas, aren’t we? Why not start Thanksgiving a little early? If you don’t have a reading agenda of your own, why not read Book IV (Psalm 90 – 106) with me over the next 10 days?