Hi everyone,

Happy Thanksgiving! I don’t know about the rest of you, but when our Canadian Thanksgiving rolls around, I’m reminded that the American Thanksgiving isn’t too far off. And while I don’t really celebrate American Thanksgiving (or Canadian Thanksgiving for that matter), but I do look forward to what comes right after it, namely Black Friday.

Consumerism at it’s finest, yeah?

But before you all write me off as a “material boy”, the draw for Black Friday for me isn’t to be able to get more stuff, but to save more money on the stuff that I was going to get anyway (sort of). So usually at this time of year, I make a mental list of what thing I need to buy in general, like what clothes or books or electronics I might need. And then I save that until Black Friday and see what deals can be had.

Most of the time, it’s none, but I try anyway.

And I wasn’t always this frugal (or cheap). But it was a learned thing. After a very wasteful youth in which there was much squandering of my hard-earned funds (as you might know if you ever saw my toy collection), I learned that life is expensive, and I don’t need all these things that I want. Sure, I might still want the things I want (or I probably wouldn’t want them), but I don’t always get them if it doesn’t help me be more productive or allow me to be better as a person somehow.

I don’t always get it right (in fact, I mostly don’t), but almost-50-years-old me sure is different from 20-and-foolish me. I grew up a bit, wrestled with life, and my perspective changed.

Here are the readings for next week:
Genesis 32:22-31
Psalm 121
2 Timothy 3:14—4:5
Luke 18:1-8
And a video of those readings being read:

These texts seem to be all about that change in perspective. From Jacob being this snotty little brother to the namesake of a whole nation, to the Psalmist finding trust in God’s power and providence, to Paul teaching Timothy the truth found in ancient texts, to an unjust judge actually seeing justice. Perspective changed.

And it was done through prayer.

I think we sometimes see prayer, or persistent prayer as suggested in the gospel lesson, as a way to change God’s perspective to fit our own. “Do this for me, God,” “Give this to me, God,” “Act the way I want you to act, God,” are the prayers that we hear so often. Maybe not in those exact words, but that could be the gist of them.

But really, I think prayer assists in the change of not God’s perspective, but ours. As we pray, we learn more the heart of God. As we live in prayer, we begin to see how God is already acting in the world. As we persist in prayer, we see more clearly God’s justice and how it might not line up with our own but it continues to be good.

So may our prayers humble us to see and appreciate what God is doing in the world, not that we’ll be passive onlookers, but active participants in it all. Essentially, we become the answers to our own prayers. Funny how that works.

Thanks be to God! Have a great week, everyone!