Share Thanksgiving
Today I write to promote a National program called Shared Thanksgiving where
Canadian citizens open up their homes to share their Thanksgiving Dinner with
immigrants or newcomers to Canada. Before I share the details, I would
like to share a short story about my family.
My parents emigrated from India to Canada in the early 1970’s. Both of them are third generation Christians. I was born in large metropolitan city in central Canada. Six months after my birth, our family moved to the prairies. I spend my elementary years in a small hamlet in the northwest region of our province where the hills roamed, the evergreens soared and crystal lakes pooled. There, my Dad taught Grade 6 at a nearby Indian Reservation. Evangelical churches were hard to come by in this region of the province. It wasn’t until four years later that my parents settled into a warm, hospitable Pentecostal church located in a nearby town. My parents were not Pentecostal by denomination, but it was either that or the Catholic church. We choose to blend into a "hallelujah, hand-raising" church.
Our family was the only visible minority in that church. Here, my parents where first invited into a home to share a Thanksgiving meal. Up until this time, my parents had never eaten turkey or celebrated Thanksgiving in a traditional Canadian way. My parents were so impressed with the meal, the hospitality of their hosts, and the tangible evidence of Christ’s love, that my parents continue to attend this church for years to come (and this was the church where I made a commitment to follow Christ).
The next Thanksgiving, a family friend from the church actually came to our house and assisted my Mom in creating her first Thanksgiving dinner. Since then, my Mom has adopted the Canadian Thanksgiving traditions and has taught her children, including myself, how to do the same. And, to this day, that little Pentecostal church has been an exemplar in terms of love, warmth, and hospitality. It was a church that actually felt like family.
I tell you this story to make Share Thanksgiving a little more personal. I am very thankful for the Canadian citizens who opened their home to welcome my parents into a new country. And I am motivated do the same. Thus, my husband and I are participating in Share Thanksgiving this year. We have registered through the online site where organizers attempt to match similar families together (deadline is September 26, 2014). We indicated what day during the Thanksgiving weekend we are available to host a turkey dinner and how many people we are willing to host. Now we await the e-mail that will give us our guests’ contact information. Then we will take it from there.
I would like to encourage you join this campaign as well, if the Holy Spirit is asking you to. Yes, the campaign is a secular one. Yes, it can be scary to invite complete strangers into your home that may or may not be the same cultural background as you. But let's not allow fear to control our decision making. As it is, the art of hospitality is disappearing in modern times. While our society is becoming more techno savvy, we seem to have less and less time for face-to-face contact. After all, it is much easier to "friend" someone online than in person.
I believe as the Global Church, we need to excel in hospitality. True, hospitality is a "spiritual gift" and some people, such as myself, thrive on opening our home to others. However, all believers in Christ are called to be hospitable, welcoming, open, generous, authentic. I believe Christians need to figure out what that looks like in their lives whether or not they have the gift of hospitality. After all, more and more immigrants are entering into Canada, so much so that Statistics Canada predicts that by 2017 we will have the highest percentage of non-Canadian born Canadians ever (beating the 1910 immigration boom). And many of these immigrants are coming from lands in which hospitality forms the fabric of human interaction. Imagine their shock (as was my parents' experience) to enter a country where people are content with "Hello" and that's it! Thus, if we really desire more ethnic diversity in our churches here in Canada, we need to first start opening our homes to immigrants and newcomers.
My parents emigrated from India to Canada in the early 1970’s. Both of them are third generation Christians. I was born in large metropolitan city in central Canada. Six months after my birth, our family moved to the prairies. I spend my elementary years in a small hamlet in the northwest region of our province where the hills roamed, the evergreens soared and crystal lakes pooled. There, my Dad taught Grade 6 at a nearby Indian Reservation. Evangelical churches were hard to come by in this region of the province. It wasn’t until four years later that my parents settled into a warm, hospitable Pentecostal church located in a nearby town. My parents were not Pentecostal by denomination, but it was either that or the Catholic church. We choose to blend into a "hallelujah, hand-raising" church.
Our family was the only visible minority in that church. Here, my parents where first invited into a home to share a Thanksgiving meal. Up until this time, my parents had never eaten turkey or celebrated Thanksgiving in a traditional Canadian way. My parents were so impressed with the meal, the hospitality of their hosts, and the tangible evidence of Christ’s love, that my parents continue to attend this church for years to come (and this was the church where I made a commitment to follow Christ).
The next Thanksgiving, a family friend from the church actually came to our house and assisted my Mom in creating her first Thanksgiving dinner. Since then, my Mom has adopted the Canadian Thanksgiving traditions and has taught her children, including myself, how to do the same. And, to this day, that little Pentecostal church has been an exemplar in terms of love, warmth, and hospitality. It was a church that actually felt like family.
I tell you this story to make Share Thanksgiving a little more personal. I am very thankful for the Canadian citizens who opened their home to welcome my parents into a new country. And I am motivated do the same. Thus, my husband and I are participating in Share Thanksgiving this year. We have registered through the online site where organizers attempt to match similar families together (deadline is September 26, 2014). We indicated what day during the Thanksgiving weekend we are available to host a turkey dinner and how many people we are willing to host. Now we await the e-mail that will give us our guests’ contact information. Then we will take it from there.
I would like to encourage you join this campaign as well, if the Holy Spirit is asking you to. Yes, the campaign is a secular one. Yes, it can be scary to invite complete strangers into your home that may or may not be the same cultural background as you. But let's not allow fear to control our decision making. As it is, the art of hospitality is disappearing in modern times. While our society is becoming more techno savvy, we seem to have less and less time for face-to-face contact. After all, it is much easier to "friend" someone online than in person.
I believe as the Global Church, we need to excel in hospitality. True, hospitality is a "spiritual gift" and some people, such as myself, thrive on opening our home to others. However, all believers in Christ are called to be hospitable, welcoming, open, generous, authentic. I believe Christians need to figure out what that looks like in their lives whether or not they have the gift of hospitality. After all, more and more immigrants are entering into Canada, so much so that Statistics Canada predicts that by 2017 we will have the highest percentage of non-Canadian born Canadians ever (beating the 1910 immigration boom). And many of these immigrants are coming from lands in which hospitality forms the fabric of human interaction. Imagine their shock (as was my parents' experience) to enter a country where people are content with "Hello" and that's it! Thus, if we really desire more ethnic diversity in our churches here in Canada, we need to first start opening our homes to immigrants and newcomers.