Thanksgiving
Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES [10.09 p.m.]: I have always admired the American Thanksgiving celebrations. This past week millions of Americans travelled back to the family home, enjoyed good food, relived memories and many of them celebrated a deeply religious experience where thanks were given to God for their nation. We as a nation have much for which we should be thankful. Last Christmas the little festive lights shone brightly in the windows of our homes. I purchased for $17 a box from Big W. As I undid the 480 little lights packed so tightly I wondered about the Chinese peasant who had packed them. In my study that day an email came from a friend in China telling me of a Chinese pastor Li De Xian, whom I met in a visit to China. He had been arrested again.
From October 2000 Pastor Li was arrested more than 15 times for preaching in his unregistered house church in Guangzhou. His gaolers tied his arms and legs together and chained him to a bedpost for three days. I read that after his release he was forced to work in the prison factory putting little bulbs into strings of Christmas lights for export to Australia and overseas. He and the others had a quota of 5,000 bulbs a day. I was stung by the fact that many of the goods we buy so cheaply are manufactured by Chinese Christian brothers and sisters in forced labour camps. Pastor Li’s wife, Zhao Xia, said in an email to me:
Don’t feel sorry for us. At least we are constantly reminded that we are in a spiritual war … Perhaps we should pray for you Christians outside of China. In your leisure, in your affluence, in your freedom, sometimes you no longer realize that you are in spiritual warfare. Jesus Christ was the first to suffer. We just follow Him. There are many thorns, but we are just injured a little on our feet. This suffering is very little.
Most of us do not even know when to say thanks to God for life, health, freedom and the ability to worship. A thankful community will do more in serving people. The people of this State are best served by a partnership of community support, charitable endeavour, government funding and oversight, and individual commitment. We each need each other. When we work together remarkable achievements result.
Serving other people is the price we pay for the space we occupy on planet Earth. A thankful people results in serving others, which in turn results in building hope. I have been looking at some DVDs for Christmas presents. I was amazed at the gloomy outlook predicted for humanity in their storylines. Movies like the Mad Max trilogy, Blade Runner or Robocop generate visions of a future filled with rampaging mobs, scarce resources, gnawing poverty and hideous brutality. The Alien trilogy, Total Recall, The Running Man, Fortress and the Terminator films are all working for a future of evil corporations and fascist governments. We need to build hope in people. We seem to have a generation of young people who are saturated with images of failure and powerlessness.
A thankful people results in serving others, which results in building hope. I believe this leads to honouring God. The Old Testament contains the Jewish saying, “Those who honour me, I will honour, says the Lord, but those who despise me will be disdained.” When we honour God everything in life improves. Why then should we give thanks to God? The average person lives too far from the soil to be troubled by the drought. The pilgrim fathers and our farmers know different. We think food comes from a supermarket. Our biggest problem is not the drought but the slowness of the woman with a full basket in front of us in the supermarket.
So what can we be thankful for? Shorter lines? What about not being like the women who must stand in lines for hours in Moscow to buy fresh fruit?.We need to thank God for a job to pay for our food while thousands are out of work. We thank God for a warm home and a table to eat at, while hundreds of people live in parks and streets, eat at food hand-out vans standing up, and sleep nights around this House. One might object, “But I work hard for what I have.” We do. But not as hard as Pastor Li, who has to hand-pack 5,000 bulbs a day. We all need a spirit of thankfulness and to say regularly: “Thank you God, for the gifts that you’ve given for which I have no inherent right. Help us to be grateful.” At the close of the Parliamentary year, we wish to extend greetings to each other. But I wish to place on record that we are a thankful people. We have sought to serve other people. We seek to bring hope and to honour God. 02 December 2003.
