For most of us in Malibu, our Thanksgiving Day will be spent counting our blessings, hugging our families and eating turkey and pumpkin pie. Yet as we count our blessings, millions across our country are hurting financially and emotionally, perhaps facing joblessness and homelessness for the first time in their lives. Even among relatives, friends and neighbors, there have been foreclosures and lost jobs.
So while I look forward to giving thanks at Malibu’s wonderful tradition— the Thanksgiving Day inter-denominational service — I try to think of ways to help those whose lives are a year-round, daily struggle to survive.
This year, at 10 a.m., the Malibu Presbyterian Church will host the Thanksgiving Day service at their newly reconstructed sanctuary on Malibu Canyon Road, just north of Pepperdine University. Then, at 11 a.m., the Malibu United Methodist Church will continue its giving tradition of providing a luncheon feast for Malibu day laborers and the homeless.
May the spirit of giving and thankfulness and caring for those in great need remind us that we are all children of the same universal God.
Mona Loo