11/28/2019
Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States, and honors the initial Thanksgiving feast that was celebrated in 1621 after the first harvest was completed by the puritan settlers in the New World. Today this holiday is widely celebrated as a national holiday with heavy religious meaning, but no absolute requirement pertaining to faith, yet for the early pilgrims it was most certainly a time of thanking God. On this day every faithful person gathers to give thanks to God, and I have often wondered who one would thank if they were not of faith. Would you thank yourself, someone else in particular, or would it just be a happy day of being with family and friends while you eat, dance, and the go shopping?
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!”
Psalms 100:4 ESV
As Christians we give thanks to God today for all the many blessings we have received from Him over the past year, and for the constant presence of Jesus Christ in our lives. It is good to designate a special day of feasting, and celebration, as we give thanks, and honor God, because it leads us to a heightened remembrance of God’s provision, His importance in our lives, and His value to our country, but a particular day such as this is mostly symbolic because in truth we should thank Him much like we pray... every minute of every day.
“giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,”
Ephesians 5:20 ESV
Today my family will gather to feast. We will rejoice as we give thanks for all that God has provided us, and for every moment with Him. We will offer thanks for the amazing times of joy, Every Blessing and provision, and yes, even those times when He comforts us in our suffering... we should give thanks in every circumstance.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 ESV
When we feast we do so by gathering many customs, and folding them into the actual purpose of faith that serves as the basis for our gathering, and celebration. Thanksgiving Day for Americans is no different. We eat turkey, feast on corn, and invite family, and friends, to join us. We do these things to commemorate specific blessings; the wild game eaten by our ancestors, the Native Americans who helped teach them how to survive, But most of all to thank our God who provided each of these blessings to us, and to do so in faithful remembrance with one another.
“I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy.”
2 Timothy 1:3-4 ESV
I had four grandparents who arrived in America aboard the Voyage of the Mayflower, and who participated in the first Thanksgiving. Although this holiday is personal to me in this way, it is more important to me for all the blessings of this past year. Remembering the pilgrims is a way of remembering the unique arrival of each of our ancestors to a new country, but our thanksgiving is not just the repetition of a single long passed event... it is the immediate, and living nature of our relationship with God.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your Son Jesus, your Holy Spirit, and all of the help you have provided to our ancestors throughout the ages, but most of all We thank you for your blessings to us, our family, friends, our tribe, and country, in more recent times. Thank you for your many blessings over the past year, and for your mercy and grace as we kneel before you... your child and servant. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who is deserving of unending thanks, and praise. Great are you who lifts us from our troubles, soothes us in our suffering, provides for us in every way, and Rejoices over us in song, even as we sing our praises to you. This is your day Father, and in it we will rejoice, and give you all of our thanks... now, and forevermore.
“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach.”
Zephaniah 3:17-18 ESV
Rich Forbes