Every fourth Thursday of November, the men, women and children of these United States of America gather around the family table and feast on some combination of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, etc. Some substitute the family for friends or church family; others eschew the table for paper plates around the big screen to watch football.
Despite any number of variables, many of our Thanksgivings look something like what I’ve laid out above.
But why? Why do we do this? Part of being a news organization is knowing your audience. And wearing the editor hat for an organization like Crosspolitic News, I understand that many of you – more than most – know why we celebrate a day dedicated to the giving of thanks.
We do it to worship the God of all creation, to offer our praise and thanksgiving to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and we do it to honor the Spirit of God dwelling in us in proclaiming the majesty of Almighty God in a culture that is far from Him, but that owes Him glory and thanksgiving nonetheless.
We also do it to pass on that mentality of gratitude and thanksgiving to our next generations:
“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts. I will mediate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works. Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, and I will declare Your greatness. They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, and shall sing of Your righteousness.” - Psalm cxlv. 3-7
What works are we thankful for? Many of us can pass by many of the simple graces of God. Most of us ate our meals in centrally-heated homes, we had tables laden with food, we were surrounded by loved ones. And yes, we can and should explode with thanksgiving for these things and more besides. Insert here a hearty amen!
But there is more.
“The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The LORD is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. All Your works shall praise You, O LORD, and Your saints shall bless You. They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, and talk of Your power, to make know to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations. “ - Psalm cxlv. 8-13
Those who are redeemed by the blood of Christ know the compassion, the slowness to anger, and the great mercy of our Father in heaven. This is needful of daily thanks, not once a year. But on this day, we can loudly and boisterously proclaim our thanks to Christ, even when our liberal, atheist uncle is rolling his eyes, or pink-haired cousin is spewing venom about Trump.
There is one thing more, though, that I want us to consider regarding thanksgiving. And that is we are passing down a heritage of thanksgiving of a people of God who cultivated the first shoots and saplings of gratitude in a new land. The Pilgrims of the Massachusetts Bay Colony are well known to be the participants of “the First Thanksgiving.”
While a national holiday was not proclaimed until many generations later, what we celebrate today is the direct descendant of their celebration. And so, as we praise God for our nation, for His blessing on this people, let us close with the words of their leader, Governor William Bradford.
May these be words that can be echoed in our own hearts, especially as we come together this Lord’s Day.
"Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience.
Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the daytime, on Thursday, November 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty three and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings."
God bless from the CrossPolitic News team!
