Thanksgiving

A few years ago, the Independent Florida Alligator (UF's student newspaper) published an editorial/commentary before Thanksgiving, praising it as "our favorite non-religious holiday".  I wrote a letter to the editor, which was not published, asking whom they were thanking at Thanksgiving, and what indication from the historical beginnings of the holiday led them to the conclusion that it was "non-religious".

If you have any doubts that we have lost contact with our Christian heritage in America just consider what has happened to Thanksgiving. Now it's just a bump on the retail-driven speedway that begins at Halloween and ends at Christmas. There's too much food, too much football and very little thankfulness. 

Today's most quoted online reference source - Wikipedia - gives this definition of the holiday:

Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. It is a holiday celebrated primarily in Canada and the United States. While perhaps religious in origin, Thanksgiving is now primarily identified as a secular holiday. 

Was it "gratitude in general" being expressed by the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1621 at the first recorded Thanksgiving feast, or by the members of our first Congress who issued this proclamation in 1777?

IN CONGRESS
November 1, 1777 

FORASMUCH as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for Benefits received, and to implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of….

 

Can you imagine our current Congress issuing such a statement? Here is the beginning of the first Thanksgiving proclamation issued by President George Washington:

THANKSGIVING DAY 1789
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - A PROCLAMATION


Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor - and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be…

 

Does that sound like a President or a nation confused about the meaning of Thanksgiving?

It was President Abraham Lincoln who began the yearly celebration of Thanksgiving in 1863. Here is an excerpt of his proclamation:

 

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.

 

I highly recommend reading the full text of these and other Thanksgiving proclamations issued by Congress and the Presidents over the years. They can be found at - http://www.pilgrimhall.org/ThanxProc.htm

 

I'd also encourage you to start a new Thanksgiving tradition at your house. Read an excerpt of one of these early Presidential proclamations as part of the prayer time before the meal. I'm sure your children will be surprised that the government that now seems intent on removing all traces of religion from public life once felt the need to thank God for our blessings. I can assure you they won't learn it in their history class.

 

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.  Psalm 33:12