Thanksgiving
In September 1620, a small ship called the Mayflower left Plymouth, England carrying 102 passengers. These passengers were religious separatists seeking a new home where they could practice their faith in the “New World”. The trip took 66 days and when they landed it was at Cape Cod, at the mouth of the Hudson River. Only about half the passengers survived the first winter, but they established a village at Plymouth. In November 1621, after the Pilgrim’s first corn harvest proved successful, Governor William Bradford organized a feast and invited some Native Americans to join them. Guests at the feast included 90 Native Americans from the Wampanoag Tribe from a nearby village, including their leader Massasoit. Pilgrims held the second Thanksgiving in 1623 to mark the end of a long drought and the corn crop being plentiful.
During the American Revolution, Congress designated one or more days to thanksgiving each year and in 1789 George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving Proclamation. In 1817, New York became the first of several states to officially adapt an annual Thanksgiving holiday. In 1827 Sarah Josepha Hale launched a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. She is often called the “Mother of Thanksgiving”. Abraham Lincoln finally heeded her request in 1863, at the height of the Civil War. He issued a proclamation asking all Americans to ask God to take care of all those who had become widows, orphans, mourners or suffers and to heal the wounds of the nation. He scheduled Thanksgiving to be the final Thursday in November. It stayed on that day until 1939 when Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week to spur retail sales during the Great Depression. This met with such opposition, he changed it back to the fourth Thursday of November in 1941.
We’re pretty good at celebrating Thanksgiving today. We love to gather with family and eat a big meal with turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, pies and cakes. We watch parades and football games. Thanksgiving is more than turkey and pie. Thanksgiving is realizing that God gave His only Son to die upon a cross for the forgiveness of our sins. Thanksgiving is when we realize that God has given us all that we are and that everything we have is from God. Philippians 4:4-7 says, “The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present our requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” We hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving celebration.
Prayer – Father as we celebrate Thanksgiving, we remember that you gave your one and only Son, so that we can live and live eternally. On this Thanksgiving Holiday, we give you Thanks! Amen.
II Corinthians 9:15 – Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
Author: Tommy Herndon
