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Matthew 6:25-32, 33
A few years ago, an American and a British journalist were discussing Thanksgiving on a British radio program. The American asked if Thanksgiving was celebrated in the United Kingdom.
"Yes," the British journalist replied, "but we celebrate it on the 6th of September."
"Why then?" asked the American.
"That's when you chaps left," the Brit answered good-naturedly.
Well, it is true that Thanksgiving is celebrated as a national holiday primarily in the U.S. and Canada, two former British colonies.
Thanksgiving in the U.S. is usually traced to 1621 when a Pilgrim leader, William Bradford, proclaimed a day of feasting to commemorate the first harvest after a long year of suffering. What you may not know is that, as the colonies grew more prosperous, the people forgot all about Thanksgiving and the meaning it held for their ancestors. For generations Thanksgiving was celebrated sporadically, if at all, with no set date.
Then in 1822 Sarah Hale, a young widow from New Hampshire, decided to revive this important celebration. Sarah, a mother of five children and an editor of a women's magazine, began a 40-year campaign of writing editorials and letters to governors and presidents to get Thanksgiving officially recognized as a national holiday. Three presidents turned her down. Her obsession became a reality, however. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as an annual celebration of Thanksgiving.
It's interesting that it should have been Lincoln that responded to Sarah's request. His own life was at a very low ebb at the time. The country was literally falling apart, and Lincoln's political future looked bleak. Many of the members of his own cabinet openly despised him and joked about him in public. His wife had been investigated as a possible traitor, a process which Lincoln personally found to be bitterly wounding. In the face of such personal and national circumstances, Lincoln's call for a day of prayer would have made sense. But Thanksgiving? At a time like that? What must he have been thinking of? No wonder historians count Lincoln as one of our truly great presidents.
Sarah Hale, the widow who championed the cause of Thanksgiving is not remembered for that act. Rather she is much better known as the author of a little poem written in 1830 which begins like this: "Mary had a little lamb; its fleece was white as snow . . ."
There is something healthy about giving thanks. Giving thanks reminds us how blessed we are. As some anonymous author has written:
If you woke up this morning and were able to hear the birds sing, use your vocal cords to utter human sounds, walk to the breakfast table on two good legs, and read the newspaper with two good eyes, you're more blessed than millions of those who couldn't do these simple things.
If you've never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you're ahead of 500 million people in the world.
If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you're more blessed than three billion people in the world.
If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead, and a place to sleep, you're richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish some place, you're among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.
If you're over thirty and either of your parents is still alive, you're very rare. Over a billion people are orphans by then.
If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you're blessed because the majority can, but most do not.
Giving thanks reminds us how blessed we are. This is not to say you and I don't have problems. We do, but for most of us, our blessings far outweigh our burdens.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said: "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ... For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:25, 32-33)
Why do we fixate on our burdens rather than our blessings? How can we say we have faith, when so much of our life is lived by fear? Giving thanks reminds us how blessed we are. If we're truly thankful for the blessings God has bestowed upon us, then let's share that story with others. Of course, the best way to share the story is to share the blessings.
Consider the woman Pastor Ann Spleth met in a children's playground. Ann described her as "understated and elegant with a batch of children who were wearing the kind of clothes that don't sell at the rummage sale and end up getting carted downtown to another church's clothes closet."
"These are my Christmas family kids," this woman told Pastor Ann. "Not this Christmas, about ten years ago. My church sent me out with a Thanksgiving basket. I couldn't just leave it and walk away."
The more she talked, the more amazing her story became. Sent to a home to deliver a Thanksgiving basket, she developed a great affection for the family and ever since then has involved herself in a self-giving way in their lives. "I'm shameless when it comes to grades," she said. "I give five bucks for an A, three for a B, nothing for a C. Then they start to lose privileges, like this Sunday outing. The teenage boys go down to my son's college to play basketball in the gym on Sundays, so they'll know what they're working for. The little ones come to some place like this with me."
Pastor Ann describes this woman's act of compassion like this, "She could have let the screen door through which she handed that basket become a chasm, but she didn't. It was just a gate and it opened at the touch of her hand."
You and I have been so blessed. Thanksgiving reminds us of the source of those blessings and the best way to share those blessings; by showing others how much the Lord has done for us.
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Rev. Charles Eldredge is a member of Maitland Church of the Brethren. He has a Facebook page and can be contacted by email: ce1133 @verizon.net.