Matthew 6:25-34

Some 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’s true 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 . . .”

As the late Paul Harvey would say, “Now you know the rest of the story . . .”

There’s something healthy about giving thanks. Notice I didn’t say there’s something healthy about Thanksgiving meals. Most of us will overindulge this Thanksgiving, just as we do every Thanksgiving.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad Thanksgiving meal. The danger isn’t that the meal won’t be tasty. The danger is we’ll consume too much. The Thanksgiving meal may not be too healthy for us, but the act of giving thanks is one of the most spiritually beneficial exercises we can perform.

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 are more blessed than millions of those who could not do these simple things.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation . . . you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death . . . you are 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 are 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 are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.

If you are over 30 and either of your parents is still alive you are very rare. Over a billion people were orphans by then.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful . . . you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

Giving thanks doesn’t mean we 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 than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you — you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 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 6:25-34)

Why do we fixate on our burdens rather than our blessings? How can we say we’re people of faith, when so much of our life is lived by fear? Giving thanks reminds us how blessed we are.

Giving thanks also reminds us of the source of our blessings and how much He loves us. One year for Christmas, Phyllis Wohlfarth’s husband gave her a gold lapel pin. Phyllis said she only took a second to thank her husband for his gift. A week later, as she put on the lapel pin to wear to an event, she reflected on her husband’s thoughtfulness. With more sincerity, she thanked him again. Her husband explained the pin had belonged to his grandmother, so it was very special to him. Phyllis noted if she hadn’t offered the second “thank you,” she might have never learned the significance of the pin. It was only when she took the time to reflect on the gift and offer a more sincere “thank you” that she really learned to appreciate her husband’s gesture.

When we start counting our blessings, we’re reminded how good God has been to us. After all, these blessings don’t just happen. There’s a Source of everything we have.

Pastor Jack Walchenbach says he once met with his professor of chemistry in college. Over a cup of coffee this professor said to him, “You know what holds an atom together is not the nucleus, but an invisible force between the protons and the electrons. The professor continued, “I think that has something to do with religion, but I don’t know how to express it.”

Well, it does have something to do with religion. Our lives didn’t just happen. There’s a creator God who gave us every wondrous gift. When we give thanks, we are reminded of the source of everything we have.

When we give thanks, we’re reminded to share with others what God has done for us. In Mark 5, Jesus heals a man who has been possessed by a demon. Afterward, the man begs Jesus to let him come with him. He wants to be one of Jesus’ disciples. Surprisingly, Jesus turns him down. Rather, he instructs the man, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So, Mark tells us, “The man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.”

If we are truly thankful for the blessings God has bestowed on us, let’s share that story with others. Of course, the best way to share the story is to share the blessings.

Pastor Ann Spleth once met an amazing woman in a children’s playground. The woman, whom Ann describes as “understated and elegant,” was with a group of children who were wearing the kind of clothes that don’t sell at a yard sale and end up getting carted downtown to another church’s clothes closet. “These are my Christmas family kids,” she said. “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.”

Ann describes this woman’s 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. We need Thanksgiving to remind us of those blessings and the source of those blessings. Now let’s go, as Jesus told the man healed in Mark’s Gospel, to tell others, and to show others, how much God has done for us. That way, we can keep Thanksgiving all year long.

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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.