Thanksgiving

In September of 1620, on a small ship called the Mayflower, 102 passengers left Plymouth, England for the new world. They were persecuted for their faith in England and wanted to practice freely in the new world. They were lured by the promise of land ownership and the freedom that comes from controlling your own destiny. The crossing lasted 66 days and then they dropped anchor near Cape Cod, far north of their intended destination at the mouth of the Hudson River. One month later the Pilgrims made it to their destination and started to build a village.

Throughout the rest of the brutal winter most remained on ship where they suffered from exposure, scurvy and other contagious diseases. Only half the original 102 lived to see the new world. In March the survivors moved ashore where they received a visit from the local inhabitants. One of them even greeted them in English. This unique Native American returned a few days later with Squanto who began to teach these Pilgrims how to cultivate the land, catch fish and avoid poisonous plants. Squanto also helped forge an alliance with the Wampanoag, a local tribe, which would endure for more than 50 years and was one of the few examples of the Europeans living in harmony with Native Americans.

In November of 1621, after the first corn harvest proved successful, Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast and invited the locals to join with them. Even the chief of the Wampanoag joined them for the first Thanksgiving. They welcomed the Native Americans and gave them a prize seat at the tables but the “thanks” was not to them, they were there to give thanks together to God. (That is a detail that most history books will leave out now-a-days.)

From our first President Washington up until President Lincoln there would be an official proclamation of thanksgiving to GOD for the blessings of America. It was President Lincoln, in 1863, in the middle of a Civil War, who made the final Thursday of each November to be an official holiday to give thanks to GOD for the blessings given to America.

Somehow over time, these official “Giving Thanks to God” proclamations and actions of congress have turned into a secular holiday where we just have a “thankful attitude” for a few days, watch football, and eat a LOT of food. Somehow, over time, the reason for the thanksgiving of the Pilgrims and for life in general was no longer to GOD but to each other and some nebulous politically correct deity.

Let me say it as clearly as possible: Thanksgiving must be to GOD or it is really not Thanksgiving. Just like Christmas is about Christ or it is really not Christmas. We can give a nebulous thanks to whatever and call it Thanksgiving, but what really are you doing? You are simply thanking yourself, your strengths, your abilities, and your goodness and not something outside yourself. The whole key to Thanksgiving is to recognize that it is something OUTSIDE of YOU! YOU did not provide these blessings, God did. Once you realize that then you can really and truly Give Thanks. Otherwise you are just patting yourself on the back and calling it Thanksgiving.