Thanksgiving

Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

I regret that Christmas ads, lights, songs, sales, all hit the public before Thanksgiving.

Oh, yes, I do love to hear the songs, see the lights and celebrate the birth of our Savior. But not at the expense of our national, secular yet God sanctioning, holiday. The first European thanksgivings in North America were before 1600, held by Spanish colonists to thank God for their arrival. Same for the English Virginia colony, whose charter required "that the day of arrival be observed yearly as a 'day of thanksgiving' to God."

But it's the Pilgrims we usually portray during Thanksgiving. As recorded by William Bradford and Edward Winslow, their harvest celebration was held, "so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labor."

Colonies for the next decades continued setting aside such days. In 1777 the Continental Congress wrote: "FOR AS MUCH 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: And it having pleased him in his abundant Mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable Bounties of his common Providence; but also to smile upon us in the Prosecution of a just and necessary War, for the Defense and Establishment of our unalienable Rights and Liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased, in so great a Measure, to prosper the Means used for the Support of our Troops, and to crown our Arms with most signal success:

"It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive Powers of these UNITED STATES to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for SOLEMN THANKSGIVING and PRAISE: That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please GOD through the Merits of JESUS CHRIST, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance;"

It was hit and miss for the following years -- some states and some presidents put forth the proclamation, some did not. Lincoln wrote it in for the final Thursday in November, 1863: "It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and 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."

December 26, 1941, the current date of the fourth Thursday in November was set as President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill to make it a matter of federal law.

The dates have fluctuated, presidential support has waxed and waned, some citizens' support has waned, too. But over all this nation's foundations have retained the desire to give thanks to God on a specified day, for specified reasons.

"That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts." May we continue to do so.

Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)