Tag: behind the scenes

Thanksgiving

Every year we host stu­dents in our home for Thanks­giv­ing. Today we will have just shy of three dozen. They come from around the world and find it dif­fi­cult to make it home for such a short break.

Since Thanks­giv­ing in a nov­el cul­tur­al expe­ri­ence for many of them, I always give a quick expla­na­tion before the meal. For the curi­ous, here’s what I’m plan­ning to say today:

Amer­i­can Thanks­giv­ing traces its roots back to 1621 when the Euro­pean colonists of Ply­mouth Plan­ta­tion cel­e­brat­ed their first har­vest on the new con­ti­nent. 45 colonists and 90 native Amer­i­cans cel­e­brat­ed togeth­er for a three-day feast.

This became a cus­tom in many colonies, but the sched­ule and the details of the cel­e­bra­tion would vary from place to place. On Octo­ber 3, 1789 George Wash­ing­ton called for the first Fed­er­al Thanks­giv­ing with this procla­ma­tion. It’s a bit long so I’m going to read the high­lights:

By the Pres­i­dent of the Unit­ed States of Amer­i­ca, a Procla­ma­tion.

Where­as it is the duty of all Nations to acknowl­edge the prov­i­dence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grate­ful for his ben­e­fits, and humbly to implore his pro­tec­tion and favor– and where­as both Hous­es of Con­gress have by their joint Com­mit­tee request­ed me to rec­om­mend to the Peo­ple of the Unit­ed States a day of pub­lic thanks­giv­ing and prayer to be observed by acknowl­edg­ing with grate­ful hearts the many sig­nal favors of Almighty God espe­cial­ly by afford­ing them an oppor­tu­ni­ty peace­ably to estab­lish a form of gov­ern­ment for their safe­ty and hap­pi­ness.

Now there­fore I do rec­om­mend and assign Thurs­day the 26th day of Novem­ber next to be devot­ed by the Peo­ple of these States to the ser­vice of that great and glo­ri­ous Being, who is the benef­i­cent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be….

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offer­ing our prayers and sup­pli­ca­tions to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to par­don our nation­al and oth­er trans­gres­sions– to enable us all, whether in pub­lic or pri­vate sta­tions, to per­form our sev­er­al and rel­a­tive duties prop­er­ly and punc­tu­al­ly….

Giv­en under my hand at the City of New York the third day of Octo­ber in the year of our Lord 1789.

George Wash­ing­ton

That procla­ma­tion regard­ed a sin­gle occur­rence, not a year­ly event. A few gen­er­a­tions lat­er on Octo­ber 3, 1863 Abra­ham Lin­coln estab­lished Thanks­giv­ing as an annu­al nation­al hol­i­day which we still cel­e­brate to this day.

I am a Chris­t­ian, and so this day is very spe­cial to me because grat­i­tude is at the heart of Chris­tian­i­ty.

As the apos­tle tells us in 1 Thess 5:18

Give thanks in all cir­cum­stances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (ESV)

And we do this because even when cir­cum­stances are bad, God is good. As we read in Psalm 107:1

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his stead­fast love endures for­ev­er! (ESV)

And so this Thanks­giv­ing, join me as we offer thanks for the food.

Cre­ator God, we are grate­ful for your pro­vi­sion of a uni­verse for us to inhab­it filled with won­der­ful things, includ­ing deli­cious food. Help us to enjoy it and the con­ver­sa­tions that fill this room. Most of all, thank you for giv­ing us Jesus as a sav­ior and a Lord.  Today we declare with the Psalmist: “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24, ESV)

Now let us eat with grate­ful hearts!