By Pastor Mike McVey
First United Methodist Church, Fairfield
In 1621 the first celebration of Thanksgiving was held. It was amongst a group of Native Americans and an immigrant group of religious seperatists known as Pilgrims. The founder of the new colonly of Plymouth, William Bradford, has this to say, “Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are; and, as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many.” The small beginning of the Plymouth colony would lead to the founding principles of a new Nation.
In the turbulent year of 1864, while our young country was in the throes of a great Civil War, then President Abraham Lincoln penned the following words. “Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wherever they may then be, as a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe.”
In the year 1942 a different president would pen similar notions while the United States was in the throes of a great world war, the second one of the century. President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.” Across the uncertain ways of space and time our hearts echo those words, for the days are with us again when, at the gathering of the harvest, we solemnly express our dependence upon Almighty God. The final months of this year, find our Republic and the Nations joined with it waging a battle on many fronts for the preservation of liberty. Inspired with faith let us turn again to the work that confronts us in this time of national emergency.” Roosevelt would go on to establish a national day of Thanksgiving once again.
Thousands of years before these two great men invoked their country’s citizens to call upon God for guidance and give thanks, before the Pilgrims ever landed in the new world. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
We can actually thank President’s Lincoln and Roosevelt for the modern Thanksgiving holiday. It was their determination that made Thanksgiving day a national endeavor and not just an individual celebration. But neither of these men, nor the Pilgrims, were the founders of the original concept of thanksgiving. The true founder of “giving thanks” is the almighty creator of the universe. God instituted that humanity should give thanks for all the abundant blessings that abound around us each and every day. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the cross ensured that the world would always have reason to give thanks. Even in the darkest of moments our hope can be found that death has been swallowed up in victory through the mighty acts of Christ.
However you may gather this week and whatever is upon or around your table, may we all give thanks to almighty God. Whose blessed love, guidance and grace endure forever.
Happy Thanksgiving my friends,
Pastor Mike
