In a few days, we will be sitting down to a Thanksgiving Day Dinner with vivid memories of Thanksgiving Days gone by. This year may be different. It may be in the dining room of an elder care facility such as Rolling Hills, or it may be at a local restaurant due to changing dynamics or convenience, or –yes- it may be similar to years gone by. Many of us may remember the days of preparations followed by an early morning to clean and stuff the turkey to get it in the oven and eventually the great meal where we all ate too much.

Today, I am going to take a few minutes to reflect on the history, meaning, and significance of Thanksgiving. First, what is thanksgiving? My aged dictionary says it is the act of giving thanks, especially an expression of thanks to God in the form of a prayer. The definition continues about an annual U.S. holiday for giving thanks and feasting commemorating the Pilgrims celebration in 1621.

I think we probably all remember our history lessons about the Pilgrims arriving at Plymouth Rock near Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 1620 only to suffer a brutal winter. With the help of some Native Americans crops were planted in 1621 and it was a good harvest that fall. Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast with some local Native American friends which became America’s “first Thanksgiving”. Yet, some correctly question the “first Thanksgiving” claim. In 1565 the Spanish explorer Pedro Menendez de Avile hosted a mass and dinner thanking God for his safe arrival. In 1619 when 38 British settlers reached the banks of Virginia’s James River they designated a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.

We know that many of the early settlers came from Europe for “freedom of religion” and not “freedom from religion” as so many today think. This includes the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, the Puritans, the Quakers, and many others. With this in mind, what does the Bible say? In the Old Testament in Psalm 147:7 we find “Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving…” In the New Testament the Apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 4:6:”…do not be anxious about anything; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God.” These are just two of many Bible verses about thanks and thanksgiving.

The Thanksgiving celebration has taken many twists and turns since that first New England Thanksgiving just over 400 years ago. Days of fasting and thanksgiving were common in the Colonies. There were days of Thanksgiving during the American Revolution. In 1789 President George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the new United States government recognizing the happy conclusion to the War of Independence and the newly formed government. Presidents John Adams and James Madison also designated days of Thanksgiving.

In the early 19th Century several states, led by New York in 1817, adopted an official day of Thanksgiving but not all on the same day. In 1827 a well-known magazine editor started a campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday with a massive letter writing effort to many influential elected leaders.

Thirty-six years later, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation for all Americans to ask God to care for those directly affected by the mortality of the war or injured in the war, and for healing the wounds of the nation. It has been a national Day of Thanksgiving ever since, but with some modification.

Today, Thanksgiving is a day of family, feasting, football and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade which first happened in 1924. Today, it is patterned after the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock though few of us have our own harvest to celebrate. Nevertheless, we still have God’s many provisions and we need to thank Him with celebration. This season, many churches still sing the old familiar hymns such as “Come, Ye Thankful People Come”, “Count Your Blessings”, and “We Gather Together”. One Thanksgiving service I remember was in Germany where a British Army Chaplain spoke on the American Thanksgiving from a British perspective. (Think about that!) Today Thanksgiving is steeped in tradition and I would be remiss not to mention that there are ancient origins to our day of Thanksgiving, some stretching to the ancient times of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans.

In the final book of the Bible, The Revelation to John, we read in Chapter 7: 11-12: “And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Enjoy your Thanksgiving!