Thanksgiving and the giving of thanks

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; his love endures forever, (Psalm 136:1).

In my previous post I revealed the difficulty I have with being a positive-thinking kind of guy.  In light of the fact that I have to work hard at overcoming a negative attitude, I have had a very good week.  This has largely been the result of spending a great deal of time this past week studying the topic of the giving of thanks.  I have found myself on numerous occasions thanking God for just about every good thing that has come to my mind, and sometimes thanking him for no particular reason at all.  If you understand anything about what it means to be a “Six”, you will find this a truly remarkable phenomenon.  My study, and the actions that have resulted from that study, were done in preparation for last Sunday when I taught on the subject of Thanksgiving at Highline Community Church in Centennial, Colorado. (note: The message is available online at the following link, and also as a podcast at iTunes.) 

Although there is some debate among historians about the origins of the Thanksgiving holiday, most of us grew up learning the story of the Pilgrims and Indians during the first winter of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts Bay.  Apparently, we were slightly misled.  In 1621, the settlers of the Plymouth Colony did have a great feast with Squanto and the Wampanoag Indians.  But it was not a time of declared Thanksgiving.  The following year, 1622, was a time of near disaster as bad weather ruined the Pilgrim’s crops.  The Governor of the Plymouth Colony called for a time of prayer and fasting for the survival of the settlers.  They made it through the winter, and with the bountiful harvest of the next year, 1623, a proclamation for a day of Thanksgiving was issued by the new Governor, William Bradford. 

When the United States gained its independence from England and formed its own government, George Washington, and nearly every President after him, made yearly declarations of days of prayer and Thanksgiving.  The date of the national holiday was set by Abraham Lincoln, who on October 3, 1863, during the height of the Civil War, set aside the last Thursday of November as a time of Thanksgiving. In response to the facts that the war had largely remained isolated to the battlefield, while major cities of the North remained untouched and commerce continued to prosper, Lincoln wrote the following:

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one 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. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union. 

The following year, the situation had changed sufficiently that Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation had a bit of an edge to it.  In 1864, Lincoln called for a day of national Thanksgiving for the defense against unfriendly designs without and signal victories over the enemy who is of our own household.  He obviously was having relatives over for the day! 

For those of us who seek to live a life of faith and desire to follow Jesus, thanksgiving is not only an important part of living out our faith, it is also an essential practice that helps transform our hearts.  Both in the worship of the Old Testament, and the spiritual practice of the New, the giving of thanks is at the heart of living a life of faith.  We see the centrality of this in the words of Psalm 136.  The psalmist writes, Give thanks to YHWH, for He is good; his love endures forever.  The psalms that are contained in our modern copies of the Bible are actually lyrics to songs that were sung in the Temple worship of ancient Israel.  This particular psalm was an antiphonal hymn where the leader would sing the first part of each phrase and the congregation at the Temple would respond by singing the words, “his love endures forever.”  In this verse alone we see that the giving of thanks was directed at the infinite-personal God who had made his name known to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and whose goodness and loving providence were the objects of faith of the Hebrew people. 

Whether in the language of the Old Testament or the Feasts of the nation, the giving of thanks was central in the worship of Israel.  And that which was central to ancient Israel has a powerful transforming effect when practiced by those of us who seek to live an authentic life of faith today.  The call to “give thanks” and to cultivate a spirit of gratitude permeates the New Testament.  I’ll give three examples of the multitude of times the concept of thanksgiving appears in the New Testament documents.  If you are looking for a little spiritual input at your Thanksgiving celebrations, you might read a few of these passages.

Ephesians 5:18: Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, and giving thanks in all things to God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

I Thessalonians 5:16-18:  Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing.  In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 13:15: Therefore, through Jesus, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

During this week, I often thought about my own children.  I don’t know what my wife and I did right, or if it has had anything at all to do with how we raised them, but both my son, Baker, and my daughter, Stephanie, are really good at expressing their gratitude.  I still remember when Baker was a little boy and upon opening a gift would shout with great enthusiasm, “Thanks Dad!”  These days, it is my grown and married daughter who always does a great job of expressing sincere gratitude for any help we give her and her family.  When either of them express their thankfulness, I have two reactions.  The first is one of feeling blessed that what I have done produces this response.  The second is a sense that their thanksgiving is good for them.  It shows they are cultivating an “attitude of gratitude.”  The other set of thoughts that have run through my mind are the response God might have when we express our appreciation to him.  We are his kids.  He is our Father.  I imagine that when I say, “Thanks Dad!” it blesses him.  And I know that it is good for me, because it helps me cultivate a more grateful spirit. 

I hope you have a great day tomorrow.  I hope you are with people you love and who love you.  And I hope you will have a day when you express your gratitude to God by giving thanks.  I promise it will lift your entire attitude, and it will be pleasing to Him. 

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; his love endures forever.